Creating Together Blog

Scarf Dancing

September 30, 2019 by Melanie

The music turns on, the scarves are passed around, and the parents, caregivers, and kids go wild. Toss it. Twirl it. Throw it and catch it. And we kick off every month with it at Creating Together.

Benefits of Scarf Dancing

So what is scarf dancing and what makes it so great?

Most kids love dancing and involving a scarf makes it even more fun. Whether your child is a baby or toddler, there are so many great benefits to scarf play. KinderMusik, an organization committed to empowering young children to learn through music, describes a number of benefits to dancing with scarves (KinderMusik.com):

Sparking imagination as we explore all kinds of ways to play with our scarves
Teaching directional tracking as we visually track our scarves’ movement
Improving eye-hand coordination as we play catch or peekaboo
Increasing vocabulary as we verbally describe what we are doing with our scarves
Sharpening listening skills as we move our scarves based on musical or verbal cues
Practicing inhibitory skills as we start and stop our movements with the scarves

It may not sound like much, but kids love it – and there are so many different games that can be brought into the mix, to keep in changing each month.

Scarf Games and Activities to Try at Home

12 Educational Games to do with scarves at home, from Birth to Age 4 – ParentHub.com

Scarf Play at Home – KinderMusik.com

Scarf Activities for Kids – TheInspiredTreehouse.com

Understanding the Picky Eater – And Tips for What to Do

September 23, 2019 by Melanie

This month’s information sessions have been dedicated to a topic we can all relate to as parents and caregivers: Tips for reducing “picky eating”.

We’ve all seen it – children refusing to eat certain foods, textures, colours – and their preferences changing like the wind from one day to the next. How do we as parents and caregivers help our children create healthy attitudes and behaviours around eating?

“Being creative, staying patient and continuing to offer new foods without a fuss can help your child enjoy mealtimes and develop lifelong healthy eating habits”.
Nutrition Matters, Toronto Public Health

What Causes Picky Eating?

Let’s understand why this is happening in the first place, and shed some light on what “picky eating” is about. According to Toronto Public Health, there are a number of reasons your child eats less or refuses foods:

Growth – There will be days when a child is more or less hungry because of their growth rate.
How they’re feeling – If a child is tired, upset, sick or stressed, this will affect how they eat.
Distractions – They may rather play than sit and eat!
Pressure – Any kind of pressure to eat does not work.
Taste – Young children have a high sensitivity to taste, smell, shape, and texture – or they simply may not like it!
Fear of something new – Young children commonly are afraid of new or unknown foods.
Independence – Young children prefer feeding themselves, and showing their independence by choosing what to eat.
Attention – Refusing can sometimes gain them the attention they seek from their parent or caregiver.
Role modelling – Your child may be coping the behaviour of another child who refuses to eat a particular food.
Drinking lots of fluid – Filling up on milk or juice will impede their interest in eating.

3 Tips for Success

There are a number of tips to support parents and caregivers in feeding a picky eater, and creating healthy eating habits. One thing to remember when reading through these tips: your child decides how much to eat and whether or not they’ll eat, while the parent / caregiver decides what foods to offer, when, and where meals take place. It may take them 15 times for your child to like a new food, so be patient and try to have fun with these tips and strategies:

Offer a variety of foods: Try using Canada’s Food Guide to plan meals and snacks, making an effort to make food be interesting and fun. You might try serving different shapes, colours and textures of food, ensuring lots of finger food options. When introducing a new food, try offering it alongside something familiar.
Set regular times: Children do well with routine, so serve 3 meals and 2 snacks at the same time daily. Keep portions to a child-size amount, and leave enough time between meals to allow their appetite to build. Offer water between meals to satisfy thirst (rather than juice or milk), and limit milk to no more than 3 cups a day. Juice is best to avoid or limit altogether. Why not incorporate morning circle and snack at Creating Together into your daily routine?
Make mealtimes enjoyable: Healthy eating is made so much easier when families sit down and enjoy meals together. This is an opportunity to be a good role model: eat a variety of foods yourself, turn off devices and tv, and bring your attention to your tummies and your time together. Other ways to make meals fun are to involve your child in meal planning, meal preparation, grocery shopping, and setting the table. Keep stress low by allowing preschoolers to leave the table when they are full, and not having rules be too strict at the table.

Looking for some fun activities to do at Creating Together, to make meals fun? Join us for the monthly Toddler Food Preparation Workshop with Marcella from FoodShare, and bring a dish to celebrate Thanksgiving at our Potluck Lunch next month!

Resources and Information

Toronto Public Health: 416-338-7600

EatRight Ontario: 1-877-510-5102 Ontario.ca/EatRight

Ontario Early Years Centres Information Line: 1-866-821-7770

Canadian Pediatric Society: caringforkids.cps.ca

Welcoming Fall

September 16, 2019 by Melanie

This year, the autumn equinox falls on September 22nd, marking the first day of autumn. It’s a beautiful time of year, when the leaves start to change, we celebrate the harvest, and we start preparing for the colder days to come.

As a family or community, what are some ways we can celebrate and honour this time of year?

A time of balance…

Equinox literally means “equal night.” And during the equinox, most places on Earth will see approximately 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness. This time of year can be celebrated as a time of balance. Play with the themes of balancing opposites, especially the symbolic senses of light and darkness in balance. It’s a great time to purge and let go of things you no longer need, restoring balance and peace in the home.

Getting curious about the science of it…

On the autumnal equinox, the sun is at zenith (it appears to be highest in our sky) over the Earth’s equator. The Earth’s axis tilts neither toward nor away from our sun, and the sun’s center is directly over the equator. After the northern hemisphere’s autumnal equinox, the subsolar point—the point on our planet’s surface that’s directly underneath the sun—travels into the southern hemisphere, gradually casting us into shorter and cooler days.

Here are some fun activities to do with your child, to help them understand the meaning of the fall equinox: https://www.kidzworld.com/article/2526-autumn-equinox

Why do leaves change colour?

When days begin to grow shorter, deciduous (green leafy) trees begin to signal to their leaves to stop producing chlorophyll, the green pigment responsible for the leaves’ color and photosynthesis. Because the color change is more dependent on light than temperature, it takes place at basically the same time year after year.

This fall, try making a game of watching the leaves turn in Parkdale. Gather them up for your nature table, or make some beautiful autumn art together. Check out these videos together, and have fun learning more about the mystery of changing leaves:

Why do leaves change color in the fall? from DNews
Why do autumn leaves change color? from Scientific American
Why do leaves change color in the fall? from Super Scienced

Celebrating the harvest…

Traditionally Autumn Equinox was a time of great celebration. The harvests were coming in and food was plentiful. Celebrations focused on gratitude and thanks for the bountiful harvests. In different traditions, the autumnal equinox takes on several names, including Mabon, Harvest Home, and Alban Elfed.

People give thanks for the sunlight and the fruits of the earth, recognize that we must share those fruits as we enter the harsher months, and prepare to turn inward in the winter darkness, to which they pay their respects. To celebrate, you could make a gratitude list, visit a local farm or farmers market, eat a fall harvest meal together, and decorate your home for the season!

*Don’t forget to sign up for the upcoming Chudleigh’s Farm fieldtrip!*

Books to read together…

Here are a few great family books to read together for the autumnal equinox.

Grace Lin’s Thanking the Moon: Celebrating the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival, Deborah Heiligman’s Celebrate Thanksgiving, and many other excellent picture books explore different cultures’ autumn traditions.
We Gather Together: Celebrating the Harvest Season (Wendy Pfeffer) introduces the science, history, and cultural traditions surrounding the autumnal equinox. This book also includes projects and recipes to try at home.
Pat Zietlow Miller’s Sophie’s Squash and Dahlov Ipcar’s Hardscrabble Harvest playfully bring our attention to the bountiful fall harvest we get to enjoy.

September Calendar

September 5, 2019 by Melanie

Creating Together staff are back n full swing after a wonderful summer break, and excited to bring families a great September program calendar!

If you anything missing on our calendar that you’d like to see in our program, please come in and let us know!

Inter-generational Programming

Every day, children come with parents and caregivers of every day. In addition, wach month, we spend Circle Time with the senior citizens at White Eagle Residence. We sing songs together, read stories and chat with the residents. This month we’ll be doing this on September 5th from 10:45-11:15am. Meet us there, or walk over with us from Creating Together.

Healthy Eating

On September 12th, we invite you all to join us for a cooking activity at 9:30am. Also, our regular monthly guest, Marcella, will be offering a Toddler Food Prep workshop on September 18th at 10am.

Physical Activity

Busy Bodies exercise cards continues Wednesday the 4th and 18th from 10:45-11:00am and 2:15-2:30, using pictures to prompt kids to get moving! The exercises help to promote gross motor movements, improve posture, and promote concentration while enhancing language and vocabulary.

Rainbow Fun is another activity we will be holding September 16th from 10:45-11:00am, and 2:15-2:30. The Rainbow Fun Physical Activity Program was produced by the City of Toronto & The Grey Bruce Health Unit. We choose different physical activities for each session and adapt them as needed to suit the children’s developmental level. We always start with a warm-up and stretches, and we finish with a cool down.

You also won’t want to miss Scarf Dancing September 6th at 10:45am, and Parachute Play September 20th at 1:15pm.

Public Health and Inclusion

This month, Toronto Public Health Nurse will be returning September 25th so please join us and bring your questions and concerns at 10am.

Also, on September 26th at 12:30, we are welcoming guests from the Glitter Bug Program from the 519 LBTTQ2S EarlyON Mobile Program. They will be joining us for circle and sharing resources with staff and families. Join us and help us create safe, affirming, equitable spaces for everyone!

Literacy

Each Monday from 9:30-10:30am and 1:30-2:30pm is “Literacy Monday”, where children read and sing along with parents/caregivers and a staff member. This program is designed for one-on-one or small group storytelling, featuring developmentally appropriate books and CDs. Children also have a choice to listen to a story with headphones on their own.

In addition, every day at 1pm we gather and read a story together as a group for Story Time, to help children become familiar with sounds, words, language and the value of books. Together, we can build your child’s early literacy skills, helping them go on to read successfully later in life.

Music

We’ll be getting into a groove together with Circle Time with Musical Instruments on Tuesdays from 11:00-11:30 and 2:30-3:00pm.

Self-Care for Children

August 29, 2019 by Melanie

Life can get hectic, and remembering to take care of ourselves can easily fall to the bottom of the priority list. We have offered a few blogs to help parents with Self-Care for themselves, be it Prioritizing Self-Care in the Summer Months, or 10 Self-Care Tips for Moms. However, self-care routines are just as important for children. The earlier your child learns self-care, the more likely they are to maintain those good habits into adulthood.

Practicing self-care routines at a young age can reduce the risk of developing mental health conditions like anxiety and depression.
Ashleigh Louis, Ph.D., LMFT, Psychotherapist and Yoga Instructor (Laguna Beach, CA)

What are self care skills?

For children, self-care skills are the everyday tasks that help children participate in life activities, such as dressing, eating, and cleaning teeth. While adults support young children with these, it is expected that as children mature, they develop independence in these. When self care skills are difficult, this can limit other life experiences, be it difficulty with sleep overs at a friend’s, going on school/preschool excursions, or eating and toileting on their own at birthday parties.

Self-care habits are also things they can practice regularly, which provide stress relief and body-mind-spirit wellness. From painting and running to journalling and meditation, you can make it your mission to find a self-care habit your child can get excited about.

What can be done to improve self care skills?

Visual schedule of the steps involved
Reward chart for independent completion of tasks (or attempt at, in the early stages).
Small steps: Breaking down self-care skills into smaller steps and supporting the child through each step so that, in time, they can do more for themselves.
Routine: Use the same routine or strategy each time you complete the same task to help them learn it faster.
Consistency: Be consistent with the words and signs used to assist the child, and keep instructions short and simple.
Allow enough time: Ensure that there is enough time available for the child to participate in self care activities without feeling rushed (e.g. practice dressing on the weekend to start with before then doing it before rushing to preschool or school).

What activities can help improve self care skills?

Here are 10 activities to help you support your child in developing their own self-care routine:

Family Time: Regular daily routines that emphasize consistent wake up, eating, homework, bedtime, play, and chore schedules will provide the structure they need to understand and predict their world.
Slow Down Time: One of the overlooked elements of family routines for children, is building in “slow down” time (eg., yoga, deep breathing). Regular, built-in “slow down” time during the day allows children to learn how to make mindful choices.
Small parts of activities: Practice doing a small part of a task each day as it is easier to learn new skills in smaller sections.
Nature Time: Taking this time outside in nature has been found to specifically reduce depression. Carve out time in the week to go on a hike or walk around the neighborhood.

*Sign up is open now for our upcoming trip to Chuldeigh’s Farm!*

Observation: Have your child to observe other family members performing everyday self care skills.
Sleep: Sleep is one of the most crucial ingredients for learning, performance and mental health and good sleep starts with a consistent and early bedtime. For tips, see our earlier blog on Sleep Hygiene for children.
Role play: Self care tasks such as eating, dressing or brushing teeth with teddy bears. Doing it on others can help learning it before then doing it on yourself.
Expressing Feelings: Identifying and expressing feelings is a learned skill. Teach feeling words, discuss the emotions of characters in your child’s favorite stories, and encourage journalling. These strategies reduce stress, help them build relationships, and help them understand their feelings.
Timers to indicate how long they must tolerate an activity they may not enjoy, such as teeth cleaning.
Taking care of others: Altruistic emotions are associated with better health and well-being, and build family connection. Allow the child to brush your hair or teeth first, before brushing their own. Go out and volunteer as a family, be it delivering a meal to a neighbour or writing a kind note for a friend or teacher.