Activity vs Obesity

Today at Alex's school we were asked if any of the parents were willing to participate in a study on activity and children. They are trying to find 200 participants to prove that children under the age of 2 do not get enough exercise. Alex would wear an activity band around his chest for a week, but I would learn whether he's an average or below average in activity. I signed up. We'll see. I was told the study would happen over the summer.

But all day I was thinking about Alex's activity. I try to keep him active. They want to link it to child obesity which has been a hot topic. But I honestly think if Alex was wearing that band.. I would run him constantly. haha. One of the Mom's in my group says she takes her child to the park everyday.. That is awesome! She wouldn't be cheating... like I probably would.

I do find it interesting how many snacks kids eat all day and most of them have no nutrients at all. Alex is a human vacuum so I have to make sure I have snacks to keep him from eating everyone else's crackers.

So as we are sitting here watching Disney Jr. Alex did play for 3 hours at school and 2 hours at the park... So we'll watch an episode on tv. We earned it.

If you have kids, do you think they get enough exercise?

Easter Basket For Toddlers

When I was growing up, we always got the big ready made baskets from the grocery store.  My son is 19 months and I really didn't want him to receive a lot of candy for Easter, so I decided to make my own basket.  I could find a lot of great ideas on Pinterest, but what I really liked were interactive and sensory toys, from the Dollar Store, which allowed us to play all day....

The Easter basket itself I got from Target.  I thought it was super cute!

The Contents:

Glow Sticks
Bubble Gun
M&M minis (had to have some chocolate in there)
Big Pencil
Animal Sponge Capsuls
Egg Chalk
Coloring Board
Glitter Pens
Stickers
Chocolate Caramel Cups (ok, a little more chocolate)

Alex first receiving his basket

 The Chalk Eggs were the first thing he went after.  He spent some time playing with them and forgot the rest of the basket.  The reason I bought the eggs were because between my toddler and the dogs, a lot of chalk gets consumed around here.  Unfortunately I did find half an egg eaten the day after Easter, but none since.

The bubble gun was a hit!  We have been playing with it everyday.

The sponge animals were very entertaining.  I gave him a capsule at a time and he threw them in the water.  The water did need to be heated up a bit for the capsules to open before he lost interest.  With the sponges and the splashing he did have a good time.

Between the egg hunt and the toys we had a very active Easter.

We haven't gotten to the glow sticks yet, but a glow in the dark egg hunt would be a lot of fun.

Coloring activities are great if you want to keep the kids occupied while you are cooking dinner and you can never go wrong with stickers!

An idea for infants: fill plastic eggs with rice or beans and wrap with scotch tape.  We did that with my mom group last year Alex loved those eggs all year long as a rattle.  We kept them in the diaper bag and they were great for playdates with other infants.

And there you have it.

What kind of things do you like to put in your children's Easter Basket?

How to Make an Egg Tree

Easter 2012

Easter 2013

When I was in Elementary School I remember learning how to hollow out an egg by blowing it out at church.  If I remember correctly, we made an egg we could hang as an ornament.  Wanting to make a centerpiece last year I tried my hand at making an egg tree.

Materials:

Raw Eggs (2 per branch and 9 extra)

Wall Nail

Egg Dye

Plastic ziplock

Thongs

Egg Carton

Ribbon

Bows or Fabric Flowers

Hot Glue Gun

Paper towels and Newspaper

Fake branches (I used 4)

Take the nail and push it through the bottom of the egg.  Push it through 2-3 times.  The hole at the bottom of the egg needs to be large enough to blow the egg yoke out of.  Then make a hole at the top of the egg.  It doesn't need to be as big as the bottom.  Blow out the egg yoke into a trash bag or bowl.  Make 6 or so to lay around the table and 3-4 more eggs in case some of them break.

Dye the eggs.  I found the fastest, and best way to get the most even color, was to put the dye in a plastic bag and I could "swoosh" the eggs around.  I could also do two at a time.  By using some thongs to take them in and out, I had no colored finger prints, like I got on them last year.  Last year I did more of a pastel color, this year they were more vibrant, I think I prefer the more pastel.  Place eggs in the egg carton to dry.

Once they are dry, heat up the glue gun.  Lay out some newspaper and paper towels because even though they are dry, they will still leak from the inside as you are gluing the top.  Cut the ribbon to the length desired.  I liked last years length better, this year's was a little long.

Glue over the top hole.  Put one end of the ribbon down.  Glue a dollop over the ribbon and attach the other end of the ribbon.  Glue the last dollop and attach fabric bow or fabric flower to the top.

And Voila!!

I remember last year it taking me more time, but this year it was a breeze.  Super inexpensive and fun.  I did try to store the eggs from last year to see if I could use them again this year, but half of them molded.  I'm sure if you bleached them on the inside they can be reusable.  But they are fun to make, so I don't mind making them each year.

With the branches... I've seen egg trees on bald branches and I used branches with flowers.  The good news is: branches are reusable and I used them in the fall for Thanksgiving decorations.

This would also be fun to do with the kids.  Mine have a ways to grow before we can do that...

Happy Decorating!