A wholesome modern day family classic like Mouse & Mole At Christmas Time deserves a nice, warm little snack - like hot cocoa with marshmallows and chocolate chip cookies...or at least, that's what they said in the US dub of stop-motion Noddy. Get yourself into the kitchen and whip up a batch of chocolate chip cookies and a mug of warm cocoa to enjoy whilst you watch Mouse & Mole's Christmas adventures! Make these cookies without chilli powder, though:
Only the nation's (and CBeebies') favourite twins, Topsy & Tim, are the ones to get children celebrating a very happy Christmas this year. If your child is celebrating his or her first Christmas with family or friends, remember the occasion by making a photo album themed around Topsy & Tim's Christmas Eve airing this evening at 5:00PM on CBeebies.
The younger folk at Calendar Hall might want to help ask you for tin soldiers (if they're not made of lead), toffees, spinning tops, hobby horses, puppets, dolls, sugar mice and chocolate just like they mentioned in my favourite part of the Hetty Feather Christmas special, with all its Broadway musical/Next Step-style dance moves, which aired this morning. Help Hetty Feather write her letter to Father Christmas by asking what YOU'D like this year!
I've a new idea on how to get me to sleep - writing soothing stories about soothing and sometimes fun adventures Luke, Resus, Cleo and I have - and sometimes they focus on Furaha the lioness cub too. Inspired by Cam's story about the White Bird in The Dare Game, I call them Sleep Stories, after the term for dreams in The Land Before Time. My first two stories are based on polar bears and cavemen, featuring me (I'm a young girl in all my stories) and my friends Luke, Resus and Cleo.
In the first story, Luke, Resus, Cleo and I were raised by a polar bear mother and her family - two cubs. If the mother polar bear, who we call 'Mama', would speak, she would say upon finding us alone in the snow: "I'll take care of Sybil, Luke, Resus and Cleo like they're one of my two little cubs." We'd slide down snowy slopes, hunt for fish in the ocean and eat them raw and play with the cubs - all day, every day. Every night, we'd float across the Arctic ocean on a large ice floe, then I'd fall asleep on Mama's back as we journey under the gentle glow of the Northern Lights. When we reach the polar bears' cave, we'd snuggle near Mama to keep ourselves warm in the peaceful, tranquil darkness of the bears' humble abode, listening to the lullaby of her large bear-sized heart. I did this story based on the French film 'L'Enfant Qui Voulait Etre Un Ours' which sees a little Inuit boy raised by polar bears, and tonight I'll do a sequel to the story, where Mama, the cubs, Luke, Resus, Cleo and I swim across the Arctic sea back to her den in an effort to snuggle up to her for warmth from the cold. Yes, we'll need all the warmth, protection and food Mama can offer. For more about polar bears with the help of CBeebies' world-famous animal expert Andy, watch CBeebies Snow Babies on iPlayer:
The next sleep story is based on the fourth and final episode of 'Walking With Cavemen', 'The Survivors'.
Luke, Resus, Cleo and I lived in a big cave as cavemen together. You could say Luke, Resus and Cleo were the first werewolf, vampire and Egyptian mummy ever to roam the earth during the prehistoric ages. We'd go out hunting together for raw meat and fish, and if there's a bit of time during warmer weather, we'd play outside in nature. On this night, we shared a luscious meal of mammoth meat and cooked fish around an open fire. Being reunited, being warm and being well-fed are the simplicity we'd love to get when we live our lives as cavemen. With all that in mind, and with full tummies from our hearty meal, we sure felt that all this eating has made us tired, so we'd snuggle under a pile of furs together and fall asleep in the quiet and the warmth of our cave.
I'll be doing more each night, so I'll fill you in on updates each day! Good night...
Two dreams concerning my friends from Scream Street - and my dreams are getting more sensual by the minute!
The first dream was an extract from I.B.F.Fs: The Eagle's Nest come to life - Luke, Resus, Cleo and I playing and splashing naked in the lake in the jungle. A herd of elephants don't bother about us, but their young calf does and plays with us every day. His hugs really tickle, because his trunk reaches down your back. The dream does include the bits where Luke, Cleo and I play in the mud and Resus surrounds himself with white butterflies, but there weren't enough long bits in the dream diary I'm using.
In the second dream, Cleo, Luella and I were relaxing in a hot tub filled with creamy bath foam, almost like the Fenjal stuff my Grandma uses. I know this may sound inappropriate for kids reading this blog entry, but Luella, Cleo and I smeared the creamy, smooth stuff all over our bodies - and all over each other's bodies. What's more, it was all good for Luella since she had sensitive skin - as any trainee witch has.
See Luella and Cleo in 'Endless Summer' on iPlayer:
Inspired by Christmas Swim and a host of other favourite Bluey episodes, make your own Bluey-themed photo album to cherish happy family memories and moments like the Heelers do in the show, with each page themed around each episode. Start off with Christmas Swim and Verandah Santa, then continue starting from the very first episode, 'The Magic Xylophone' all the way up to 'Baby Races'. Add your own alternate names for the episodes! This is an activity you can do by yourself or if you're an adult with a disability and love to cherish happy memories (and also loves Bluey as much as I do).
TV series episodes are good, so why not turn your favourite TV episode of your favourite children's show into an epic playbill? For example, you could have a playbill for the Max & Ruby episode 'Bunny Cakes' with Max and Ruby making cakes while glaring at each other cheekily, or for the Peg & Corn episode 'Carrot Club' you can have Peg and Corn dressed up as carrots waving signs with carrots on them, or the episode 'Comic Catastrophe' you can have Peg and Corn bursting out of a comic book dressed up as heroes. Or maybe you could do an epic playbill for episodes of my favourite shows, like Scream Street, Bluey, Strange Hill High, Love Monster, Dog Loves Books, Kipper, My Pride and Esme & Roy! Download and print the playbill template to help get you started.
Once, Mother Teresa said "If you can't feed 100 people, then feed just one." That scene in The Dengineers Christmas Special of the entire crew gathering with Astrid for a Christmas feast has given me an idea of how you can set up your very own Christmas picnic feast! First, make some jam and cheese sandwiches, then you can make my favourite treat - sausage rolls! Give it a go and be like Astrid - eat! Drink! Be merry!
In Nativity 2, a teacher and his best buddy take a school full of kids on an epic adventure across the countryside to a choir concert. How would you like to host a Christmas treasure trail at home? Join in with this activity on how to make a treasure map and get your Christmas treasure hunting gear on!
The first was somehow kind of a follow up to my dream about falling asleep under a white bird's wings. Luke, Resus, Cleo, Luella and Six and I were in the mountains near the forest swimming in the lake at sunset. It was all calm and peaceful, and the water was brightly shining in the light of the sun. We were all naked (except Cleo because she wears bandages) and we had a fun time splashing each other in the peacefulness of the mountains, sometimes lying in the water and gazing up at the sky. After this relaxing natural session in the water, we lay snuggled together on the surface of the lake and fell asleep. I'm sure something's calling to me. Nature is. It's telling me that Scream Street will air new episodes on March 22nd! Is it? I'm sure it is. Now for the second dream, this one is a bit more festive...
I saw Timmy's Christmas Surprise yesterday morning, but tomorrow I'm going to watch Topsy & Tim's Christmas Eve and Mouse & Mole At Christmas Time at Grandma's. I didn't see Christmas In Storyland, but what I can tell you is that I had a dream relating to it and the Scooby Doo movie that'll air on Boxing Day, Scooby Doo & The Goblin King.
The Scooby Gang and I were wandering Storyland, a part of the North Pole filled with rainbows, Christmas trees and giant candy canes stuck in the snow, where all the world's stories were made, including gritty and boring ones like classic original published versions of things like The Jungle Book. In the Storyland workshop, we saw a giant book that allowed us to write any kind of story we want, including rewriting Scooby Doo & The Goblin King to make it look like Noddy's Magic Holiday, an old Noddy vinyl record. Boy, was it fun!
If you found that storybook, what story will YOU write in it?
To join in with the fun, head to the CBeebies website and download the Christmas Pyjama Party Pack here:
