| Dates Wee Watch |
Daylight Savings Time Begins:
March 8th
St. Patrick's Day:
Spring Equinox:
March 20th
"Fill a Bag to Fill A Tummy" Food Drive:
Good Friday:
April 10 (stat holiday)
Easter Monday: April 13
"Twice is Nice" Art Show:
April 22nd
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"Wee Readers"
Readathon
January 2009
Valentine's Day
February 2009
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Greetings!
Spring is in the air! The snow is melting and the temperature is rising!
Our Wee Watch Providers and children were very busy in January and February with our Together Wee Can Program .
Our "Raise Readers" Readathon, to celebrate Family Literacy Day, provided a great opportunity for Providers and children to decorate letters of the alphabet, dress up as storybook characters and draw pictures relating to a favourite story. This was in addition to a wide variety of books being read. Please try to remember to make time for storytime each day so that this love of reading will continue.
Together Wee Can Make Valentines was a great success. The children's handmade "caring critter" valentines were delivered to family and friends and also, when possible, to various senior's homes. Children hold a special place in senior's hearts and to receive something that was made by a child, is an extra special treat which will always put a smile on their faces.
We look forward to celebrating Nutrition month in March and Earth Day in April.
We hope you enjoy the March/April newsletter. We are all looking forward to spring which is just around the corner. . . . .
Sincerely,
Leslie Wilson  | |
| TOGETHER WEE CAN |
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Wee Watch has a wonderful opportunity to participate together in activities on certain days, weeks and months. These "Together Wee Can" events are exclusive to Wee Watch. All activities and events are carefully chosen for their importance to children and their families. These events provide a great learning opportunity that meets the needs of children of all ages and ultimately strengthens our Wee Watch community.
MARCH 2009 TOGETHER WEE CAN
"FILL A BAG TO FILL A TUMMY"
Food banks around Ontario provide food to people in the community who are struggling to put food on the table. The goal of food banks is to ensure no one goes hungry in our communities.
Did you know that children represent 34 per cent of the total community members that use the food bank? Children need to have a healthy food intake each day in order to grow and develop to their potential. Also, children with full tummies are more likely to stay healthy and have the energy to pay attention in school, get along with playmates and concentrate on learning whether at school or day care. In an effort to help families in our communities, Wee Watch is participating in a "Fill a Bag to Fill a Tummy" Food Drive between March 23 and 27, 2009.
Providers and children will be participating in activities relating to nutrition and healthy eating and will also collect a few items to send to the local food bank. Look for a list of "Wee Tummy Suggestions" posted at your Provider's home.
APRIL 2009
TOGETHER WEE CAN
"TWICE IS NICE ART SHOW"
Earth Day is celebrated yearly on April 22. It is a day intended to inspire awareness and appreciation for the environment and how to take care of it. Wee Watch Providers and children are a crafty bunch! Using recycled household items such as plastic bottles, boxes, cardboard, cans, lids and other craft supplies such as paint and glue, they will be busy making artwork or reusable games and toys. We are eagerly awaiting to see this year's works of art. Make sure you get an opportunity to view the "art show" at your Provider's home. |
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Our exclusive "Wee Learn Program" is designed to meet the specific learning needs of each of our children enrolled. The Wee Learn Program provides the flexibility for each child to participate at his own pace and is designed to allow each child from the youngest Wee Beginner to the oldest Wee Mentor to learn as they play. As there is a mix of individual and group activities in the homes, the children are also given lots of opportunities to develop their social skills as well.
Your Provider is given resources that include age appropriate activities addressing areas of language, cognitive, math/science, fine motor and gross motor development. These resources include a Calendar of theme related activities, an Activity Handbook full of easy homemade activities for each age group and website activity pages to further build on fine motor, math and language skills they have already been working on in their Play and Learn booklets.
Each month, take a look at the progress your child is making in his Play and Learn booklet. These booklets are a great keepsake and give you an opportunity to see the skills such as cognitive, math, fine motor skills your child is working on each and every day.
To coincide with Nutrition month in March, Providers and children will be busy participating in healthy foods and nutrition activities, cooking in the kitchen and making edible art! We have a new theme for April, "Going to the Zoo". Look for new website pages relating to this new theme.
Please click on the appropriate link below. Wee Beginners (0 - 18 months) |
| WEE BEGINNERS |
Finger Food Basics
Introducing your little one to baby finger foods is an exciting time. By feeding himself, your baby has gained a little independence, confidence and continues to enhance those fine motor skills. To keep mess to a minimum, only give your baby two or three pieces of food at a time - any more will probably end up on the floor! Put the food in a suction-type bowl that will stick to the table, or straight on to the high chair tray itself. Baby finger foods should be soft enough to break into small pieces, be swallowed easily, or simply melt in the mouth. Coat slippery foods, like banana or avocado, in finely crushed cereal powder or nutritious wheat germ - it makes them easier to pick up. Enjoy watching your little one come to grips with these healthy baby finger foods:
- Cut-up pieces of banana or soft pear
- Baked apple cubes
- Melon cubes
- Chunks of cooked sweet potato
- Cooked peas
- Cooked asparagus
- Small pieces of cooked broccoli
- Cooked carrots, diced
- Lightly toasted bread or bagels
- Bite size pieces of cheese
- Cereals, such as puffed rice or Cheerios
- Fingers of cheese on toast
- Cooked pasta, sprinkled with Parmesan cheese
- Tofu cubes
www.homemade-baby-food-recipes.com
Fingerpaint Fun
Ingredients: Household Cardboard, Fingerpainting Paper or Cookie Sheet, Instant Pudding-different colours, flavours
Mix up the instant pudding as directed on the package. Cut out fingerpaint paper in different shapes or use cardboard from cereal boxes to soak up this wet messy art. Try letting your little one paint on his highchair tray or cookie sheet and then press a sheet of paper over top of the tray to make an instant work of art.
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| WEE EXPLORERS |
Family Meals: A Time for Toddlers
Sociable and impressionable, toddlers benefit a great deal by being included in the family meal, absorbing everything from table manners to family dynamics, social skills or an open-minded attitude toward new food.
House rules
Parents can help make mealtime a valuable learning experience for toddlers by setting up a few house rules. It helps to eat around the same time every evening, to gather at the kitchen or dining room table, to keep the television set off, and to expect that everyone will spend a decent amount of time at the family meal.
Minding their peas and cues
Family meals give a toddler the opportunity to learn how to eat by watching others. They observe how utensils are used and how certain foods (like corn on the cob) are eaten. They see chicken being dipped in gravy and butter spread on bread and are eager to try it for themselves.
Toddlers also pick up important social skills. They begin to understand concepts such as asking for more food or milk by saying "please" and "thank you". They learn to model soft, pleasant voices during mealtime, and observe how family members listen politely to each other.
Learning about food
Young children are more likely to want to eat the food that their parents eat. As they get older, children tend to want the foods that their friends (and the kids on commercials) eat. Thus, parents have a good opportunity to influence their children by eating a healthy diet when their children are young.
by Mary Silva, M.S., R.D.
My Favourite Foods Placemat
Ingredients: construction paper, cardstock or poster board,
one roll of contact paper or laminate sheets, glue sticks, photos, magazine images, craft supplies, stickers, markers, crayons. Help children select and cut pictures of favourite foods from flyers and magazines. Attach the pictures to the paper using a glue stick. Finish decorating the placemat with markers, stickers and drawings. Use the placemats for snack and lunchtime.
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| WEE BUILDERS |
Picky or Choosy Eaters
Feeding young children can be a real challenge. We know children need a nutrient dense diet (lots of nutrients for the amount of energy in the food) to grow and develop properly. But what can we do to get children to eat enough of the right kind of foods?
- Serve familiar foods with new foods.
- Serve age-appropriate servings. Large servings make children feel overwhelmed.
- Allow children to decide how much they will eat.
- Allow children to participate in meal time preparation.
- Setting the table or helping to stir the vegetable dip may be all that is needed to encourage better eating.
- Serve interesting foods that will appeal to children. Bite-sized pieces, interesting shapes, small muffins, and funny sounding names are just a few ideas for you to try.
- Experiment with different forms of the same food. For instance, if your child doesn't go for diced carrots, try carrot "coins" or shredded carrots. Instead of spaghetti noodles, try alphabet noodles, bow tie pasta, or shells.
Remember that children can balance their diets over several days, not one meal or one day.
Taste the Colours (Sung to "This Old Man")
We love food coloured red
Cherries, apples, jam on bread
Raspberries and tomatoes too
All these foods are good for you
We love food, coloured green
Bell peppers and long string beans
Pickles, celery, cucumbers too
All these foods are good for you.
We love food, that's orange too
Carrot sticks and orange juice
Cantaloupes and sweet potatos too
All these foods are good for you
All these foods are fun to eat
Colours make them special treats
Taste the colours one by one
Healthy foods are lots of fun. |
| WEE LEARNERS |
Tips for Creating a Healthy Eating Environment
Parents and child care Providers share the responsibility of helping children eat well. You can do simple things every day to help children make healthy food choices now and as they grow!
Take it on the road! There are many places to learn about healthy food right in your own community. Try field trips to grocery stores, orchards, and farmers markets.
Decorate. Have decorations, child artwork and posters of healthy foods and children enjoying eating.
Hit the books! Choose books at the library or bookstore that weave a good message about nutritious and adventuresome eating into the story line.
Grow a garden. Gardening promotes the consumption of fruits and vegetables for kids by making fresh fruits and vegetables readily available, adding in the excitement of eating something healthy because they grew it.
Make edible art. Children love to create. Make some edible art! They can learn about nutrition bite by bite: Cereal necklaces, pretty pizzas, fruit caterpillars.
Yummy Necklace
Ingredients: shoestring licorice, cereal with holes such as Cherrios, Fruit Loops
Let the children work on their fine motor skills by threading licorice through the cereal. Tie the ends together. Make it a math project and ask them to make a pattern using the different coloured cereal.
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| WEE EXPERTS |
Family-Style Meal Service  Family-style meal service means serving foods in bowls or dishes on the table. Children are encouraged to serve themselves, or serve themselves with help from an adult. As your child becomes more independent, giving them an opportunity to have some control over what and how much they will eat can make mealtime more pleasant for everyone.
Family-style meal service has some advantages...
- Family-style meals allow children to identify and be introduced to new foods, new tastes, and new menus. Children are often unsure about new foods. Seeing new foods and watching others serve themselves gets them interested. They are more willing to try a small serving when they see other children trying new foods.
- Children can choose the amount of food they want to have on their plate. When foods are served family-style, children may choose to take a small portion of food, knowing that the food will still be available if they would like a second serving. Children feel more in control to judge their hunger and fullness throughout the meal, knowing that more food is within easy reach.
Children practice good table manners and new skills with their hands and fingers. Serving themselves gives children time to practice skills like passing, pouring and scooping foods. Taking turns, sharing, and politely turning down foods are all part of the table manners children learn by participating in family-style meal service.
Note: Taken in part from the ABC'S of Successful Menu Planning
Peel an Egg:
Ingredients: A raw egg, a glass, vinegar
Place the egg in the glass, ensuring there is plenty of room around it. Fill the glass with vinegar to above the top of the egg. Leave the experiment in a safe place for a week. Every couple of days, carefully pour off the liquid from the glass, and replace it with fresh vinegar. When the reaction is complete, you will be left with a raw egg, held together only by a thin membrane!
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| WEE MENTORS |
Eating Out
With busy work schedules and many scheduled after school activities for your child, you may find your family often eating on the run. There are many healthy options available at most eat-in or take out restaurants:
Mexican - burritos, soft tacos, fajitas with lots of vegetables
Italian/American - pasta, rice, baked potato, low fat tomato sauces, grilled meats, salad
Pizza - whole wheat or thin crusts, ham, pineapple, vegetarian
Asian - steamed vegetable or meat rice bowls, noodle soups, tofu, stir-fry
Sub/Wrap Places - whole wheat bun or tortilla, vegetables, turkey, chicken
Breakfast Places - whole grain breads, pancakes, waffles, scrambled or boiled eggs, low fat cheese and yogurt, hot or cold cereal, fresh fruit
Always order milk, 100 % fruit juice or water, instead of pop.
Fruit Smiles
1 cantaloupe or honeydew melon
2 pkgs of Jello jelly powder
½ cup fruit
Cut a medium melon in half lengthwise. Let children remove the seeds and help scoop out some of the melon, leaving half with a 1-inch thick shell. Chop removed melon, drain well. Stir 1½ cups boiling water in 2 packages of Jello powder in large bowl at least 2 minutes or until completely dissolved. Stir in 1½ cups cold water. Add ½ cup of the reserved chopped melon and ½ cup fruit to jelly mixture. Pour the jelly mixture into melon halves. Refrigerate 4 hours or until firm. Cut each half melon into 4 wedges. Serve with a smile.
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| PLAY IT SAFE |
How can I keep my child safe at mealtimes?
- Use placemats instead of tablecloths as small children can easily pull cloths off the table.
- Keep hot foods and liquids away from table and counter edges.
- Place your child in an age-appropriate seat before reaching for hot liquids or food.
- Test all heated liquid and food before giving it to a child or placing it within their reach.
- Keep a careful eye on the child during meals and snacks.
- Introduce new food textures slowly and carefully.
- Cut apples into thin slices, cut grapes and hot dogs in half, cook vegetables for infants and toddlers and leave the crunchy vegetables for the older children
- Teach older siblings NOT to give food to younger children.
- Make sure children are seated while eating. Watch for incomplete chewing.
Taken from Kraft Canada
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Wee Watch
905-479-4274; 1-800-663-6072
Fax: 905-479-9047
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