Summer Outdoor Art Activity #1: Cotton Ball Splat-Art!
Here’s a MESSY outdoor art project to try out with washable kids paint – and don’t forget a paint shirt!
Try it on canvas & add a pop of colour to your home!
You Need
- Washable Kids Paint
- Rubber Mallet
- Butchers Paper
- Cotton Rounds
To Make
Step 1. Lay out a large sheet of butchers paper, ensuring to cover a large area! (Things are about to get real messy!)
Step 2. Place blobs of paint (about half the size of the cotton round) over the paper and cover each blob with a cotton round.
Step 3. Now comes the fun part! Swing your mallet and smack it into the cotton round!
Step 4. Once you’re finished, remove the cotton rounds and allow to dry. Now you’re ready to hang your splatter masterpiece!
Coming Soon: New and Improved Canadian Food Guide
Health Canada is rolling out an updated version of Canada’s Food Guide this Winter, which will mark the first update since 2007. The revision process is currently underway.
With the Food Guide originally aimed at tackling wartime rationing and malnutrition, it has an interesting history – with many updates and transformations that have taken place since its inception in 1942. The new plan is based on an updated set of guiding principles, focused on consuming more nutrition-dense foods on a regular basis and staying away from harmful fats, sodium and sugar. The guiding principles highlight the importance of knowledge and skills relating to health and nutrition, advising that Canadians shop for nutritious foods, plan and cook healthy meals and then share them with family and friends, which “can help reinforce positive eating habits and help children develop healthy attitudes towards food.”
The Guiding Principles also move the conversation beyond the individual to include the impact of healthy eating on our environment, encouraging us to look at the impact of our food systems (e.g., greenhouse gas emissions, water quality, food waste, animal welfare, soil degradation).
Learn More about Nutrition and Portion Size
Be Informed
Keep up to date on the revision of Canada’s food guide by registering for the Consultation and Stakeholder Information Management System. At the ‘areas of interest’ page, select ‘Canada’s Food Guide / Nutrition.’
Email nutrition@hc-sc.gc.ca to:
- request a PDF copy of the:
- guiding principles
- draft recommendations
- evidence base summary presented in the consultation
- ask any questions about the revision
Additional Resources
- Translated Versions of the Guide
- Use of Food Guide Content in Labelling and Advertising
- My Food Guide
- Eating Well with Canada’s Food Guide – A Resource for Educators and Communicators
- Copyright Guidelines for Non-Commercial and Commercial Reproduction of Canada’s Food Guide
- Eating Well with Canada’s Food Guide – First Nations, Inuit and Métis
Improve Your Child’s Health with 60 Minutes / Day
Canadian children are lacking the exercise needed for brain health, according to the latest finding of the ParticipACTION report, released last month. The report gives Canadian kids a D+ grade for their overall level of physical activity.
Interestingly, the numbers drop from 62% of children between 3-4 years of age getting the recommended physical activity levels, to only 35 per cent of children from the ages of 5 to 17. Both groups are also getting more screen time than is recommended.
It’s hard to believe, but just 60 minutes/day of physical activity helps children:
- develop cardiovascular fitness, strength, flexibility, and bone density
- maintain a healthy body weight
- increased creativity
- reduce the risk of chronic disease and health problems
- lessen the likelihood of tobacco, alcohol, and drug use
- feel better every day, through improved mental health and well-being
And even harder to believe is that children who aren’t active enough are at a higher risk of developing chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and other cardiovascular illnesses.
5 years ago, a study across Canada showed us that only 1 in 10 children in Canada met the Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines. Knowing what this meant for their health, across the country people have been working to make physical activity a regular part of daily Canadian living.
Let’s Make a Difference
Here are a few tips to help teach children the importance of daily physical activity:
- Let us Help! At Creating Together, we apply the City of Toronto’s Rainbow Fun Guide in our programming – a physical activity and healthy eating program for children 3-6 years old. Through this program, children build on skills like listening, singing, movement and participation, while developing their fine and gross motor skills. Keep your eye out in our calendar for the busy body exercise cards, parachute play, play in the park, and scarf dancing.
- Encourage – gently encourage them to walk or ride their bikes
- Schedule – be sure there is active time scheduled each day
- Mix it up – intersperse periods of moderate activity (e.g., walking or biking) with periods of more vigorous activity (e.g., running or or tag)
- Register – check with the Fun Guide, local schools and community centres for affordable programs (e.g., swimming, soccer, gymnastics)
- Unstructured Activity – For children who shy away from competition, build in physical activities that are informal and unstructured (e.g., tag)
- Mimicry – children under the age of six are constantly learning by copying what they see and hear, so set a positive example by being physically active as a family.
- Praise – remember to praise your children for being active. Confidence is the key to success!
- Share – reinforce positive health messages with other parents and caregivers, with information about physical activity, healthy eating and self-esteem.
Other Resources:
- Towards a Healthier Canada – 2017 Progress report on advancing the federal / provincial / territorial framework on healthy weights.
Learning with Science: Dancing Mothballs
Cognitive learning is all about watching, listening touching and experiencing. Naturally, children are more likely to absorb things they see and hear around them. Learning techniques such as science activities and experiments are as popular as they are with children, because they really do work with how children learn.
The experts point out that science is important in the lives of young people for a number of reasons:
- Science involves a lot of communication with other people.
- Science develops patience and perseverance in kids.
- It can help kids form a healthy dose of skepticism.
- Science teaches kids about the world around them.
- Science can spark in kids’ minds that they, too, can help solve the world’s big problems.
To learn more about the benefits of science for children, see our “learning science through play” article from February of this year. But don’t take our word for it – come see for yourself by joining us for our next science activity on June 27th from 1:30-2pm. CT staff will be guiding children through a fun, hands-on “dancing mothball” activity. It will surely ignite your child’s curiosity and fascination with the world around us!
See you there!
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