Reviewed by
Roxie
Little Crumbs create eco-conscious, cookery, and nature subscription boxes for little ones aged 3-10. They also have a shop full of wonderful Christmas ideas including educational games and puzzles, as well as ‘Mini Mindful Sets’ to make your own lavender lip balm, candles, and Snow Fairy Potion. There’s also an Enchanted Garden Flower Press Kit and a limited-edition Christmas Eve Box available.
Each monthly box aims to unlock curious minds through activities designed to create magical memories with friends and family while allowing children to explore their senses and connect with nature. October’s box contained a recipe for ‘Lola’s Mummy Pies’, a short story, a scavenger hunt, and instructions on how to make your own peg fairy and noughts and crosses game. Materials included all the dry ingredients for our spooky mummy pies (flour, icing sugar, cornflour, edible icing eyes, and dried cherries, figs, dates, and cranberries), a wooden peg, wool, a small canvas bag, a pot of paint, and a paintbrush.
When Penny opened her box, she was so excited to find all our activity cards in a personalised envelope with her name on it. Penny has just started Primary 1 and has been learning to write her name. She recognised it straight away and was absolutely thrilled that the box was made ‘just for her’. These are the thoughtful added touches that made the whole experience extra special.
Each box includes an illustrated short story, this month we received ‘The Gnomes of the Garden’ which Penny really enjoyed and added to her library. I love how the crafts activities inside relate to the story and there is also a collectible character card featuring information about ‘Banli Barkhide’ (one of the gnomes in this month’s story) and a scavenger hunt. The scavenger hunt encouraged Penny to look for mushrooms, conkers, berries, pumpkins, and sycamore seeds on our walk back from school.
The craft activities required us to go on a mini-adventure to the woods. Penny collected all kinds of natural objects including leaves, twigs, stones, and acorns. She loves our walks to the woods and having a ‘secret mission’ really encouraged her to explore her surroundings, as well be more observant and conscious about the world around her. We used our materials to create a peg fairy with George (one of the characters from the story) and make and play our own game of noughts and crosses using our stones and acorns as counters.
The cooking activity came with straightforward, detailed, easy-to-follow instructions and lots of opportunities for Penny to assess risk, explore her senses and get messy. I love baking with Penny as it teaches her valuable life skills, however, I very rarely get the opportunity to do so. Just the thought of running around finding ingredients, planning what to make, washing up, and finding the equipment when I’ve got her little sister running around, dinner to make, and work to get ready for is exhausting. Little Crumbs help make the activity as hassle-free and fun as possible for both child and carer.
This month we made ‘Lola’s Mummy Pies’. All I needed was butter, a mixing bowl, a cutter (a cup could be used), a saucepan and a wooden spoon. Penny’s favourite part was rubbing the butter into the flour. She really took ownership of this recipe. I did very little apart from creating a safe environment and supervising her when we used the hob. Yes, she even used the hob! Obviously with me hovering above her and ready to pounce at the slightest movement but she felt like a ‘big girl’ and was full of confidence as we talked about hygiene and safety throughout. I forget sometimes how intuitive and independent she can be, even at only 5-years-old! We had such a lovely afternoon and it really made me appreciate how much of a clever and gentle little person she’s growing up to be.
We made disks out of the dough, spooned our fruity sauce inside and crisscrossed strips of pastry over to represent the bandages. We then added our edible icing eyes. The best part? Penny, my notoriously fussy eater, actually ate three of our pies! It was fantastic to see her experiment with new flavors and textures.
By Mary 
By Evelyn 
