Snack Week: Sticks and Dips

It's easy to turn snack time into a fun activity for kids. Todd (Piper, BY) served up this successful combo a little while back.

Fruit Kabobs

1. Cut up assorted fruits (melon, pineapple, bananas, oranges, pears, berries, kiwis, etc).
2. Put the fruit on wooden skewers (or tooth picks, wood or plastic drink stirs) to make kabobs. This is something the kids can do themselves if you put the fruit out in bowls for them to choose from.
3. Serve kabobs with small bowls of yogurt (plain or vanilla) for dipping.

Bread Sticks and Dips

Simple: Just buy some bread sticks and serve with dips. Todd used whipped cream cheese. You could also try hummus or bean dip. Kids love dipping, and there's no need for utensils. Hooray for easy clean-up!

Snack Week: Keeping it simple

Elise (Hazel Rose, BY) shares some of her snack-time favorites. These are delicious, kid-pleasing and healthy as well as light on prep and clean-up. What's more, they both seem to fill the room with irresistible aromas that bring kids running to the table.

My favorite snack (which I now make every time):

Popcorn with brewer's yeast
Toasted sunflower seeds
Dried cranberries (renamed "blood raisins" on a vampireish day)
Apple pieces

For some reason this snack seems to have the right magic of "something for everyone," is all whole foods, doesn't have the allergy foods of the Back Yarders, and is easy on the wallet (as long as the cranberries are limited ). Please don't bring this snack to the Back Yard on the same week that I have snack! Because I will be bringing it, too :).

Another successful one:

Toast and Tea

Toast with jam and/or butter (I used that sprouted wheat bread)
Apple pieces
Toasted sunflower seeds or pecans
Tea (chamomile, mint, whatever ...)

I just toasted the bread as people came and quartered it, so if a lot came at once each got a quarter at first, or all the pieces if only one person was there. They seemed to like the idea of tea more than actually drinking it, but it did draw more people in. I asked each one what they wanted on toast as they came.

-- Elise (Hazel Rose, BY)

Snack Week: Beans and Rice

Here's a crowd pleasing recipe from Mazi and Finn's mom Kristen. Beans and rice ... so nice!

Beans and Rice, Jamaican Style
Serves 6-8

1 cup red kidney beans
warm filtered water
1 can coconut milk (or 7oz creamed coconut)
1 bunch green onions, chopped
(3 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped) I don’t use this but I bet it’s good
3 cloves garlic, mashed
2 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp black pepper

Serve with rice

Cover beans with warm water, and leave overnight in a warm place. In the morning, drain and rinse the beans, bring to a boil and skim. Add remaining ingredients except rice. Cover and simmer for about 6-8 hours or until beans are tender. (I just throw beans and ingredients in crockpot and cook on high for 4-5 hours) Serve over warm brown rice. Yum.

-- Kristen (Finn, FY & Mazi BY)

Snack Week: Oatmeal

Hummus, carrots, crackers, cheese, apples -- for most of last year, this simple combination was my "go-to" whenever my turn came up as snack parent. The kids liked it, it was healthy enough, and did I mention it was simple? But at some point in our second year, my snack combo just wasn't doing it for me. I was in a rut; I needed inspiration, so I turned to my fellow grown-ups, many of whom were decidedly more ambitious and creative than I in the culinary department, and some of whom shared my love for easiness, but brought some fresh ideas to the table (so to speak).

So this week, I'll be posting a few of these ideas and recipes -- let's call this little foray Snack Week. So grab a rice cake, and come along! First stop ...

Oatmeal Bar!

This one is so easy, and the kids really like it. Just whip up a big pot of oatmeal, and bring a bunch of fixin's for kids to spoon and sprinkle on themselves. It's like a salad bar, but for hot cereal. Some toppings might include:

Apple Sauce
Cinnamon
Berries
Bananas
Raisins
Dried Cranberries
Nuts
Yogurt
Milk
Soy or Rice Milk

Having lots of things on the table to spoon from gives kids the chance to practice, "Please pass the ..." and everyone likes to customize. This snack also generates lots of conversation around likes and dislikes, unexpected combinations of flavors, textures, etc.

Celebrating the Lunar New Year

Happy Year of the Tiger! Last month, CCC'ers enjoyed a whole week of activities celebrating the Lunar New Year. The children made and hung paper lanterns, decorated a large paper dragon with sparkles and shiny scales and paraded the dragon around the school with lots of noisy drums.

At circle time in both classrooms, teacher Kathy Chew explained Chinese New Year traditions and passed out red envelopes, with the help of her grandson. Below, she shares what this holiday means to her.

The Lunar New Year is a special time for our family, when we look forward to sharing time together and with friends. To prepare for the beginning of a new year, we clean the house, get a haircut and new clothes, and buy a bag of rice. We decorate our home with flowers or plum blossoms, set out a plate of oranges (for good luck), put up red and gold symbols for happy thoughts of peace, health and happiness and prepare a special candy box with treats to share with visitors.

During a two-week celebration, we visit family and friends. Children are given red envelopes, decorated with pictures or symbols to wish children a Happy New Year. At the end of the two weeks, there is a parade with many firecrackers, drums and cymbals; the loud noises are to scare away bad luck. There are also many lions/dragons, a symbol of good luck.

There are 12 years in our lunar cycle. Each year is linked to an animal. This is the year of the Tiger, special for me as I am beginning my fifth cycle.

At CCC, I shared how my family celebrates and invited our grandson Tyler to come help me pass out red envelopes and say "Gung Hay Fot Choy" (Happy New Year) to each front and back yard friend. What a special moment for me as a teacher, parent and grandparent.

-- Kathy Chew

Love, Sweet Love

Love was in the air at CCC on Friday with the annual Valentine's Day celebration. Children brought cards and other small tokens to fill each others' Valentine bags and decorated the classrooms with lots and lots of construction paper hearts.

Back Yarders traveled to the Front Yard for a group serenade of love songs, including favorites like If You Love Me and Skinnamarink. Then the older children escorted their younger schoolmates to the Back Yard classroom for the traditional "ice cream sodies"--Italian strawberry soda with vanilla ice cream... and straws, of course!

Afterward, both yards were open as the kids mingled, played beanbag toss, put on tattoos and painted their own faces. Meanwhile, the plum trees bloomed brilliantly all around, their pink flowers a perfect complement to the colors and joyful spirit of the day.

Thanks to Annie (Alex, FY) for the photo.

Looking at Art

Last month, Back Yarders enjoyed a field trip to the Berkeley Art Center in Live Oak Park, a short walk down the street from CCC. Lara and participating parents took the kids in two groups to view the center’s annual members’ showcase—a collection of diverse works all responding to this year’s theme of “red.”

BAC’s Suzanne Tan and Ann Weber greeted the children and quickly dispatched them on a lively treasure hunt through the gallery, searching the paintings, drawings, photos and sculptures for a list of images.

Afterward, each child was asked to stand next to his or her favorite piece of art, and to talk about why it was special. Before leaving, all of the children deposited money in the donation box, while Suzanne and Ann explained the role of donations in supporting the gallery. The kids really seemed to enjoy the outing and Lara hopes to plan more trips to BAC in the future.

For me personally, I was struck by how simple and effective the two age-appropriate activities were and it made me want to get out to more museums and galleries with Pearl, and certainly to do more drop-ins at the BAC, which is a free and easy outing on our way home from school.

I recently came across this article on the Savvy Source website, written by Ginger Carlson. She includes tips for helping kids to observe art, describing observation as fundamental to their own creative process. She has some great ideas for starting conversations with kids about what they see in a work of art and how it makes them feel.

And if you want to explore this topic more, she also includes a list of books on helping children “learn to look” and connect with the world of art on a deeper level. With any luck, these kinds of activities can plant the seeds for a lifetime of enjoyment and appreciation for the arts.