Disco dough

Both my children had play-dates scheduled for this afternoon. While my son and his pal settled in upstairs for a Lego-thon, Daisy patiently waited and waited for her friend to arrive - but her little chum never showed up.

I had to pull something dazzling out of the bag to lift her spirits and distract her from the lack of a friend over to play. Thanks to The Sleepy Time Gal's blog, which I'd read earlier today, I had the answer: home-made play dough.

We didn't do the aromatherapy variety as featured on the blog - no essential oils to hand - but I did have glitter. Offering Daisy the chance to make some dazzling disco dough was the clincher that got her smiling again and making plans. See the wonderful Imagination Tree's children using glittery play dough here.

We adapted Martha Stewart's recipe as featured in The Sleepy Time Gal's post and added food colouring and a disco dose of glitter. It was a lovely, sensuous experience kneading in the pastel colour and sparkly glimmer to the warm fresh dough.

When Daisy's disco dough was ready she decided we were going to have a cake stall 'like at school'. She made posh lady cupcakes...

Ribena milk-shakes (with ice)...

... and 99 ice creams.

I sourced the extra ingredients - buttons, pony beads, feathers - and made a few cardboard cones. She spent a happy hour making and chatting about her creations.

She also made a couple of spacecraft cupcakes for the Lego-boys and my son's play-date then asked if he could make a cupcake too. It seems no one can resist the lure of Daisy's dazzling disco dough.