Just Add Stickers

The more I read about introducing yoga to children and the more classes I go to the more I try to find creative ways to make yoga fun and accessible for my little man (and getting in my daily yoga at the same time.) Once children have a repertoire of poses they are comfortable with it's easy to have them interact while you do yoga. Our favourite yoga game is to tell stories through poses. To make your own yoga story: Choose a story that everyone knows.  Choose a pose for each character. Tell the story using the yoga poses. Superheroes come up a lot when we're doing yoga. These are the poses we chose for each superhero.  Thor = Lord of the dance pose Hulk = Mountain pose (and you have to say Hulk smash) Iron Man = Warrior III pose Captain America = Lunge pose Spider man = Bridge pose Sentinel = Tree pose Wolverine = Warrior I pose Nick Fury = Lotus pose Using these poses my little man can become a superhero while working on his concentration a...

These tea themed decorations and favours were for my mom's birthday afternoon tea.  Sugar bowl centrepiece and tea bag favours. I was searching for an ceramic tea pot for the centrepiece but I found this ceramic sugar bowl with cork lid instead.   Tea bag favours: 16 tea bags (2 per person) 8 favour bags 8 thank you chalkboard stickers 16 blank stickers Black marker Glue gun Glue the thank you stickers on the favour bags. Open 8 tea bags (1 per favour bag)    Stick two stickers on either side of the label on each tea bag. Write the age of the person on the stickers. Place one wrapped tea bag and one tea bag with stickers in each favour bag. Leave the string out of the bag as a decoration. Par-Tea Centrepiece: Ceramic dish (teapot, sugar bowl vase etc.) 2 pieces of black chalkboard paper Chalk Ribbon Hairspray Glue gun Place the two pieces of chalk board paper together. Trace and cut out a large ...

These muffins are a variation of my favourite muffins growing up! We called them nothing muffins because you make the basic recipe then add whatever you are in the mood for.   No more store bought muffin mix! Prepare the dry ingredients and store in an air tight container. Dry Ingredients: 2 cups of whole wheat flour 2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 cup of sugar Mix together and store in a jar or container.  The add in possibilities are endless. This week we split the batch in half to make chocolate chip and strawberry jam filled muffins! And now as I'm typing this I'm thinking that chocolate chip strawberry filled muffins would be delicious! You can go healthier and add shredded zucchini or shredded carrots.  To make jam filled muffins place a spoonful of batter Into the muffin cups, put 1 tsp of jam the centre of each muffin and top with an other spoonful of batter.  Wet  ingredients: 3/4 cup milk 1/4...

Oops did you forget Valentine's Day? A Valentine tree and heart shaped chocolate chip cookies. Simple and affordable all it takes is a trip to the Dollar Store and chocolate chip cookie dough! Roll out the cookie dough and cut out heart shapes either with a cookie cutter or with a knife. Bake the cookies as directed you might have to reshape them a little when they come out of the oven, before they cool. This Valentine tree cost $2.00 to make. All you need is a Valentine centrepiece and a package of 4 wooden ornaments from the Dollar Store. Paint the ornaments or colour them with markers, depending on how much time you have. Hang the ornaments on the centrepiece! Happy Valentine's Day!

With the Super Bowl just around the corner here are some football shaped food ideas. Tried and tested these ideas are easy and delicious. Football cracker platter Arrange mini vegetable crackers on a platter, top with pepperoni. Cut cheese into strips arrange on top like laces. Another take on  crackers and cheese Pretzel  Footballs Touchdown  avocado dip Football  pizza skewers Simple Snack: Grilled Cheese footballs Make grilled cheese as normal. Cut the sandwich into a football shape. Cut strips of cheese and arrange on top of sandwiches like laces. Dessert: Football Brownies  Prepare and bake your favourite brownie recipe. Cut the brownies into football shapes, decorate with white icing. Enjoy the Super Bowl! 

This colourful bowl is a fun homemade present your little ones can fill with chocolate and give to grandma and grandpa for Valentine's day. You can also make different sized bowls and use as decorations on the table or mantle piece.      Supplies: 4 pieces of construction paper  3 balloons White glue Paintbrushes Scissors Directions: Cut 3 pieces of construction paper into small squares Cut hearts out of the remaining piece of paper Blow up the balloons to different sizes Using the paintbrush apply glue to the balloons Layer the squares of paper on the balloon adding glue as needed Let the bowls dry Reapply glue and paper Glue the large hearts to the bowls When the bowls are dry pop the balloons Gently loosen the sides of the bowl from the balloon Fill with chocolate!

5 minutes of yoga a day for 21 days can you and your kids do it? Back in December I gave myself the challenge of doing yoga every day for 21 days. Apparently it takes 21 days to develop a habit. As of today I have been doing yoga everyday for 41 days. Some days I do yoga for 45 minutes and some days I do 5 minutes but as predicted it has become a habit. When I got the news letter from Pedayoga  proposing their challenge for parents and children to complete at least 5 minutes of yoga a day I thought it would be a great idea. I try to do yoga with my little man at least 3 times a week anyways. I asked him if he wanted to try yoga every day for 21 days and his answer was "no I don't think so." Later that day I asked him if he wanted to do yoga and he said "oh yeah!" So my lesson for that day was not to plan too far ahead. Make it a game and he'll want to play. I took a chance and signed us up for the 5/21 yoga challenge. So far so good. It helps me have ...