Although this is the third time we've raised butterflies from Insect Lore, it's the first time when we've done it at the right time of year to be able to release them. And, this year, we had a hundred percent success, with all ten of our caterpillars turning into butterflies. That seemed like something we should celebrate, so we decided to try out a butterfly cake tradition from Superheroes and Princesses.
Actually, I modified the activity a little, and made six mini-butterfly cakes, so each child could decorate their own. To make the smaller cakes, I cut circles, around a large mug, out of the normal round cakes.
Then, I pieced them together into butterflies, as per instructions from Superheroes and Princesses.
I popped the pieced together cakes into the freezer for about 20 minutes, so the cut edges wouldn't be all crumby when I went to frost them.
I frosted some with a butter cream frosting, and others with light whipped cream, for the children who don't care for frosting. In fact, I was thinking this could have been done with those little strawberry shortcake rounds, cut, and frosted with whipped cream, and then decorated with strawberries.
But, we were already in sugary motion, and G was standing by with the canned, black, decorators frosting, to add the outline of the wings.
And, we were ready with sprinkles, and M&Ms for decorations...
...so there was no turning back, to make things lighter, or healthier. The children decorated away...
...some of them showing more restraint with the sprinkles, than others...
...but all of them agreeing it was a great snacktivity, and one they would like to see repeated on upcoming birthdays.
Though, for the sake of my "good mother" standing, I did decide to clip a wing off of each frosted butterfly, before the children started eating. Because, even mini-cakes, once frosted, and sprinkled with candy, make for a pretty large snack.
It's great to be a homeschooler.
8 comments:
I love the way you modified this! My kids love to dump on the sprinkles too!
I guess clipping the wings of the butterflies prevented your child-butterflies from flying around the room. :)
Just today I linked to a different butterfly from cake activity for our summer activities, but we may do this instead...I forgot about Christy's post!
What an awesome day for your kiddos! Those cakes are adorable. Me and knives and cake never go very well. ;)
Blessings,
Val
Looks fantastically sweet!!
That is great that you had such success with your butterflies. I agree with Phyllis, you were just keeping your child-butterflies from flying around the room!
Hee hee, clipped wings are important.
I didn't know freezing for a bit helped keep it from crumbling. I might try some of these funny shaped cakes now.
Ticia - That's a Martha Stewart tip :)
Post a Comment