As your busy little bees start preparing for the beginning of a whole new school year, it seems as though there is a huge list of things that have to get done, but are not really fun. Here are a few things that will put a smile on both your and their faces… and make back to school a much more enjoyable experience!
Jazz it up! Instead of buying a new lunchbox and pencil case, try decorating last year’s! Give it a whole new look. Start by taking a trip to your nearest arts and crafts supply store and picking up some glitter glue or fabric paint along with other decorations. Spend an afternoon transforming last years boring lunchbox in to this year’s super cool, uniquely self-decorated lunch box. It will be different to everyone else’s, and you will have less trouble finding it amongst all of the others!!
Mighty muffins! Reduce the morning breakfast chaos by making a variety of muffins in advance and then freezing them. Of course, everyone has a favourite. Below I have included my favourite oatmeal muffin recipe. It is from a cook book that I worked on with cookbook author Norene Gilletz (Norene’s Healthy Kitchen). The recipes calls for ½ cup dried cranberries or raisins, but you can substitute that for a ½ cup of your family’s favourite add-in (see notes below for ideas). If you are not an experienced baker and would prefer, you can purchase a muffin mix from the store. I would recommend an oatmeal or an all-purpose mix. These two will taste great with any additions.
Double Oats Cranberry Muffins
You will need:
1 cup whole wheat or all-purpose flour
¾ cup rolled oats
¼ cup oat bran cereal
1 ¼ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon (I use 2-3 tsp…my kids love cinnamon!!!)
1 large egg (or 2 egg whites)
1/3 cup canola oil
½ cup lightly packed brown sugar
1 cup plain non-fat yogurt (flavoured yogurt would work too!)
½ cup dried cranberries or raisins
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 400F. Spray compartments of a muffin pan with a non-stick cooking spray (or line with paper liners).
2. In a food processor fitted with the steel blade, combine the flour, oats, oat bran, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon; process for 5 seconds to blend. Add the egg, oil, brown sugar and yogurt; process for 25-30 seconds or until smooth and blended. Stir in the cranberries or your own additional ingredient with a rubber spatula.
3. Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin pan, filling each compartment three quarters full. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and spring back when lightly touched.
Yield: 12 muffins.
Notes:
This recipe scan be doubled easily
The muffins freeze well for up to 3 months
Some delicious add-ins include: shredded carrots, semi-sweet chocolate chips, blueberries, strawberries or raspberries or mixed berries, grated apple and / or shredded cheese.
Use re-sealable plastic bags and labels, when freezing…that way, on a busy morning you know exactly which muffins are where!
Lessen the stress! Here are some tips to help make the transition into the new school year a little easier on everyone…
1. Getting back to basics with bedtime: If your children have been keeping summer hours, like mine, and going to bed later than usual… try to start putting them into bed at a more “school suitable” time.
2. Becoming locker savvy: This year my daughter has a locker for the first time… I have taken the time to let her practice with her combination lock, so that on the first day she will not be anxious about it!
3. Friendly faces make for a great first day…During the summer, kids often go to camp with different kids than with whom they go to school. Take an afternoon and plan a play date with another child with whom your child will be going to school. By spending time beforehand with a child that may be in their class, they will have a friend to “hang with” on their first day.
4. Everything in moderation…Take your kids to the grocery store and let them pick out some fruits, vegetables and other yummy items that they would like to take in their lunch boxes. They are more likely to eat a lunch that they have played a part in planning. Don’t forget the treats!
5. Fashion Frenzy! Take some time the night before to help the children pick out their clothes for the next day. There is nothing worse than a child wanting to wear their favourite t-shirt for the first day only to find out that it is in the wash!
6. Question Session: Ask your child about their concerns about going back to school…see if you can give them some ideas or answers that may alleviate their anxiety. Some common concerns for kids, especially kids new to a school, include: Where is the bathroom? Will I have a friend in my class? Will I like my new teachers? How does drop-off and pick-up work?
There is definitely a lot of joy and trepidation associated with the start of a new school year. I find that being organized and maintaining consistency seems to lessen my anxiety and the whole family’s. Kids are smart and very perceptive. If we appear calm, ready and confident, they will feel the same way. Their attitude towards the start of the school year will be one filled with positivity and excitement. Full Steam Ahead!!! (… and good luck!!)
Shelley Sefton is a chef, recipe developer & creator of “Yummy in my Tummy” - classes for kids that offers them the opportunity to experience exciting adventures in the kitchen – combining education, art, food and most important of all FUN! Contact: (905) 597-0672 or sdsefton@rogers.com.
Kindergarten: giving our little one’s some ”serious independence”
When I think about Kindergarten the first word that comes to mind is independence…. This is a word that is both scary to a child who is about to enter kindergarten and to the parents of that child. For the child… it means they need to start learning to do things on their own… for the parent, they need to allow their child to start doing things on their own. I have had two children so far in this situation. My daughter was very excited to go to kindergarten. She was going with one of her good friends and could not wait to start doing “big girl” things. Needless to say every morning for the first three weeks, at drop off, she cried. My son, on the other hand, spent most of the summer prior telling me that he would not be attending kindergarten…he just simply “was not ready”. On the first morning, his teacher grabbed him and hugged him… and away he went. He never looked back. There is only so much we can do as parents to prepare our children for the steps they will take in life and the rest is up to them.
Here are some ideas that may aid in the transition to kindergarten, for your child and for you.
Chores chart
Allowing your child to start doing things for themselves often gives them the confidence to then go into school and know they are capable of accomplishing tasks assigned to them. Make a chart with the days of the week down one side and 3-5 chores along the top. Put a sticker every time they complete a chore and do something special when they have a day or a week where all of their chores have been done. Chores can include helping to set the table, getting dressed themselves, brushing their teeth, cleaning up their toys.
A,B,C & 1,2,3 Cookies During their kindergarten years children will be learning to recognize and name their letters and numbers. A great way to encourage them to learn is to make some cookie dough and to help them shape the dough into different letters of the alphabet. You can also use the dough to make the shapes of numbers 1-9.
Sugar Cookie Dough:
• ½ cup butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 ¾ cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 Tbsp milk or water
• ½ tsp vanilla
• Large and small shaped cookie cutters
• Non-stick spray
Method:
1. Place butter, sugar and egg into mixer and mix until creamy
2. Add flour, baking powder, milk and vanilla and continue to mix until smooth. (you can add some extra flour if dough is too sticky or wet)
3. When dough is ready, place bowl in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes until it is firm
4. Remove dough from the refrigerator and place on a well-floured surface
5. Preheat the oven to 375F and spray a baking sheet with non-stick spray
6. Roll the dough out until it is flat and smooth (I always sprinkle a little flour on the rolling pin before starting, to prevent the dough from sticking to it)
7. Take the dough and shape it into a variety of letters and numbers or take cookie cutters and cut out a variety of shapes
8. Carefully place the cookies on the baking sheet
9. Bake cookies in the oven for 11-14 minutes, until the edges are golden brown in colour
10. Remove from the oven, allow to cool… enjoy!!!
Children will also be learning to identify different shapes in kindergarten so feel free shape the cookie dough into a variety of different shapes such as triangles, squares and circles.
If you are not a baker you can also have a lot of fun shaping play dough into a variety of letters, numbers and shapes.
R & R (Rest and Read)
Looking to spend some good quality time with your cutie pie before he or she is off to school? Summer time offers a great opportunity to start adding reading time into your schedule, while getting in a little snuggle at the same time. In kindergarten, kids start to learn the foundations for reading, and if you already have “reading time” as a part of your everyday schedule, children will embrace this time much better than if they come home with reading and have to fit it in somewhere. Some of my children’s favourites include…
Some tips:
• Pick books about subjects they are interested in
• Try to pick a word you can sound out with them and that they can try recognize throughout the book
Reading with your child also demonstrates to your children the importance of communicating through words
Kindergarten, here we come!
We know we’ll have lots of fun.
Lots of things to make and do.
Reading, writing, counting, too.
Kindergarten, here we come!
We know we’ll have lots of fun.
(dltk-kids.com. Sing to the tune of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”)
Shelley Sefton is a chef, recipe developer & creator of “Yummy in my Tummy” - classes for kids that offers them the opportunity to experience exciting adventures in the kitchen – combining education, art, food and most important of all FUN! Contact: (905) 597-0672 or sdsefton@rogers.com.
(Sung to the tune of “Summertime” by George Gershwin)
Summertime and the living is easy,
Swimsuits, towels and flip-flops,
Make for a super fun day!
Don’t forget your sun block,
A hat and water are needed,
Get outdoors and enjoy yourself,
Summer’s here to stay!
Summertime and the BBQ’s cooking,
There’s buttered corn and hamburgers,
Hotdogs and ketchup too!
Campfires and roasted marshmallows,
Singing songs and dancing.
These are the things that make
Summer fun for me and you!
Well, here we are, the season we spend all of the Winter waiting for… Summer!
There are so many fun things to do in the beautiful warm outdoors. Going to the beach is a great way to spend the day. Get your family together, pack a picnic lunch and head to the beach. If the beach is toofar away, go to your nearest neighbourhood park or even your back yard. I have included a sand art project that my kids and I love to do every summer. You can use beach sand, store-bought sand in bags or you can use salt, which works just as well. To quench your thirst, I have included a delicious and refreshing smoothie recipe with lots of variations to suit each individual’s taste buds.
Sand Art
You will need:
4 cups sand or salt
4 Tupperwares with lids
Food colouring
4 Baking sheets
Wax paper
Bristol board or cardboard
Pencils
White school glue
1 paintbrush
What you need to do:
1. Pour 1 cup of sand into each of the 4 Tupperware containers.
2. Add 3-4 drops of food colouring to each container (a different colour per container).
3. Put the lids on and shake. Place waxed paper on baking sheets and pour sand onto waxed paper. (one colour per baking sheet)
4. Allow 10-12 hours to dry. When dry, pour each colour back into its own Tupperware.
5. Take a piece of firm cardboard and using a pencil draw your very own design or picture.
6. Take white school glue and spread it over your picture. A paintbrush does the job nicely!
7. Using a spoon, sprinkle the coloured sand over the glue and leave it to dry.
8. When it is dry, shake off the excess sand to reveal your work of art!
The sum of all Smoothies
This smoothie recipe allows kids to pick the flavour(s) according to their very own tastes and teaches them how to measure the ingredients. Depending on your level of comfort, you can also let the kids pour the ingredients into the blender and press the power button. Make sure you close the blender lid tightly and hold it closed.
½ cup ice cream or frozen yogurt + ¾ cup milk or frozen juice + 2 cups fruit (banana, mango, berries, melon, pineapple) + 1 cup ice = 2 Smoothies
Finally, when the weather is sweltering and you feel the need to cool off indoors… take a piece of paper and write down the word “SUMMERLICIOUS” across the top. Now, see how many words you can make using the letters in the word! I see the words: simmer, ice and mouse. What do you see?
From me to you: Enjoy your summer!
Eat lots of cool fresh fruit, but be sure to balance it with creamy ice cream.
Take lots of walks and bike rides, but remember to take a nap under a tree.
Go swimming and on adventures, then come home and curl up with a book.
Have BBQs with nutritious food, and then roast marshmallows over the fire.
All in all, enjoy the summer. Try to take in all the fun things that it has to offer.
Remember….. Fall is just around the corner!!!!
Shelley Sefton is a chef, recipe developer & creator of “Yummy in my Tummy” - classes for kids that offers them the opportunity to experience exciting adventures in the kitchen – combining education, art, food and most important of all FUN! Contact: (905) 597-0672 or sdsefton@rogers.com.
Visit our Calendar at http://www.kidsaroundcanada.com/events, to find lots of Victoria Day Weekend family fun, from children’s theatre to fireworks and more.
On May 1st 1941 General Mills introduced Cheerios® as the first ready-to-eat-cereal. It was originally called Cheerioats®. I consider Cheerios® as a food for people of all ages. From toddlers learning to pick them up between two fingers and putting them in their mouths (a great way to develop fine motor skills) to school aged kids and adults eating Cheerios® as an important part of a nutritionally balanced breakfast.
In addition to being an important component of the traditional breakfast meal, Cheerios® can also be used in a variety of other super cool recipes and activities. My three favourites are the following: making delicious and nutritious snack mixes, creating colourful jewellery and crushing Cheerios® to make scrumptious crunchy chicken fingers.
A Champion’s Cheerio Mix
Ingredients
• ½ cup Multigrain Cheerios® cereal
• ½ cup Apple Cinnamon Cheerios® cereal
• ½ cup raisins or another dried fruit, diced
• ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• ½ cup small pretzel twists
• ½ cup cheese-flavored fish crackers
How to make it?
1. Stir together all of the ingredients in large bowl
2. Pour the snack mix into a re-sealable plastic bag.
3. Keep the bag closed to seal in freshness.
Tips:
• To dice dried fruit effortlessly – cut with scissors.
• I keep a ½ cup measuring cup in the bag for easy serving measurement.
Charming Cheerios® Necklaces
These make some beautiful, brightly coloured necklaces. You may even be tempted to make a matching bracelet!
Ingredients:
• 1/3 cup Cheerios® cereal
• 2 rolls ring-shaped gummy candy
• 2 packages tube-shaped candies (like Lifesavers®)
• 2 cups coloured or white marshmallows
• 4 pieces red shoestring licorice — each about 36-inches
Directions: For each necklace, string cereal, candies and marshmallows onto licorice. When licorice is three-fourths full, tie ends together to make a necklace.
Tip:
• Use the pointy end of chopstick to poke holes in the marshmallows
Makes 4 necklaces
Crunchy Chicken Fingers
Ingredients:
• 3 cups Cheerios® cereal, finely crushed
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 cup water or milk
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon mustard
• 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch pieces
Directions
1. Heat oven to 400°F. Spray 13×9x2 inches pan with non stick cooking spray.
2. Stir together crushed cereal, salt and pepper in a medium bowl; set aside.
3. Stir together water, honey and mustard in another medium bowl until blended.
4. Dip chicken into honey-mustard mixture, shake off excess; coat with cereal mixture.
5. Place chicken in pan. Bake 10 – 15 minutes or until crust is golden and chicken is no longer pink in centre. Serve with favorite dipping sauce.
Tip:
• My kids like when I drizzle honey over the chicken fingers before serving.
Thanks to the Cheerios® website (www.Cheerios.ca) for inspiring these recipes.
Playing checkers with Cheerios® can be so much fun to do,
Charting Cheerios® for good behaviour is a good idea too!
There are so many things these circular cereals can be,
Like crunchy in cookies and helping count to thirty three,
At the end of the day their usage is beyond measure,
Go ahead and try them - they are definitely a treasure!
Shelley Sefton is a chef, recipe developer & creator of “Yummy in my Tummy” - classes for kids that offers them the opportunity to experience exciting adventures in the kitchen – combining education, art, food and most important of all FUN! Contact: (905) 597-0672 or sdsefton@rogers.com.
Geronimo Stilton is the editor of the Rodent’s Gazette in New Mouse City, and the central character in a series of books published by Scholastic. Breaking News: Geronimo Stilton is top cheese with young readers.
Children and parents are attracted to the Geronmino Stilton chapter book series because …
• Geronimo Stilton finds himself on adventures, making the stories exciting. There is also generally a humorous side to the stories.
• Geronimo is very close with his family and they often embark on adventures and travel together (including his sister Thea, his nephew Benjamin, and his cousin Trap).
• Geronimo finds the strength to face his fears and confront challenges.
• The Geronimo Stilton chapter books are filled with wonderful illustrations.
• Geronimo learns from new experiences and countries, and facts and figures are included for young readers to learn as well.
For years, I’ve been a subscriber to the American magazine Family Fun. It’s been my reliable partner in crime throughout my kids’ childhood and it might become yours too during the coming Family Day, the Valentine’s Day fuss or the March Break.
In Family Fun, I’ve found a mom’s advice on how to visit an art museum with my young son (turning the visit into a fun “I spy” game to look for specific items on the paintings). I’ve learned how to create a super card game that caught a slice of our daily life (teaching my kids about the different things one needs to know to run a house).
I’ve had a blast at the expense of my kids by using fabulous tips for April’s Fool pranks (I normally buy milk bags but for the occasion, I put a milk pint on the table, in which I surreptitiously added blue food coloring. The look on my then 8-years-old son when he poured the milk into his bowl was totally worth the trouble!).
When I was involved with the School Council, we would often choose the theme for the school parties according to the best craft activities I found while browsing through my Family Fun copies.
Years ago, prior to the internet, the magazine’s main appeal already lied in the fact that they’d been able to get hundreds of creative parents to submit their great ideas to them. Now we can all access this amazing resource online for free.
Their crafts section is the best. You can search by age, type or even by material but the Holiday & Seasonal category is such a time saver. You won’t find a Family Day section in there since it’s an American website but Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, April Fool’s Day, Easter and Mother’s Day will all come handy in the coming months.
Just to get an idea of the spread of crafts they offer, check the bottle-cap tambourines in the Recyclable Crafts category under Crafts by Material, or the newspaper fashion show (if I still were a member of the School Council, I’d use that idea to complement a Literacy day event for the students!). As soon as we get some snow, even just a little, I think we should try their Beach Bum Snowman. It would definitely cheer up the whole neighbourhood.
Most pages are followed by a Show & Tell section where you get to see pictures of craft ideas submitted by families just like us. Very often, parents also submit photos of one of the Family Fun crafts they tried for themselves. I should send them my daughter’s picture of the bubble bather costume suggestion we used during our school’s Crazy Bubbles end-of-the-year party.
The crafts are just the tip of the iceberg. Their Playtime section offers hundreds of games suggestions for all occasions and contexts. Their Parties menu allows to search by theme or age and includes Themed Cupcakes and Party Printables categories. They even have a how-to video section for cakes and cupcakes for the bakery-challenged among us.
Tips • Crafts offered online are not there forever. You can subscribe to their magazine online (or through the magazine sales of your school if they have one of those fundraisers). Check their website at www.familyfun.com.
In her personal yet practical 480-page guidebook, author Nathalie Prezeau describes hundreds of outings in and around the GTA she tested with her family and friends over the past twelve years. The 4th edition is out! It includes a new chapter on things to do with the kids around the 69 subway stations in Toronto, as well as exciting city walks to play the tourist in Toronto. Available in the Travel Section of GTA bookstores as well as Mastermind Educational Toys stores and currently at Costco. Visit www.torontofunplaces.com to learn more.
Children often want to be part of holiday preparations. Their participation can actually be helpful and build excitement for celebrations with family and friends.
Here are some quick activities that can involve children in getting ready for holiday meals …
a) Place Cards - Give children a list of names and have them decorate place cards to set on the table.
b) Welcome Sign - Ask children to make a welcome sign to invite guests inside.
c) Decorations - Let children make decorations to stick to the windows.
d) Song/Skit - Ask children prepare a holiday song or skit to present at your festivities.
As the December break approaches, find lots of holiday events for families at www.KidsAroundCanada.com/events. New events are added regularly, so check back often.
Also check the holiday schedule at your local library for special children’s programming.
Today I visited a pumpkin patch with my family. It is an annual tradition that we all enjoy.
Here’s why …
- It connects us with the ground. The children are able to see where the vegetables they see on the kitchen table come from.
- Pumpkin patches often offer other fun activities for children to keep them coming back, such as rides, corn mazes, playgrounds, tractor rides and more (call for details).
- The great outdoors and fresh air always feel great.
Geronimo Stilton
WRITTEN BY
Their 
Most pages are followed by a Show & Tell section where you get to see pictures of craft ideas submitted by families just like us. Very often, parents also submit photos of one of the Family Fun crafts they tried for themselves. I should send them my daughter’s picture of the bubble bather costume suggestion we used during our school’s Crazy Bubbles end-of-the-year party.