Tuesday, January 23, 2018

Omelets with Olaf


Join us at Omelets with Olaf for some great, winter themed family fun! This FREE Frozen themed family festival will include food, omelets, fun activites, a sing-a-long with Anna and Elsa, winter crafts, games and prizes, karaoke, fun family activities, and so much more. We can't wait to see you at Omelets with Olaf! This fun, FREE event is open to the entire community!

When: Saturday, January 27 at 9AM-11AM
Where: The Academy of Westhaven
             114 Prospect Ave, Franklin, TN

Hope to see you there!

Monday, January 22, 2018

Family Fitness

If  you didn't know it before, you will know it now-being physically active is an important life priority beginning in early childhood to build healthy habits. Regular exercise and physical activity  increases physical and cardiovascular health, it can improve sleep, reduce stress, increase attention and learning, and minimize illness. The average family has more commitment than time to meet them, from homework, to practices, to music lessons. It often seems impossible to fit one more thing into the schedule, no matter how good it is for you.

One way to fit fitness into the schedule is to turn it into a family activity. Not only is daily physical activity a healthy goal for everyone in the family, it provides us with an opportunity to spend time together and offers an excellent model for our young children as they see the adults in their family having fun with fitness right along side of them.


Here are a few ideas for family physical activity that everyone can participate in:


  • Take a walk: a daily walk is a perfect way to reflect on the day and learn what's going on in each other's live.
  • Healthy Habit & Hobbies: taking up a family fitness class such as yoga or karate can become fun for the whole family.
  • Keep Physical Activity Simple: getting more active doesn't have to be a planned event. Simply walking to the nearby store instead of driving or parking further away from the door at the shopping mall, or even taking the stairs instead of the elevator. Get creative and involve everyone.
  • Outdoor Fitness Fun: Getting outside can be invigorating for everyone and fun from riding bikes to kite flying and from gardening to building a snowman.
  • Family Challenge & Competitions: sometimes a little family competition can be motivating. Ask everyone to set a physical activity goal: maybe learning to skip, jump rope ten times without missing, or seeing who can keep a hula hoop going longest. Keep track of progress on a poster board in a central location.
  • Fit for a Cause: It seems like there is a walk-a-thon or 5K opportunity every weekend. Participate in a good cause  and turn it into a family activity.
  • Minimize Screen Time: take a look how often your child is in front of a screen. From video games to computers and television. It adds up. While not all screen activities is bad, they are, for the most part, sedentary. Set boundaries and minimize screen time and have many alternative active options ready.
Regardless of what you do, it's important to make family fitness enjoyable. having fun together as a family is as important as the physical activity itself.


Saturday, January 13, 2018

Strawberry Mango Smoothie

Hi everyone! This month we have been focusing on COLORS in our classrooms. Along with fitness and eating healthy. This week our color of the week was red and orange! One fun activity we had in our classroom was enjoying a strawberry mango smoothie for snack! Boy was it yummy! 







 This easy and refreshing smoothie only takes a few minutes to make! It is great for breakfast or a healthy snack. Involve your child(ren) in helping to make this healthy snack at home!

Ingredients:
  • 1 cup sliced strawberries
  • 1 cup peeled, pitted and chopped mango
  • 6 ounces plain Greek yogurt (or yogurt of your choice)
  • 6-8 ice cubes
Directions:

Place strawberries, mango and yogurt in a blender. Blend on high for 30 seconds. Add in the ice cubes and blend until smooth. Pour smoothie into glass and serve.

*Note-if you like a thinner smoothie, you can add a splash of milk or coconut water.

ENJOY!



Healthy Eating

Many young children are picky eaters who prefer to eat simple, familiar goods-at home and in child care. Picky eaters are common in ages 2-5, this is also an important time that shapes lifelong eating habits.Responding to a picky eater in a positive way helps children move through this phase a lot faster. Here are some helpful tips:

  • Serve wisely-introducing one new food at a time with a well loved food with the new food.
  • Get everyone involved-involve children in preparing meals and snacks.
  • Talk about it-teach children where the food they're eating comes from, how it is made and how it is grown.
  • Make food fun-cut a new food into fun and easy shapes with cookie cutters. Even naming a food that the child helped create is fun for them.

Remember, children learn from watching the adults around them. Your healthy eating will help develop healthy eating for them too!

Tuesday, January 2, 2018

Happy New Year

Welcome to 2018! We hope you had a wonderful time ringing in the new year! 
A new year brings in fresh starts and new adventures! We are looking forward to growing with you and your child(ren) this upcoming year.
There's lots of exciting stuff happening this month so don't forget to pick up a January calendar! 
Today we made Lemon Playdough! Here are the ingredients needed:

* 1 cup flour
* 1 cup water
* 2 teaspoon cream of tarter 
(I highly recommend buying a large container, it's much
cheaper than the tiny ones from the grocery store)
* 1/3 cup salt
* 1 tablespoon vegetable or canola oil
* food coloring

For full details visit:
https://livingwellmom.com/2012/02/easy-homemade-playdough-recipe/