Winter Flowers

I don't know about you but I am ready for spring. I am ready to see the new leaves come out on the trees, have a sunny and slightly warm day, I am ready to plant some seeds with the kids and start watching them grow and I want to see plants sprouting and turning into flowers. Well I can't make any of those things happen, but I can get the kids to make me a bouquet of "flowers" for my table to add a little color and a big smile to my face every time I see them.

Today's craft is simple and yields very fun results. I encourage you to add or take away any elements from this that you would like.

What you need:
An empty egg carton with the individual egg places torn apart from each other (see the picture)
Glue
Paint
Paint brushes
Pipecleaners
Any odd and end craft decorations you have we used:
        Beads
        Buttons
        Small pieces of tissue paper
        Glitter and glitter glue
        Little fuzzy colorful balls
        Small pieces of cut up yarn

What you do:
First you make a hole in the bottom of the egg carton cup

Second you put the pipecleaner through the hold about 1/4 of the way down the length of the pipecleaner leaving enough room to secure it.

Either fold the pipe-cleaner so that it will reach back around to the "stem" and twist to secure or fold it in the center of the flower to crimp it and secure it. We also tried making a spiral by wrapping it around a finger.

Now you get to start the fun part of decorating the flower. There is no right or wrong to this part just let the kids go for it. This is a great activity to help with fine motor skills and to discuss colors, shapes, sizes, and textures. You could check out a book about plants and flowers and talk about the parts of a flower and compare it to the flowers that your child makes learning science. All of these things will help to increase vocabulary as well as increasing awareness about many concepts. I love how a simple activity can be so developmentally rich.

This craft would be perfect for the upcoming Valentine's Day working as a very cute Valentine to someone who lives near. It also would be good for engaging in a discussion about Earth day and recycling (reusing the egg carton). Mayday would be another great day to give these out, hanging them from the doors of loved ones.

Calories Count

I have never been a calorie counter until my son at 18 months old dropped to the bottom of the growth chart in weight. My daughter did the same thing at the same age. Needless to say I began watching calories a lot but in the opposite direction than most might be. I knew that a lot of their stature was attributed to genetics  and when we went to the Nutritionist and they did a calorie count they were actually taking in more then they should have needed to grow correctly. So we worked and worked on adding as much good fat to the diet as possible and making meal time as much fun as we can.

One thing that shocked me a bit during this process is that it is actually some what difficult to find high calorie foods that do not have a ton of bad fats or sugar in them. For example most yogurt aimed towards children is low-fat and has tons of sugar in it. Children actually really need good healthly fat, it is very important to their proper growth (actually all of us do it helps brain functioning, skin health, and mood). Luckily I tend to make most of my own food anyway so I usually would just buy a whole fat item and do the rest myself. Whole fat plain yogurt with honey and frozen berries works like a charm.

Another way that I went about getting my little ones to eat more calories was to try and find new ways to eat the same old foods. Eating time is also great because there are many other developmental tasks that take place during this time. This particular recipe uses fine motor skills, gross motor skills, social interaction, imaginative play, learning about the five senses, and confidence building because this is something they can create and eat on their own (with the exception of cutting the apple).

The Apple Pizza Snack

One apple sliced into thin rounds (see picture below)
Nut butter or nut butter substitute (yogurt, sunflower seed butter)
Shredded coconut (we like unsweetened)
Raisins
Dried cranberries
Any other "toppings"

Set up for you kid to spread the sauce (nut butter) and add the toppings (shredded coconut & dried fruit)

My kids LOVE this but they usually eat the dried fruit separately. Enjoy!