Cinnamon Dough Ornaments

Hello all! Madelyn came home from preschool with the BEST smelling handmade Christmas ornament, plus it was SUPER cute since she made it herself! We promptly hung it on the tree in a grand spot! I, of course, HAD to contact her class and find out just HOW they made these awesome ornaments.....and now I am sharing it with you. This is not a new thing apparently, and is made all the time, but it is new to me and maybe it will be new to you too....so here you go!

1/2 cup cinnamon
1/2 cup store bought applesauce (homemade sauce will likely be too watery)

Or, any equal portions of both ingredients depending on the quantity you desire.

Directions:
Stir together cinnamon and applesauce with a spoon until the dough becomes stiff, then use your hands to create a ball of dough.

Place the ball of dough on a sheet of waxed paper, flatten slightly with your fingers.
Place a second sheet of waxed paper over the top of the dough and roll out dough to about 1/8 inch thick.

Use cookie cutters or your own template shapes. We also used a straw to make the hole on top for the ribbon.

Air dry creations on a waxed paper-covered cookie sheet or a cooling rack for at least 24 hours until they are completely hard.

Creative tips:
For extra "sparkle," mix in decorative glitter.
Make your own shapes by trimming the dough with a table knife following around patterns you've cut from cereal box cardboard.
After cutting out shapes, use a drinking straw to create holes for jewelry or ornaments.
Use toothpicks to make smaller holes for threading. Leave in dough until dry and remove.
For a wall hanging, thread a colored ribbon through the shape.
For a brooch, decorate with fabric paint and glue a metal clasp pin to the back (available at craft stores).
Decorate creations with acrylic paint or fabric.
The creations can be used as decorations on a gift box or bag.

St. Jude Trike-A-Thon

Today is the St. Jude Trike-A-Thon at Madelyn's preschool! Go Maddy! Pedal away! You should see all of these little 2, 3, and 4 year olds riding bikes and trikes in circles making "laps" to raise money! The sweet thing is that all of them know that they are riding to help sick kids! Too cute! Hopefully pics to come soon!

Is My Child Ready for School?

What Does a Kindergarten Program Expect?

Although the list below is helpful in assessing your child’s skills, it’s not a checklist for success or failure. By knowing our children’s strengths and mastered skills and the opinions of their teachers and pediatricians, we are better equipped to decide when our children should begin school. The list below includes minimum expectations of a typical school:

• Separates easily from parent
  


• Interacts well with other children


• Takes turns


• Shares


• Speaks clearly in complete sentences


• Says full name


• Tells age


• Toilet trained


• Puts on and removes outerwear with little or no help


• Manipulates snaps, buttons, and zippers on clothing


• Follows sequenced directions with two or three steps


• Listens carefully and obeys the teacher


• Listens to a story in a group for 10-15 minutes


• Focuses on an activity independently for 10-15 minutes


• Works cooperatively in a small group


• Functions effectively in a large group


• Recognizes and names primary colors


• Uses crayons and markers


• Writes first name


• Uses scissors


• Counts most numerals up to 10


• Recognizes many letters of the alphabet

The best advice is to take a tour of the schools that your child may attend or go to a kindergarten open house. In addition, talk to parents who have children attending the school.

Helping Children Succeed at Their Job as Children

Our Job as Parents

Much of what gets children into trouble is "doing their job" in a way that drives us crazy or could result in harm to people or things. Exploration of a new world and testing new powers is not always pretty. Development is not pain free — there will be bumps and bruises and heartache.

So what is our job? Our job is to offer each child the opportunity to continually learn what they need to know and do in order to thrive. If they are to step out and take advantage of what the world has to offer, they need:

• Opportunities for practice and mastery of tasks that support their emerging skills and understanding


• A sensory rich, aesthetically pleasing world filled with conversation and written language


• A place where exploration and discovery of the natural world, toys and games, and activities with machines, household objects, and experimentation with various media of expression are commonplace


• Ample opportunities to use and test all of their motor skills, both large and small


• People who they care for and trust

Our job is to be patient, protective (but not too protective), and encouraging of their adventures, while providing guidance and a safe yet challenging world at their fingertips.

Where Does Our Food Come From?

Ty, age 4, stared with wonder at the long orange vegetable with the big green leaves coming out of the top. “What is this?” he asked his Dad. His Dad replied, “That’s a carrot.” “That’s a carrot??” asked Ty. “I thought carrots were those little orange things that come in plastic bags.”

Recent marketing data has shown that there has been an upsurge this year in families planting vegetable gardens. Hard economic times have been leading more of us back to the backyard garden. In tough times, backyard gardens make a lot of sense, but they make sense for more than financial reasons. Many children have never had experience with where food comes from.
A by-product of less and less time outdoors, a trend for many U.S. families, is that fewer children get first-hand experience with food sources. In days past, more of us had backyard gardens or visited a farm of family members or friends. We may have gotten to pick apples from the tree or ground, collect eggs from the hen house, or harvest beans off the plants. Today, many children only experience food coming from a grocery store.

Reconnecting our children to food’s origins can build their conceptual understanding of food sources, while also providing an opportunity to talk about healthy eating and learn about the environmental implications of growing organically or transporting food long distances. Here are a few suggestions to introduce these ideas to your children:

Plant your own garden which can be as small or large as you would like. Even having one cherry tomato plant in a container on your porch or patio gives your child a chance to experience the growing and harvesting cycle. Some regions sponsor community or urban gardens where several families who don’t have gardening space can farm a small plot together.

Join a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) group. Many farms now offer locally grown, often organic, foods by subscription. A family purchases a “share” of a local farm and receives a bag or box of fresh fruits and veggies that they pick up each week. Purchasing shares help guarantee the farmer’s subsistence and the food is seasonal and fresh off the farm. The pick-up place for the vegetables is often the farm itself. This can become a fun and educational experience for your children. The foods each week may include some you or your children have never seen before like turnips, kale, or red beets; but learning more about these foods can become a family educational adventure. Some CSAs also offer opportunities to work on the farm.

Visit the local farmers' market with your children. While your children probably won’t get to see where the actual food is grown, they will typically see unpackaged foods and some foods they are unfamiliar with. They may even get to talk to the farmer.

Consider eating one “seasonal” meal each week. This would mean only using fruits and vegetables that are in season, not grown in different climates and not shipped from far away. If you shop at farmers' markets or join a CSA, this is easy, because they only carry seasonal items. Older children might enjoy making a chart of when their favorite fruits and vegetables are available locally and can look forward to their purchase.

Go to http://www.localharvest.org/ for a listing of CSAs and farmers' markets in your area as well as for additional information about organic food and related topics.
For more fun ideas on making the trip to the farmers' market or to pick up your CSA share interesting for your child(ren), read more below:

Encourage conversations between your child and the farmer. Older children can keep a market journal. Questions to ask:

- Where is your farm located?

- What kind of tomato/lettuce/etc. is this?

- When was this vegetable/fruit picked?

- What produce will you have next week?

Engage young children using their senses:

- What does the vegetable/fruit feel like? Is it bumpy or smooth? Is it hard or soft?

- What does the vegetable/fruit look like? What color is it? What shape?

- What does the vegetable/fruit sound like when you tap it? Is it hollow? Does it sound like a drum?

- What does the vegetable/fruit smell like? Does it have a strong smell or no smell?

- What does the vegetable/fruit taste like? Do you think it will be juicy or dry? Sweet or salty? Let’s go home and give it a taste.

Create a Market Scavenger Hunt:

- Create a grocery list before going to the market.

- Have your child help locate the items on the list.

- Use check marks or stickers to show the item as complete.

- Consider a “freebie” square for an item that the child can pick.

Allow children to experience many different markets:

- Talk about the differences and similarities between each.

- Older children can add this to their farmers' market journal.

- Find markets with children’s entertainment or educational events.

- Meet friends for a play date or picnic at the market.

Reinforce the learning at home:

- Have children compare produce from the grocery store with produce from the farmers’ market. Do they look the same? Feel the same? Smell the same? Taste the same?

- Create a “food map.” Using a world or U.S. map, highlight regions by category. Have children mark on the map where the produce they eat in a week comes from. (NOTE: By law, all stores need to label the Country of Origin for all produce).

Green: nearby region/state

Yellow: surrounding area/region

Blue: inside U.S.

Red: outside U.S

- For younger children, read books about planting and farming.

- Help children plant and care for their own vegetable plant.

Cook together.

Older children can help select recipes and help prepare a salad or larger meal from fruits and vegetables they helped select at the farmers' market or from your own garden or CSA.

Yes, It's True. Play Dates Can Be Fun!

Planning play dates

Childhood play dates aren't as tricky as high school dates, but there are some basic guidelines that can help make the experience more successful for you and your child.

Choose a location that allows for active play

Locations that require sitting and being quiet, such as libraries, movie theaters, or performing arts locations can be frustrating for children if their main objective is to play. A home or park are good places to start. Most children could use much more outdoor time.

Limit the number of children

The more children in a playgroup, the more interaction and the greater chance of squabbling. Older children may want to choose whom to invite.

Check assumptions with the other parents

Parents have different opinions about supervision, developmentally appropriate activities, and what's acceptable to snack on. And parents differ on flexibility, tolerance, and ability to stretch to accommodate the diverse ways that families raise their children. "Is it okay for 5-year-olds to play in a fenced backyard with 'from the kitchen window supervision?'" "Are cookies at 3:30 p.m. reasonable?" "Can 4-year-olds play with make-up, video games, or action heroes?"

Schedule an hour or so for the play date

Give children adequate time to warm up to each other and enjoy playing, but be aware that after an hour even the children who are best at sharing can start to tire.

Put away special toys

Before the playmates arrive, let your child chose two or three toys to put away that he will not be required to share. One parent even asks her toddler, "When your friend comes to play, would you like it if you both play with _______ (insert the child's favorite toy that day)?" If the answer is no, that automatically qualifies the toy for "going to sleep" during the play date.

Have multiples of the "cool" toys

Before your child's friend arrives, step back and assess the toys that are out and about. If your child has been gravitating to the toy train set recently, are there two trains? If not, what is your plan if they both want the train? Toys that have multiple units, such as plastic tea sets, building blocks, musical instruments, plastic tool sets, and hand puppets can help alleviate arguments over who gets to have the toy.

Establish a sick policy

Parents have different expectations regarding children and illness. If runny noses aren't welcome, make that clear when you set up the play date. Parents should have no qualms about setting their definition of "sick."

Let children play at their own pace

Although we may be anxious for our young children to play with others, give them time to warm up and accept that young children may choose to play independently.

Supervise closely, but stand back

Let children work out their differences themselves if they are not hurting one another. Kim Wallace, a San Francisco-based writer, suggests these ideas for resolving conflict:

• Don't jump in at the first sign of trouble. Even though you should keep an eye on everything the children do during the play date, small disagreements seldom last long, and if you hang back you'll often find that the children work out their own resolution.



• Intervene rarely, but firmly. If, however, a conflict is escalating into verbal or physical confrontation, it's time to step in. Remain calm and make firm statements like, "I can't let you do that to Kyle." Explain that words and actions that hurt are not acceptable, and then coach the kids on coming up with a compromise to the original problem. If the fighting continues, separate the children for a while or introduce a new activity that's less likely to cause conflict. Here's where suggesting that the children "switch" toys after two minutes, instead of using the word "share" may be helpful.



• Pile on the praise. One way to keep negative behavior to a minimum is to consistently acknowledge good behavior. Make statements such as, "Wow, you were so nice to let Henry play with your favorite train! That made him really happy!"

Have a simple project at your fingertips

Having a simple project at your fingertips is another way to help ensure the play date goes smoothly and the children are content. This way, if the children seem to want, or need, a break, you can let them know you have a surprise in store for them. This may be as simple as making hot cocoa together in the kitchen, collecting acorns and leaves outside, or having a story time. Even school-agers love being read to, inventing their own stories, or planning a performance.

Give an ample good-bye warning

Give your child a five-minute warning before it's time to go. You're more likely to have a smooth transition leaving if he has a chance to finish playing. Give a longer warning if you want to include time for clean up.

Ask the children what they enjoyed

Play dates create conversations. Use the time after the play date to find out what your children enjoy, don't like, and what they would like to do in the future. It's also a good time to talk about how families are alike and different.

As with so much in parenting, keeping a good perspective, a sense of humor, and your wits intact can offset a challenging situation and turn it into an enjoyable one. Keep in mind that play dates become easier after practice. Above all, have fun and don't worry if it doesn't go smoothly, your child will not be removed from the play date list forever! As children get older and more familiar with people and places away from home, they're able to have play dates where we drop them off for a few hours alone. And those are the very best play dates of all...except when it's time to host the play date at your house.

The Importance of the Outdoors in Children's Lives

The Importance of the Outdoors in Children's Lives

Millions of children are only allowed outdoors with close supervision. In many areas, even the backyard or front stoops are viewed as perilous. Many children come home from school and watch television and may learn more about nature from television shows such as "Survivor" or "Gilligan's Island" than from the workings of their own backyard — that marvelous ecosystem teeming with life. They may know more about exotic animals on the Discovery Channel or farm animals on PBS than the snails, squirrels, birds, worms, and bugs that live outside their windows.

Daniel Janzen, the world’s foremost tropical biologist writes: “Here's what nature does for us no matter who we are or where we live...Human animals carry around this big brain, this big device for processing input. Part of our ability to use that device depends on the complex stimuli that challenged it throughout our evolution. Nature — whatever is out there, from a single tree to a whole forest — provides a big wad of the possible information that we can process. If you diminish nature, you diminish the diversity of those stimuli. When we don’t get input from nature, we don’t end up having much sense of smell, hearing, or vision. Television becomes our reality. We can survive on that and do, but it is not nearly as complex…When we diminish nature, we turn off lots of things in our own heads…Over the past 10 or 15 years, I’ve been bothered by the fact that Americans think that they’re getting nature through TV — all those shows that bring the elephants and tigers right into the living rooms. This Musak nature destroys the reality of people’s experience outdoors. When they are actually in nature, it’s disappointing, because the big spectacular stimuli aren’t coming as fast as they do on television...” (Gallagher, W. The Power of Place: How Our Surroundings Shape Our Thoughts, Emotions, Actions. NY: Simon and Schuster.1993, p.206).

Whether or not your child learns to love the outdoors boils down to priorities and will. The purpose of life is, after all, to inhale and to live it fully and reach out eagerly without fear for new experiences. Open the back door. Walk through a park. Get out of the car. Our children deserve our effort.

Cooking with Children: Batter Up

Growing Chefs
So what can you expect from your little bakers, butchers, and sauciers? The cooking activities your child will be able to help with will depend on her age. Keep the following in mind when including young children in cooking activities.

One- to Two-Year-Olds
Make sure they are safely restrained in a high chair and give them samples to taste or smear as you keep up a steady stream of commentary. Look for tasks they might be able to accomplish with your help, such as pouring tiny portions of ingredients (e.g., a quarter cup of milk or water) or simply dropping ingredients into a bowl.

Two-Year-Olds
Two-year-olds are learning to use the large muscles in their arms. Try activities such as:
Scrubbing vegetables and fruits
Carrying unbreakable items to the table
Dipping foods
Washing and tearing lettuce and salad greens
Breaking bread into pieces
Pouring ingredients

Three-Year-Olds
Three-year-olds are learning to use their hands. Try activities such as:
Pouring liquids into batter (which you measure first)
Mixing batter or other dry and wet ingredients together
Shaking liquid in a closed container
Spreading butters or toppings
Kneading dough
Washing vegetables and fruit
Serving foods
Putting things in the trash after cooking or after a meal
Breaking eggs

Four- and Five-Year-Olds
Four- and five-year-olds are learning to control small muscles in their fingers. They are also learning the properties of things (e.g., weight, volume, color, quantity, and so on), the relationships between things, and how substances can be transformed. Try activities such as:
Juicing oranges, lemons, and limes
Peeling some fruits and vegetables (bananas and even onions)
Mashing soft fruits and vegetables
Scrubbing vegetables (potatoes, mushrooms)
Cutting soft foods with table knives (mushrooms, hard-boiled eggs)
Pressing cookie cutters
Measuring ingredients
Sifting or straining
Cracking open/breaking eggs
Beating eggs with an egg beater
Making toast
Setting the table
Wiping up after cooking
Clearing the table after a meal

School-Age Children
This is the age when children often really enjoy helping parents cook; planning menus and helping in the kitchen. Try making things such as:
Pancakes or waffles (from either a mix or from scratch)
Tuna or pasta salad
Macaroni and cheese
Soup — try making some simple ones from scratch or adding vegetables and other ingredients to canned broth
Cookies — allow your child to roll out the dough, use cookie cutters, make free-form shapes, and decorate before or after baking
Vegetables — show your child how to pick out vegetables in the grocery store, and let him decide which ones the family will have at meals (at least some of the time)
Sandwiches — remember to include lettuce, tomato, carrot curls, or another vegetable
Frozen juice pops

Safety Tips for Cooking with Children
Obviously, children of different ages will require different levels of supervision and assistance. But children of all ages, even school age, need the presence of an adult in the kitchen when cooking, especially when you are using the oven or stove. As with any activity, children tend to get excited and can be impulsive or impatient. It takes a lot of adult patience and reminding to make cooking with children a safe and enjoyable experience. Here are a few ideas about how to keep you and your child safe:

1. Prevent food poisoning by:
Always washing hands before cooking
Not eating raw eggs
Waiting until the food is cooked before sampling it; do not sample uncooked foods
Always washing cutting boards

2. Pay attention to your child’s body position and center of gravity. Have your child stand at the level of the activity. Bring in a small table if necessary at which the child can stand or kneel. Use a secure stool or chair if necessary, but watch the child carefully.

3. Use cooking supplies that will not break, such as plastic measuring cups and stainless steel bowls.

4. For young children, use plastic knives or butter knives for spreading or cutting soft foods. But remember, the cutting instruments need to be able to accomplish their task. As children gain in experience and maturity, they can be taught to handle kitchen tools safely.

5. Expect spills and messes.

6. Provide constant supervision. Always watch your children when they use knives, mixers, or other equipment. Closely supervise the use of ovens, stoves, and other kitchen appliances. Remind children that stoves, ovens, pans, and dishes can be very hot.

Simple Recipes for Helping Hands
So what do you cook? The first cooking experience can be as simple as preparing a powered drink mix or Jell-O®, or a little more adventurous like making bread. Some common choices: cinnamon toast (butter and cinnamon mixed with sugar), Jell-O, pudding, cookies, brownies, fudge, muffins, pancakes, French toast, hard-boiled eggs, milk shakes, or smoothies. Here are three child-tested ideas to try:

Bread in a Bag
2 1/2 cups of whole-wheat flour or white flour
1 tablespoon yeast
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons honey
1 cup warm water
1 clear bag

1. Place only 1 cup of the flour, yeast and salt into zip lock bag.

2. Seal and shake bag until well mixed.

3. Open bag and add vegetable oil, honey, and warm water.

4. Squeeze out as much air as you can and reseal bag. Squeeze bag with your hand to mix the contents until smooth.

5. Open bag and add remaining flour.

6. Again, squeeze out as much air as you can. Seal bag. Knead contents for 10 to 15 minutes.

7. Place bag in a warm place. Cover with a clean towel. Let dough rise until doubled, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

8. Grease bread pan.

9. When bread is ready, punch down and remove from bag.

10. Put dough into the greased bread pan.

11. Cover with a clean towel. Let rise until it's just above the rim of the pan.

12. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

13. Let cool.

14. Enjoy!

Waldorf Salad
1 stalk celery
1 apple
1 cup seedless grapes, cut in half
1 banana
1 orange
1 cup low-fat lemon yogurt

Have children wash the celery, apple, and grapes. Children can peel the banana and orange. An adult should cut the fruit and celery into bite-size pieces. Have children place fruit and celery in a large bowl. Add yogurt and mix well.

Funny, Fruity Pizzas
Low-fat mozzarella cheese slices (1 slice per child)
English muffins, sliced in half (1 half per child)
Fruit (an apple, banana, orange, or seedless grapes)
Have the children wash the fruit. Children can peel bananas and oranges or pluck grapes from their stems. An adult should cut the fruit into small pieces.

Split the English muffins. Give each child one half. Have the children place a slice of cheese on each muffin. Toast the English muffins until the cheese melts. Have each child top his or her muffin with fruit.

Children love being involved with cooking and preparing food. That's part of why they are so likely to be in our way when we are in the kitchen. They are interested in what we are doing, so invite them in and get cooking!

Additional Resources
The National Network for Child Care offers several great recipes for kids, from bahama bagels to wiggly finger wonderfuls!

Check out FamilyFun.com for meal ideas you can cook with and for kids!

KidsHealth.org offers vegetarian recipes, as well as recipes for kids with particular allergies or health conditions.

Creating A Strong Family Culture While Working

Hello again! Madelyn's preschool/daycare puts our email newsletters and I really like this one, so I thought I would share.....again! Enjoy!

Creating A Strong Family Culture While Working
Developing a family culture and growing healthy children is more than sharing information. It is about sharing feelings as well. In The Working Mother’s Guide to Life: Strategies, Secrets, and Solutions, Linda Mason emphasizes that family life flourishes with intimacy and honesty. By showing our children the breadth and depth of our emotions, we allow them to develop a broader range of emotional reactions as well. Sharing life stories, personal interests, and relaxed time with our children can help us appear real and accessible to them. Through this, we create a bond with our child that is based on intimacy and honesty.

Creating Intimacy In Your Home
Mason writes, “Young children love to be around other people, most particularly their parents, and they are drawn to cozy corners and nooks – intimate family spaces.” Consider the space of your own home and remember that bigger is not always better. To create an intimate setting, Mason suggests creating two small spaces for your young child: a writing area and a book area. This emphasizes the importance of reading and writing and gives your child his own space for these activities.

Writing area: can be a corner of your kitchen counter with a box of pencils, crayons, markers, paper, and envelopes so your child can draw and write whenever she wants.
Reading area: create an inviting book area with a basket or shelf of children’s books and a comfortable cushion or chair.

Television can work against maintaining a strong family culture, or create a diminished culture that misses out on lively interaction. Yes, television can be an educational and relaxing experience, and even create shared family experiences, but it is important to monitor what our children watch. Most anything else that involves physical activity, reading, or social interaction is a better choice. Ultimately, if your child is in a structured child care or school setting, some unstructured playtime at home, without resorting to the TV, would be much better.

However we choose to create a strong family culture – inventing unique family rituals, continuous verbal family bonding, or designing intimate family settings – the real values lie in the focused family time spent together. Such occasions will develop into cherished family moments for everyone.