Do the Valentine Hop

We played a fun game to work on our gross motor skills this week. I cut out several hearts from construction paper.

Next, we laid the hearts out down the hallway. First we laid them out in step formation to work on walking.

Next, we put them in a straight line and worked on jumping from one heart to another.

As we got better and better we advanced the game. We also set up the hearts in a random pattern. I would them call out a color near my son and he would find the color and jump to it.

This was a fun activity and we played with it for quite a time. Be sure to save the "stencils" that you made from cutting out the hearts. We used ours and will post that on Friday!

Childhood Obesity

If you read any newspapers and/or magazines, you have probably seen that headline lots. It is in print, it is on the news, it is the new buzz phrase. Even though we are all talking about it, it does not seem to be going away any time soon.

Here are some links to help you keep your family healthy and happy. If you want the kids to learn about nutrition you can go to Nutrition for Healthy Kids and they have a free home school curriculum, broken down by subject.

Food

All Day I Dream About Food made gummy fruit snacks that contain no added sugar. This link is to all of her recipes that are labeled "healthy snacks". She has some yummy ones, including a revised gummy fruit snack that is more shelf stable.

Real Simple shows a snack station that is stored in the refrigerator for the kids. They can go in and help themselves to a healthy snack.

I also love the blog Super Healthy Kids. She posts amazing recipes and tips but the best part: Healthy Meal Plans! Check out her blog, you will wonder how you managed before you found it!

Since the current generation is the first to spend more time indoors than outdoors, I have scoured the Internet looking for fitness ideas also.

Most people are familiar with First Lady Michelle Obama's quest to help us raise a healthier generation of kids and her Let's Move Campaign is helping to do just that. She has brought to light many facts and findings on health and is inspiring many to get up and move!

Kids Health and Sesame Workshop partnered to provide Healthy Habits for Life. You can download the book and read through it with your kids. The above link takes you to the Preschool edition but they go up to 12th grade.

E Max Health has a list of 50 ways for kids to exercise, without them even realizing it.

What does your family do to stay healthy?

Monday Meanderings: Talk Like A Pirate Day

I love a chance to be a kid so Talk Like a Pirate Day is just what I need today.
Here are some great pirate activities for you and your family to enjoy!

Handprint and Footprint Art has a great pirate handprint craft. I love handprint and footprint crafts. It gives me something cute to see the change in my child's size.

Great Resource Childcare did several pirate activities but I really love the paper plate pirates that they made. There are no directions but they look pretty easy to make.

Here are some great Pirate Printables from 2 Teaching Mommies.  It includes Roll and Graph, Size Sequencing, Letter Match and so much more.

The Imagination Tree give a great lesson on making a treasure map and putting a realistic look of age on the paper.

The Fickle Pickle put together the cutest Pirate Birthday Party. I love the pirates games: Walk the Plank, Roll the Cannonballs and Swab the Deck.

Arrrgh Matey!

Super Hero Training (or Gross Motor Skill Lessons)

Recently, my son has been obsessed with Super Heroes. He is not particular about his heroes either, wear a cape or costume and you are his man/woman.

I decided to work on our gross motor skills by setting up a Super Hero Training Course in our hallway. What? Super heroes have to work out just like everyone else. I actually got this great idea from the blog, Chicken Babies. She set up a "Spy Training Course" for a birthday party and I knew my son would love it.

The object of our training course was to go through the hallway without touching the crepe paper "traps" that were hanging from the walls.

We had lots of fun with this but be forewarned, he will expect you to participate and it takes some finesse to do it as an adult!

Once we finished with the course I let him run through the "Finish Lines" just like a famous runner winning a big race! He also loved that!