How to Make Running a Fun Family Activity

It is no secret that there is a dire need to get kids out of the house, away from the video games and outside to get their daily dose of exercise.  One way to do this is by making fitness a family affair.  Many moms and dads run, ride their bike, practice martial arts and play sports, but few realize the many benefits these activities can provide for their children. 

One of the best and easiest activities to turn into a family affair is running.  Running is one of the best exercises for the human body and one that can be done anywhere, at any time, with virtually no equipment needed.  It promotes a healthy lifestyle, helps improve mood and gives the body one of the best overall workouts around. 

Benefits of Running for Children

One of the most obvious reasons to get kids into the habit of running is the benefits it provides both mentally and physically.  Studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association have demonstrated that children who are physically active, either through team sports or running, do better academically and have a more positive outlook on health.  Regular participation in physical activities is also associated with improved cardiovascular health, both in childhood and adulthood, reduced risk of diabetes, improved sleep, stronger bones and improved immune system function. 

In addition to the countless health benefits of physical activity and running as a family, running together also makes for excellent family bonding time.  It is also a time for parents to lead by example and show their children that fitness is an important habit that must continue into adulthood. 

How to Turn Running into a Family Affair

Getting into the habit of running as a family should begin even before children come along.  As a couple, a husband and wife can begin to make fitness a way of life by running together prior to having children and while expecting. 

Running with Your Spouse

Often times, one spouse is an avid runner and the other does not feel like he or she can keep up.  The other spouse is usually the cheerleader and is hesitant to participate.  Consider asking your spouse to join you for a run and ensure him or her that you will run at their pace.  After a few runs together, sign up for a 5K and start making running a competitive activity that you can do as a team.  This can not only motivate your spouse, but turn him or her into a lifetime runner. 

Running as a Family

After you and your spouse have made the commitment to run together and make it a family activity, you can have your children join you.  Even when babies are only a few weeks old, they can come along for a family run. They may be in a stroller but they will still learn by seeing what mom and dad do on a regular basis.  The habit is created early on and can be solidified as children get older. 

Tips for Running with Babies and Toddlers

Obviously, babies and toddlers cannot ride their bikes or run alongside their parents, but they can still be a part of the activity.  A baby can be in a jogging stroller in a car seat with an adapter and plenty of cushioning to support the head and neck weeks after being born.  After a baby is 6 months old, he can be in a jogging stroller without a car seat while mom or dad push him along their running route.  Many moms continue running with their children in strollers until they are five or six years old and strong enough to follow along in a bicycle.  Once kids can ride a bicycle, mom and dad can run while their son or daughter rides their bike alongside.  Although they are not necessarily running, they are still playing an active role in a family fitness activity and will grow to love running just as they see their parents doing. 

In addition to running alongside mom and dad, parents can also incorporate running with their toddlers through games.  Playing hide and go seek, tag, races to the mailbox and red light, green light are all ways to get your children running while making it fun.

Tips for Running with Pre-Teens and Teenagers

By the time children are in the late elementary years, they will be able to take part in a short distance run.  When going running with children for the first time, it is important to take it slow and begin with a warm up walk.  After warming up, interval running will help ease your children into longer runs as time goes by.  Interval runs include some walking and some running.  At first, most of the run will consist of walking.  Once your children improve their cardiovascular fitness, stamina and endurance, they will be running more than walking, and eventually be able to run without walking.  To begin an interval run, it is recommended that you run for a one to two minutes, then walk for another four to five minutes.  Repeat this interval several times, slowly increasing the running time and decreasing the walk.  After several weeks of doing this, your children will be able to run two to three miles with minimal to no walking. 

Regardless of how old you are when you decide to begin running or how old your children are when you decide to make running a family affair, it is never too late to start.  With fitness programs slowly diminishing in schools throughout the country, it is important that parents take the lead and show their own children how to lead a healthy, active lifestyle.

Get Your Children Ahead Before They Even Start Kinder!

As the proud mother of an amazing 4 year old, I want nothing more than to watch my daughter succeed in life.  That is one of the reasons I decided to start working with her on learning her shapes, colors, numbers, letters and more as early as 2 years old.  By the time she was 3, she was already writing her name, reading sight words and doing basic math.  Now at 4, she's already reading at 1st grade level, adding, subtracting, telling time and TONS more.  And she's not even in kindergarten yet.

There has long been an argument between mom friends of mine whether you should or should not work with your child in order to help him or her get a head before they start kinder.  Some moms say not to do it because the child will then be bored when they start school.  I do not believe this at all.  As a former teacher, I loved when my students came into class prepared and already had the foundation for what they were going to learn.  I saw that they had more confidence when it came to school work and learning new things that they were not already exposed to.  If you have kids at home, it would benefit them to spend at least 15-30 minutes per day working on educational topics that they will see in the upcoming school year.  This will not only prepare them, it will give them extra confidence and a step ahead so the school year is not so challenging.  Standards are getting increasingly more difficult so it would benefit us to help them.

Now, as a former teacher, it is not difficult for me to find resources to teach my daughter. For some moms, though, it can be tough to decide what resources to use and where to get them.  I got a lot of my books at the dollar stores (the 99 Cent Store & the Dollar Tree).  I also purchased some of the curriculum books at Costco.  I got large books there that included every topic (letters, numbers, sentences, reading comprehension, math, etc) for less than $10.  Costco also has 20 book sets of BOB books which are EXCELLENT for teaching reading. Those were key in helping my daughter learn her sight words and begin reading independently.

For other educational tools to teach your kids, click on the "Education" tab at www.FitFluentialMom.com.  There you will find reviews on other educational products and websites you can use to teach your kids at home ;)

Cupcake Crayons Made Out of Crayon Scraps

 If you have young children, you surely have your fair share of broken crayon pieces around the house.  Instead of throwing them away, recycle them and make fun cupcake crayons they can reuse.  Not only are these fun for them to use, they can be made in any color combination you want.  They are also the ideal shape for smaller tots that have a difficult time grasping a standard crayon.  If you don't happen to have broken crayon pieces, I'm sure your children's teachers at school, church or day care have some you can use for this craft.  Promise your kids will love it!  Follow the steps below:

What You Will Need

--Broken crayon pieces

--Mini cupcake tin

--Mini cupcake liners

Steps

1) First you'll have to remove the paper off each of the crayon pieces. This is definitely the most labor intensive part of this project.  My daughter (4 years old) was at it for almost an hour with me.  She was so excited to make her cupcake crayons, though, that she didn't care! LOL 

2) After peeling them all, we broke the larger pieces into smaller pieces that would better fit into each mini cupcake tin.  

3) After breaking down all of the crayons, we put 2 liners in each of the cupcake tin spots.  If you only put one, the crayons will leak through and it will be difficult to clean and reuse for actual baking next time. You can also use the foil liners.  They are thicker and the crayons don't bleed through them like they do the thin paper ones.

4) After you've lined the tin, turn the oven on to 200 degrees.  It won't take long to heat to such a low temperature so I usually wait until this step to even turn it on.

5) Once the oven is on,  add the crayons to the cupcake tin in any combination you'd like.  You can make some solid color crayons and you can mix colors as well.  We kept color families together but made some cool combinations as well (orange + yellow, red + purple, blue & green, red + orange, multi-color).

6) After the tin is full and/or you're out of crayon pieces, place the muffin pan in the oven and "cook" for about 10-15 minutes.  Watch them carefully so they do not overheat or burn.  The smell is not great but it will be worse if they burn.  They will also stick more to the pan.

7) When you remove them, make sure to do it carefully and slowly.  The crayons will be a thin, watery liquid consistency and can spill easily.  Let them cool for about 30 minutes and remove them from the tin.  

8) After they have completely cooled, remove the cupcake paper/foil wrappers and they're ready to be used! 

 

My daughter absolutely loves them and doesn't even want to use her regular crayons anymore.  

Lights, Camera, Party! A New Family Game on Playstation!

Games that feature a variety of mini games incorporated into it seem to be the ideal choice for families. Compilation games such as Lights, Camera, Party! From Frima Studio is the latest of these games released on the PlayStation Network using the PS Move. Mini-games such as this tend offer something for everyone. The family can all play together and, most of the time, there’s little, if any, violence. There are also a variety of animated avatars to choose from, spiking interest in even your youngest family members. Now, getting beyond the type of game it is, let’s get into the real review. Is it something you should buy for your family?

Lights, Camera, Party! is geared towards families to play as a group, laugh and have fun. It cannot be played individually unless it’s play in challenge mode. The purpose of the game is to be played in groups of up to 5 to encourage competition and laughter frantically passing the one controller back and forth to each other. As with many games, you have to play a lot in order to unlock more games. There's not a lot of games unlocked when you first get the game but, once you unlock the rest (a total of 50 all together), you’ll have plenty of variety to entertain a good crowd. There are 5 avatars but, in party mode, up to 8 can play and there will be avatars repeated. Not a big deal but it’d be nice if there were at least enough avatars for the number of players that are play together.

The main characters (avatars) in Lights, Camera, Party! are the Funzini family. The games is based around their story and the day their life changed. They were hanging out in their yard when a tv satellite falls into their yard and crashed into their home. The tv studio owner tries to make amends with the family by inviting them to participate in a game show on his network. The game show features lots of wacky games that you as the player get to play! The prize for the Funzinis if they win is a dream house!

In the game, players compete against one another in a variety of mini games. The games are played with one shared Move controller. The game is divided into rounds and, whoever wins the round wins the chance to design a portion of the house with their selected character in mind. For example, Billy Funzini is a fan of cowboys so his room would be western themed.

There are 5 characters to choose from. When you chose a character, that character’s face will be on your profile in story mode and will be used to style the sections of the house that you choose. There are different modes to play in as well. In story mode, up to four players can play together. If you have a larger group, choose party mode where up to 8 players can play.

Each of the mini-games is played as most motion initiated games are played. Players move the control up and down, they rotate it, they swing it and they do whatever they need to in order to win that round. The game is similar to most PS Move, Xbox Kinect or Wii game involving motion controls and, honestly, this game doesn’t have anything unique about it that hasn’t been done before. Having had the Wii for several years before trying this game out, however, I was impressed by the response in the motion controls. They respond very well and as accurately as you could expect.

In addition to the usual shaking all around as with most motion games, with Lights, Camera, Party! players also have to perform some tasks that include motor skills including placing blocks into corresponding holes of the same shape and matching shapes and other somewhat educational attributes to it.

The game itself is fairly simple to play. Each game and mode is thoroughly described prior to the game starting. The games are all directed by an announcer that will guide you through and continue to “cheer you on” throughout. The game encourages competition between the crowd, cheering you on as you play. The ability to beat high scores on each of the events played keeps the intensity up and the boredom away, at least until each player masters the game.

Overall, my family and I found the game to be quite entertaining. The graphics are great, the story is funny and the competition is definitely there. It’s a fast paced set of games offering variety to keep players from getting bored. The whole game takes approximately 30 minutes to play and the mini-games are short. The more games you unlock, the less repetition there will be. Once all 50 games are unlocked, Lights, Camera, Party! seems like a game my family (and our guests) can enjoy for quite a long time.

5 Ways to Spend Better Time with Your Kid

As a parent, we always wish we had 48 hours in the day instead of 24! More quality time with our kids would be a treat for any family! I know for me, between work, housekeeping, homework, dance, swim, karate and soccer, I hardly have time to think…and I only have one 3 year old! I honestly don’t know how some parents with 2 or more kids do it, especially working full time! This thought is what has sparked some creativity in me! I’ve had to come up with creative ways to get things done while also incorporating my kids into the activities to allow for quality family time! I wanted to “spend better time” with my kids! Below are some issues many of my mom & dad friends complain they “don’t have time for”. Try them out and see how your day CAN include your entire to do list and your kiddos too!

1. I can’t exercise, I don’t have time! Your kids LOVE to be outside (usually) so, take them out on their bikes, roller blades or skateboards and keep up with them with a slow jog. Your kids are too young to ride a bike, put them in a jogging stroller and get to pushin’! Not only will you get a good workout jogging but the pushing will tone your arms! Too hot or too cold to go outside, pop in a workout video or go online to some of the many sites that offer free, short daily workouts! Do them while your little ones are napping or early in the morning when your family is still catchin’ zzzs!

2. I don’t have time to cook It’s true, when you get home at 6pm, there’s hardly time to shower, not to mention busting out the cookbook and apron and sweating it out in the kitchen. After all, dinner is supposed to be at 6-7pm not 6-7am! So, why not take an hour or two out of your weekend and make dinners for the week! Freeze them up in different containers, label them Monday – Friday and pop them in the freezer. When you get home from work, soccer practice, parent conference or just come home early in tired, pop it in and your home cooked meal is ready in 2-5 minutes!

3. I don’t have time for myself Many parents, mostly moms but some dads too, complain they never have time for themselves. They don’t have time to get nails done, get their hair cut or just treat themselves with a well deserved massage. Well, many spas and salons offer packages for mommy & me and daddy & me! Take your kids and turn it into a bonding activity! It will make your little ones feel extra special, especially if there are siblings involved and they can each have their own day.

4. I need alone time with my spouse but don’t have anyone to watch my kids Well, that’s a problem many of us have. Recently some friends and I have gotten together and developed a calendar. Two to four times a month we have one of the parents watch all of the kids for 3-4 hours. The rest of the parents go out for a parents’ night out! We take turns so we all get our night out and our kids get the fun with friends they love! Local indoor gyms and studios like My Gym also offer Parents Nights Out. You pay a fee, usually between $25-35 per child (with siblings at a discount rate) and they’ll watch your kids for 3-4 hours, feed them dinner and show them a good time!

5. I don’t even have time to clean the house Ok, so, few kids like to clean but, it’s all part of growing up. We all have to learn to take care of our possessions and take pride in our home. Starting early and teaching kids to help out is not a crime nor will it hurt your child’s upbringing. If you have toddlers, teach them where their toys go and to put them away (with help from you in the beginning). If you constantly clean up after them, that’s all they’ll know and you’ll end up doing the cleaning for many years to come. Elementary age kids can be given an incentive to help out. They can earn an allowance like a salary that we earn at work. Their room should be clean without compensation since it’s their own space (like our house is ours and we have to maintain it). If they help out maintaining the rest of the home by dusting, vacuuming or cleaning some windows, reward them in some way. Activities are usually a good option to money, like a day at the park or a trip to your local museum! You can also check out www.myjobchart.com. It’s an excellent online chore chart that teaches your kids to earn, save & spend and best of all it’s FREE!

So, you didn’t think it was doable but it is! You just have to make do with what you have and get creative to spend better time!

The Parent Center also writes for Playground Dad! Check out his blog & our article there!

5 Ways to Spend Better Time with Your Kids

Martial Arts for You & Your Kids!

There are tons of activities to choose from when you're looking to keep you kids active & entertained. One of my favorites and definitely one of the most beneficial is martial arts. Not only does it keep kids (and adults) fit but it also teaches discipline, dedication & determination with its belt ranking system. Kids WANT to work harder and harder because they want to achieve that next belt. Most importantly, it helps with the ever rising problem called "bullies"! Bullies seem to be getting worse and worse and even more brazen. Getting involved in martial arts will help your kids defend themselves, not only against bullies, but also against anyone wanting to cause them any harm.

Having said that, there are many choices today when it comes to martial art studios. They seem to be popping up everywhere. One problem.....they're expensive and some don't tailor their classes towards little ones.  So, do research in your area and take advantage of FREE classes. Most studios will offer a free introductory class to see where your child is, if he or she is ready for the class and if you like the class for your child.  I tried 4 different studios before I found the right fit for my daughter.  Make sure to check out your local community's parks and recreation programs too!  They're usually taught at the high end studios but at a portion of the price!

A Fun, Rainy Day Experiment!

Need something to do with your kiddos indoors on this rainy day? Try this easy Ice & Salt experiment I found on Surviving a Teacher's Salary blog. All you need is a frozen block of ice, salt and food coloring. Check it out at http://www.survivingateacherssalary.com/2011/10/awesome-ice-salt-art-experiment.html

Make a Scarf Out of an Old T-Shirt!

Saw this and thought it was an ingenious idea!! Who doesn’t have TONS of old t-shirts hiding in their closets and all over their house. Now, thanks to Money Saving Mom and Make It and Love It, you can put them to good use and have a new accessory too!! All you need is the following: an old t-shirt, thread, scissors and a sewing machine. You could sew by hand but the machine makes it much easier J Find t-shirts in different colors and make multi-colored scarves, scarves with different patterns and textures and more. I loved that I could make scarves of different lengths and widths! Great activity to do with your kids too!

The Good Fun Book: 12 Months of Parties That Celebrate Service

All parents want to raise kids that are grateful for what they have and are generous enough to give back to those that are in need. Well, authors Karen Duncan and Kate Hannigan Issa have written a book that has awesome activities that help kids give back. The book is called The Good Fun! Book: 12 Months of Parties That Celebrate Service. It will hit stores on October 22, 2010 and coincidentally it is also National Make A Difference Day! It's perfect for preschoolers on up through the teen years. Even adults can get great ideas on giving back to their communities.

What could be better than having fun while doing good things for the city you live in and the people around you. The book helps young children engage in their communities to do some good while having a good time with family and friends. Whether it's a party to help animals, a party to collect sports equipment for needy kids, or a party to make goody bags for needy families, this book will have your kids giving back in no time. It includes 12 party plans to help mostly elementary school aged children make a difference. It's fill with tons of ideas that include participation from friends, family, classmates and more. It promotes critical thinking, problem solving and most importantly, generosity! It even includes invitation suggestions, craft ideas, recipes and charity profiles. It's a great tool for parents and teachers that are interested in participating in service projects with their little ones while teaching them real life skills. It helps educate children on charities and non profit agencies that were created to help people in their communities and those around the world. This book promises to deliver by getting kids excited about giving back! It'll be $15.95 and, in my opinion, worth every penny!

Educational Websites for Kids with Tons of Activities

Educational Websites for Kids with Activities, Recipes,

Birthday Party Themes, Printables and More!

Here's a great website I came across when I was looking for new activities for my daughter and friends. It's Activities for Kids and, not only does it have recipes, printables, crafts and travel games, but it also has tons of features for teachers! The site features classroom activities, personalized open house invitations, activity calendars and more. Parents can use these at home as well if you have a few kids around the same age and/or have other kids cared for at your home.

In addition to all of the features for teachers and parents to teach their kids anything and everything including art, math, American Presidents, the Pledge of Allegiance and more, the site also features tons of Birthday Party ideas! Make free personalized invitations, thank you cards, guest lists and happy birthday banners with clip art directly from their site. They also feature party games, party foods, recipes and more. Need to keep kids entertained, print out the printable games they feature. Not sure what theme to go with for the party? They have a long list of themes along with great ideas on incorporating them. Having tons of family over for the holidays? Entertain them with fun holiday activities, recipes and arts and crafts!

Everything on the site is free and printable without any copyright restrictions. Check it out!

Visit the La Brea Tar Pits for FREE

Looking for a fun activity t do with your kids ? Low on cash and would like to do something that's F.R.E.E.? If you live in or around the Los Angeles area, why not take your little ones to the La Brea Tar Pits Museum! It's free on the first Tuesday of each month (tomorrow). The museum is located at the Rancho La Brea Tar Pits in the heart of Los Angeles. It's a world famous location displaying fossils from centuries ago. The museum is recognized as having the largest and most diverse assemblage of extinct Ice Age plants and animals in the world! Visitors can learn about LA as it was between 10,000 and 40,000 years ago during the last Ice Age. You and your kids can learn about a time in our history when animals such as the saber-toothed tiger and the whooly mammoth roamed the LA Basin. You can even watch bones being cleaned and repaired through the windows of the museum's laboratory! Outside the museum, your kids will be able to see life size replicas of the animals they learned about in the museum. Hancock Park, situated directly accross the street, features several extinct animal statues. Parking is only $7 so it's a great deal. You and your kids can get out on a sunny day and participate in an educational activity together!

Gymboree Child Education Classes

This article is from about a year ago but not much has changed! My daughter still LOVES Gymboree and has learned a lot during the past 6 months we've been going there. It has taught her to share with other kids, say please, thank you and sorry when it's called for, sit for listening time with the teacher and so much more! I highly recommend it for your little ones.

Well, I'm not exaggerating when I say that it's been AT LEAST a year since I've been meaning to take Shae to a Gymboree class!! Since she was about 7 months old, I've wanted to take her but just couldn't find enough time in the day. Between work, cleaning, cooking, making lunches, doing laundry....and getting up for work before 4 am during the week, I was just too tired and didn't have the energy to do it. I was also under the impression that classes were only in the mornings.... more suitable for the stay at home mom schedule. Well, this week, after getting my 20th coupon in the mail for a free introductory class, I finally logged onto the website from my cell phone (or smart phone as some would call it) and signed Shae up for her first class.

The class was scheduled for Wednesday at 7:10 pm. So, my daughter, husband and I had dinner, changed and got ready to go. Although we only live 1.2 miles away, we left 25 minutes prior to the time the class would start......I guess we were just a little bit anxious. We got there within a few minutes, of course, and got out of the car. We peeked in the window, saw that another class was still in session, and decided to take a walk around the block while we killed time before our class was to begin.

When it was finally 7pm, we walked in the door and were greeted by teacher Heather. She happily welcomed us and invited Shae to start exploring. She first reminded us, however, that shoes are not allowed in the gym and we were to wear socks. If we forgot ours, which we did, we could wear some of the clean, washed socks they provide. I was thrilled at this, by the way! We take our shoes off at home, and so does everyone that comes over. The disgusting things on the bottoms of shoes DOES NOT belong anywhere near my hands, mouth, face...or anywhere else besides the bottoms of shoes. Having parents and kids remove shoes ensure that none of the disgusting things on the bottoms of shoes will end up where it shouldn't

Now, back to the Gymboree class...Shae was encouraged to go barefoot to prevent slipping and sliding and our little newby didn't even hesitate!! She immediately started climbing the ladders. going through the tunnels, down the slides and on the bouncy balls! As parent newbies, we just stared for a bit and analyzed the crowd. After a few seconds, we got more comfortable, took our shoes off, put the "clean socks" on and followed Shae around. She immediately loved it and climbed all over. She went up the ladders, rolled the balls, climbed on the teeter toter and had a blast. When the class started, teacher Heather, a spunky, sweet, very animated 25 year old, began banging a tamborine and called the kids to the mat.

Most, if not all, immediately came and were immediately drawn to Gymbo! A clown, and the Gymboree mascot, for lack of better words. She had a BIG Gymbo and LITTLE Gymbo and, therefore, the lesson of the day was Big and Little. She walked around and showed the kids the big slide and the little slide, big ball and little ball, big ladder and small ladder and so on. She then encouraged us to follow our children around and continue the lesson on our own.

We did that and had a blast interacting with Shae, the other parents and the other kids. Throughout the class, teacher Heather called the kids back to the mat, added more to the lesson with big and small rings, bubbles and more. We culminated by playing parachute and Shae then continued to play.

Signing up for the class weekly was a no brainer. It was obvious it would benefit her socially, physically and mentally. It would help get her in the classroom mentality, needing to stay in a group for periods at a time and it would get her around other kids, something we don't do unless we go to the mall germ pits (aka indoor playgrounds at malls).

In addition to the weekly Play and Learn class, we also get free access to their Open Gym Time that's scheduled various times and days throughout the week. That alone makes it worth it because it gives Shae other opportunities to come play with other kids without the structure of the class.

Overall, my only regret is not signing up for the class sooner! I know for a fact that Shae would have benefited greatly had she been attending from an early age. If and when I have another baby, I'll be coming as soon as possible and, since classes start for the 0 - 3 month age group, that means it'll be almost immediately!

Hope you have all enjoyed my review and I welcome you to attend, at least, the free introductory class. You have absolutely nothing to lose and much to gain! Visit Gymboree 's website for locations near you !

Activities for the Whole Family Where You Live!

Looking for fun, new things to do in your city? Do you find yourself sitting around bored, not knowing what to do or where to go? Do you want to take your kids, family from out of town or friends somewhere different and new?

Go to the "Things To Do in (the city you live in)" website and you'll find something for each day of the week. It's not just for activities in LA! There's a link for virtually every city! They have activities for everyone and tons of categories to search activities! There are activities that are free, activities for your pets & fun places for the whole family to attend! Some of the site categories are: Live Music, Bars & Clubs, Performing Arts, Sports, Comedy, Kids & Family Activities, Museums, Spirituality & much more!

For a complete list of cities, categories & activities click on the link above to be redirected to the "Things To Do in Los Angeles Things To Do in Los Angeles". Find the city you live in and then look on right side of the page under "All Categories". Find your activity and... get out there and have a good time!