Kids eating healthy

Every parent knows kids need good nutrition to properly grow their bodies as well as their minds. Good foods help them do better at home and at school. But if you have children like mine, getting those healthy foods in to the kids is not as easy as it sounds. Given the choice, my kids will take the store bought (high sugar and low nutrition) cookies over something that looks like one of mom's healthy "treats."

So figuring out how to get more nutrition in to them has become a new hobby. We are by no means a "totally health conscious family" - but we are trying to make some changes for the better.  Here are some tips and ideas that I have recently discovered that are helping us make better choices:

1. Don't buy the junk food in the first place. If it's not in the house, it's not an option. Kids (or parents) cannot be tempted to eat what isn't there. (I am a coupon shopper, this may be more difficult for those looking to save money on "cheap" snacks - just keep in mind, those highly processed foods that have coupons save you money on the purchase price, but your kids may be getting exactly the nutrition that you pay for and that could cost you more long term)

2. Portion size. Most Americans do not realize what a "serving" should be. Just because it is in a single container, doesn't  mean we need to eat the whole package. Look at the label. Teach your kids to look at the label.  My kids were shocked to find out that the nutrition information (fat, sugar, carbs, calories...) were all based on a set amount. Those calories come from 15 potato chips, not the entire bag. There may be 2 servings in that can of soda or juice. When they ask for a snack they now understand they get "one serving" of whatever food it is they are asking for.

3. Have healthy snack options easily available. Make it just as easy to grab a healthy snack as it was to grab a bag of chips or candy.
        -Have individual portion size snacks available in the pantry and the fridge.
        -Pre-cut apple slices and put them in small containers covered with pineapple juice and water. They
          will not turn brown and they stay crisp for up to a week (we found straight pineapple juice affected
          the taste too much).
        -Make your own muffins and breads (with healthy ingredients) instead of buying donuts or high
          fat/sugar muffins. You can individually package them just as easy. And freeze them in Tupperware
          type containers. Just let them thaw on the counter or microwave for 10 seconds.
        -Make fruit smoothies and freeze them in popsicle molds (even paper cups and a craft still will do)

Frozen tropical fruit mix from Walmart, frozen strawberries, frozen blueberries, frozen bananas, about 1 cup of Pom Juice (and a hand full of spinach, but I'm not telling the kids:)

4. Help the budget by buying on sale. You can take advantage of the summer fruit deals and freeze them for later. It is usually easiest to clean the fruit, remove seeds, and basically make them ready to eat and then "flash freeze" them. Basically that means spreading them out on a tray and freezing them individually and then, after they are frozen, put them into a freezer bag or container. That way when you want just a few blueberries, you can take out a few without having to defrost the whole block.

5. Get the kids involved. I have one of "those kids". You know, the ones who would live on chicken nuggets and pizza. She has not eaten a vegetable voluntarily since the day she was born. But when we planted a garden (lettuce, spinach, green beans and peas), I started to discover the pea pods (shells) surrounding the garden when I went out to water. My picky eater was eating peas! She wasn't thrilled about the lettuce or green beans, but by golly she ate the peas. Next winter we will plant several:). This kid hates oatmeal and bananas. But this morning she offered to make banana muffins. Well, my recipe has bananas of course, but also oatmeal. She made the muffins, ate the muffins, AND said she liked them. Get kids involved in the growing and preparing of healthy foods and just maybe they'll actually like the end product.

6. Taste test - often. Repeated exposure will often help kids develop a liking. For years my picky eater wouldn't touch broccoli without gagging on it. Not dramatic, just a reflex, she's done it on any soft food since she was a baby. Then I realized, I was only giving it to her cooked. So I cut it raw. She was NOT happy with the texture of the florets either. Then a stroke of brilliance hit me, it's broccoli from top to bottom. So what if I strip the hard part off the stem and slice the inside of the stem like chips. It worked. She liked it. And she didn't choke on it. So now when I steam broccoli for everyone else, I peel the stems and 2 of my kids eat broccoli chips. Another mom suggested to me to take kids to a natural market and let them pick out things to taste. Or pick out a fruit like oranges and get several different kinds. By accident, this is how we discovered our love for Asian Pears. They have the sweetness of pears, but are crispy (not mushy for already identified picky eater).

7. Sneak in healthy foods where you can.
     -Pureed sweet potato or spinach in spaghetti sauce (use baby food if you don't have good blender)
     -Use applesauce instead of oil in baked goods (play with amounts, but I've used just applesauce in
       some recipes and they come out just fine)
     -Mix pancake batter in the blender and put in bananas or if you want pink ones, add strawberries
     -Offer grated zucchini as a salad mix in

I asked my homeschool group for ideas and here are some links for additional ideas and recipes
Deceptively Delicious
  I hear that the chocolate chip cookies (with garbonzo beans) are great and kid approved!
Green Smoothie Girl
Sneaky Chef

Color-coded kids??

How many times have you found a pair of scissors (or pencils, or cup, or ... you fill in the blank) in the living room and nobody will admit to leaving them there?  You don't know who it belongs to because it's just a pair of scissors. We resolved this in our house by having every kid pick a favorite color. Each child needs their own color and the colors should be basic, for instance "blue" and not "sky blue".

Once each child has a color, buy everything possible in each kid's color. Some examples of what we have done:

1. Drinking cups
2. Bath towel and washcloth (no they don't match the bathroom decor. We've learned to deal with it).
3. Pack of school pencils
4. Stapler
5. Paper clips
6. Tape dispenser
7. Pencil boxes for individual sets of Sharpies, markers, etc. (Each pen is color-coded too)
8. Scissors
9. Notebooks
10. Book covers
11. Boxes and bins to store stuff in in their room
12. Lunch containers
13. Travel mugs/cups

Following this color scheme, we can also mark items that normally couldn't be labeled. When we go camping or on a picnic and we go through several water bottles, we use colored pony-tail holders from the dollar store around the neck of the bottle. They are easily slipped on and off as we go through bottles.

When we traveled with younger kids, each of them had a rolling backpack or bin in their color (or with their color ribbons tied to the handle or striped in Duct Tape) to contain all of their stuff in the airplane or car.  When we used our travel currency, their assigned poker chip color was their everyday color at home.

Color-coding takes the guess work out of who the "lost" items belong to... if  a red stapler is found in the living room with no child in site, anybody who finds it knows to put it on the owner's desk chair (or a parent may confiscate it and know who to charge if they want it back - but that's another post).

Angry Birds Party

12x12 cake trays made with scrapbooking paper and laminated with clear Contact paper before putting cupcakes on top.

Cupcakes put in bird/pig shape and then frosted as one piece to make a pull apart cake

Facial features made with marshmallow fondant (recipe from Pinterest)



Decorations:
*Paint birds on the window by enlarging pattern and hanging on the other side of the window. Paint solid colors first and then outline in black
* Print bird faces and put on balloons or balls
* Use Christmas ornaments made for outside (plastic) for black birds
* Bird colored streamers
* Large cardboard boxes or building blocks with stuffed animal pigs
* Plates - plain green and add paper snout and circle punches eyes, add eyebrows with permanent marker

Games/Activities
* Bird shooters and paper box pigs
   We used bird colored pom poms for the birds
* Angry Bird Live!
   Pig faces painted on large green T-shirts
   Bird faces painted on red and yellow balls
   Pigs climb on play structure and birds are thrown at them. After set time, switch places

Custom scrapbook by Wild About Scrapbooking

I spy bottle

Use a wide mouth, clear, plastic bottle (objects inside of bottle need to fit through the opening).

Scan or take pictures of every object you are putting in to the bottle.

Print 2 of each picture (this is your key of what to look for in the bottle)

Cut out the pictures (I used a circle punch) and glue them back to back with a loop of ribbon, as a "tag"

Put objects into bottle and fill almost full with birdseed

Use loops on pictures to hook them to a key ring that fits over the bottle top.

Use a good glue or epoxy to glue the lid on the bottle when you are done - no spilled seed:)

Keyring of what to look for can be easily removed leaving all of the bottle exposed for searching.

Options:

* Use little plastic animals for a "zoo bottle"

* Use theme items (like the Disney sample - I used Jibbits for Crocs) to make a theme bottle

* Collect small items on a road trip and create a memory bottle as you go. When you get home, take your pictures and then fill with birdseed.

Summer Activities

It's HOT outside, here are some hot weather ideas...

* "Paint" with water on the sidewalk! Just get a container of water and a paintbrush and let the kids have at it.

* Puree and freeze fruit in popsicle molds (even paper cups with a craft stick will do)

* Water balloon fights

* Discovery blocks (freeze small plastic objects in a large plastic container - when frozen solid, set outside and kids chisel out the prizes)

*Scavenger hunt for "tickets" hidden around the house or yard. Use the tickets to buy water balloons from the "Cool off station"

*Toddlers - put ice cubes in the tray of a stationary saucer type toy. You can also put a little water in the bottom for their feet to splash in (there are usually holes in the bottom for drainage, so there won't be a lot of water accumulation)

* Toddlers - going to a sandy place like a beach or lake? Take a small blow up kiddie pool and put the toddler in there with some water (or not depending on the age). Little pool specifically for them stays clean longer than in and out of the sandy shore.

* Water tag - tape single squares of toilet tissue or facial tissue to the T-shirts of all players. Use water guns or squirters to "tag" opponents. When all of your targets are wet and have fallen off, you're out.

First Post

My first blog... wow. Hopefully soon this will be a resource place for parents and teachers.

With a background spent primarily with preschoolers, we needed a place to share ideas and activities relating to older kids. So you will find activities, recipes, tips and just plain fun stuff for kids of all ages.

Enjoy!