Making Easter Nests

Since Easter came right at the end of the school term I decided to hold off making the traditional Easter nests until now so that my two could join in the fun in the school holidays! They are always a firm favourite and since they don't really require any cooking (unless you count melting chocolate as cooking?) they are really easy to do with the littlies!

So here's how we did it:

You will need:
200g bar of chocolate (whatever kind you like really but we went for milk chocolate
Rice Krispies (you can use Shredded Wheat if you prefer that genuine nest effect but I find the children aren't really keen plus then you have a whole box left that nobody wants to eat!)
1 medium sized bag of mini eggs
Cupcake cases
Fluffy yellow chicks - these are available in craft stores and some supermarkets
A heatproof bowl
A saucepan of simmering water
A spatula or wooden spoon
Children - optional!
(With 200g of chocolate we got 22 cakes)

1. Have the children brake the chocolate into chunks and place them into a heat proof bowl. (Here's Joshua forgetting they needed to go into the bowl. He seems to be looking longingly at them!)

2. Place the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (HINT: do not let the water touch the bowl or it won't work!) Stir the lumps around occasionally until they've completely melted.

3. Pour in some Rice Krispies. I didn't measure out a particular quantity. I just added some at a time and if they were very heavily coated in chocolate I would add some more until it looked like they were all coated nicely. The children loved stirring them in and this was a good opportunity to talk about taking turns!

4. With teaspoons, let the children fill their cake cases with the mixture then press the centres down with their thumb to make a little well.

5. Then let them place one little chick and 2-3 mini eggs (depending on how many you have!)

6. We then let them set in the fridge and ate some after our lunch. Here's a little box I put together for my childminded children to take some of theirs home as we had so many!

Enjoy!!!