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Archive for the ‘Nutrition’ Category

The Suitcase – A Solution for Picky Eaters

29 Oct

My two year old is an extremely picky eater and has been ever since we transitioned from purees (oh how I miss being able to puree together a balanced meal!). So, I imagine like many of you experience, eating time is often a struggle for us. Oh, we’ve tried it ALL – making the food fun (faces, shapes, etc), hiding goodness inside the not so goodness (a kid can only eat so many grilled cheese sandwiches before he turns into one, right?) and we even sing songs at meal time (well, I do anyway – “It’s time to eat lunch now, lunch now, lunch now, It’s time to eat lunch now, at the table!”).

Still, eating is a challenge.

Then one day my mother proposed a solution. She came into Seattle from Maine (where I grew up) for a visit. With her she brought a Thomas the Train lunchbox. My son was enthralled with his “suitcase”. So each day for lunch my mother would pack it up and put it in his fridge for him to access at the appropriate time.

Voila.

So we fill it with grapes, rice cakes, a water bottle, a sandwich, etc. My son is always excited to grab his Suitcase and promptly eat lunch, all of it. On Tuesday and Thursday when he gets home from preschool hungry for lunch, he scurries down the hallway directly to his fridge to grab his Suitcase.

Wow, right? I am not saying “the Suitcase” has solved all our eating dilemmas but we are thrilled with the start. The Suitcase is one of the many examples of the positive impact giving a child a little independence and self-sufficiency has on your whole world (and especially his world). The “I Can Do It By Myself” attitude is one that we should embrace, not hinder. We should feed into this attitude and someday this resourcefulness will pay off more than we parents can imagine.

So, go grab your version of a “Suitcase”. Ours happened to be Thomas the Train but there are other wonderful options out there with all sorts of characters, plus cool vintage lunch boxes and environmentally friendly ones too. Go nuts.

Thanks for reading…
Marnie

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Classified: Mom

Montessori Monday

 
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Posted in Family Wellness, Fine Motor Skills, Food, Gear, Montessori, Nutrition, Portable, Practical Life, Preschool, Self Control, Tips, Toddler, Travel

 

Salad Spinning Art & 6 more lesson for kids!

30 Jul

This salad spinning activity is a favorite! We had a great time spinning and creating art. Best of all, there are add on activities and lessons. I am telling you folks, this exercise is the activity that keeps on giving! Inspired by hands on: as we grow and Messy Kids, my two year old and I got out our salad spinner and paints and started spinning…

My son was very curious about the salad spinner. I explained its use with cleaning greens (practical life, right?) and then explained how we were going to use the spinner to create art! His face lit up. The only differences I made from the posts above were: 1) we used regular old crayola kids paint and 2) we didn’t use a spoon and instead just flicked our wrists and, well, at times, dumped/poured the paint into the salad spinner. I liked the thickness of the paint and subsequent design; the result was different from a water color.

Steps to success:

  1. Get out your salad spinner
  2. Lay out onto the bottom one or two coffee filters. I tore the filters to make them fit well.
  3. You and your child, or just your child, choose paints
  4. Flick, dump, pour. Whatever method you’d like!
  5. Place the cover on the salad spinner
  6. Spin and spin, fast and slow
  7. Gently take out the artwork and allow it to dry on pavement in the sun or inside somewhere safe from little fingers (and big fingers in my case!)
  8. Hang in home

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Add on lessons:

  1. Practical life – using a salad spinner and understanding what it is used for
  2. Fine motor skills – using the salad spinner by pumping the knob in the center , pressing the “stop” button and the “white” button to hold down the pump
  3. Talk about colors – primary and make new ones! My two year old kept repeating: “red and blue make purple!” Being able to see that transformation makes the lesson stick.
  4. Talk about opposites such as: “fast/slow, drip/pour, stop/go, wobbly/solid”
  5. Talk about the artwork. Ask your child what he or she sees in the image. My two year old saw a butterfly, a fish and a sun.
  6. Use the paints and spinner as a building and balancing exercise (see photo above). My son started doing this activity on his own.

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Have fun!
Marnie

 
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Posted in Activities, Education, Fine Motor Skills, Montessori, Nutrition, Practical Life, Preparation, Sensory, Toddler

 

Watermelon!

19 Jun

One of the most exciting parts about summer is the copious amounts of watermelon. Not only good for us adults to nibble on but a wonderful finger food for our kids, too. An organization exists for the purpose of promoting this amazing fruit. The organization is named fittingly The National Watermelon Promotion Board. Check it out! There is even a section of Fun Facts for Kids!

Watermelons are, of course, a great finger food but are also super easy to make into ice pops or cubes and puree. A simple watermelon puree will do the trick and the result is so satisfying to you and your kids. There are also many dipping sauce recipes. My favorites have a honey and vinegar base but, honestly, watermelon is best enjoyed on its own. Check out these recipes for kids. I am trying out the watermelon dippers and the rubix cube at my son’s 2 year birthday in two weeks.

An additional wonderful side note to watermelon is that it serves as an effective practical life exercise for kids. The inside is super easy to scoop, chop, cut and divide. So grab a scoop, a dull cutting knife, toothpicks, and your watermelon and learn away!

Did you know that…

  • watermelon is from South Africa
  • watermelon is high in vitamins A, B6 and C
  • watermelon is 92% water
  • within 2 months of planting, the vines of watermelon plants are ready to for harvest
  • the largest watermelon ever recorded weighed 262 pounds
  • there are 200-300 varieties

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I love these watermelon activities! How cute is the cookie cutter exercise?

Happy eating!
Marnie

* I do not get paid for writing this blog. What you can do to help support the effort is at no cost to you. Search within the Amazon search box in the right sidebar and visit the Carrots are Orange Amazon Store. Or click on the product link at the end of this post. I get a small % for commission. Thanks!

 
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Posted in 12 months +, Activities, Finger Food, Nutrition, Reading Corner, Snack, Vegetarian

 

Misery Loves Company – The Picky Toddler

30 May

I stumbled upon this hilarious post called “Barf! I am not eating that!” by a parent just like you and me. I’m calling it hilarious because, well, we can all relate to her trials with a picky eater. The best part about the post is that she offers some suggestions on how to manage the “picky eater” dilemma so many of us experience on a daily basis. My favorite line is:

“One day they love bananas, eating 2 or 3 a day for breakfast, lunch and snack time, and the next you couldn’t get them to take a single bite if their lives depended on it!”

Oh that comment resonated with me…deeply. My son will eat 2 bananas for lunch and then maybe another for dinner. We call him a “one food a day guy”. Seriously. He will eat three pints of blueberries (dear god help us with the BMs on those days) or maybe a sleeve of saltines (whole wheat of course) with cream cheese or a green pepper or two whole apples on any given day but never in the same day…

All joking aside, this “pickiness” keeps me up at night mainly because of iron intake (or “outtake” – ha!). I long for the days when I could puree cod, chicken, veggies etc and he’d eat every bite. Texture is a big deal with him. He hasn’t eaten meat consistently since he went to solids post purees. He likes meatballs so we go with that one iron source. I have been so concerned, though, that I brought him to the doctor to measure his iron levels. Everything was fine but that gives you a sense of where I am at…

In this post, she suggests the following:

  1. Stay Calm
  2. Texture, Texture, Texture
  3. Serve Small Portions
  4. Make it fun

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While I appreciate these suggestions, my first reaction is “good luck! easier said than done!” And so I offer some more practical suggestions, some of which I use on a daily basis:

  1. “Magic Shake” for breakfast – My toddler and husband make it a ritual to have a “magic shake” for breakfast. This shake works well because it is a cool color (pink/purple) and you can add all sorts of goodness, such as greek yogurt, peanut butter, protein powder, fruits and even vegetables! Start the day out right!
  2. Daily Multi-Vitamin – There are some fun offerings in the vitamin department for kids these days in the form of gummy bears, for example. We have a multi-vitamin in the form of a powder that we can add to the magic shake, yogurt or milk, etc.
  3. Sneak Attack – This “Jessica Seinfeld” approach gets criticism for many reasons, one if which goes right to the heart of what I am trying to achieve in my home – helping my kids have a healthy relationship with food. Well, I am hear to say, this pickiness stage will too pass and there are other ways to integrate this idea into their daily lives (e.g. leading by example, books, a holistic approach that includes learning about where food comes from, the importance of exercise, etc). So alas, here I am with the sneak attach. For example, my toddler loves this homemade tomato sauce my husband makes weekly (a very simple and easy, yet delicious, recipe. If you want it, let me know!). In any given week there will be a few days that he will have macaroni and tomato sauce for lunch and dinner. So I started to mix bits of tofu, carrots and meat into the sauce to give it a bit more power in the nutrition department. Quesadillas are an easy way to integrate goodies too by adding tofu, eggs, beans, etc. With enough salsa, my toddler is game for anything!
  4. Presentation – Take the above suggestion a step further if the efficacy of “sneak attack” really does make you question and sneak the goodness in but also include the actual food on your toddler’s plate. For example, add bits of carrots to the tomato sauce but also add steam carrots on the side of his plate. Add beans to the quesadilla but put a pile on his plate next to the quesadilla. At some point, I am certain he will eat the actual food.
  5. Healthy snacks – For the perpetual grazer, find healthy snacks that seem fun and are yummy. For example, we love Clif Bar’s Z Bars for kids and Peter Rabbit’s Organic purees in pouches. I also emphasize berries, especially blueberries, which make for a decent portable snack too.
  6. Make every meal an experience because, well, it is. So don’t get frustrated (I should take my own advice) and go with it. I am certain my toddler will back down one of these days and I will be sure to share the news with you, of course!

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Happy eating!
Marnie

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Posted in 12 months +, Family Meals, Musings, Nutrition, Tips, Toddler

 
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