This recipe is a sweet way for children to show thanks.
What You Need:
- 2/3 cup nut butter
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 3 cups crispy rice cereal
- Heart-shaped cookie cutter
What To Do:
- Stir together nut butter, honey and vanilla in a large mixing bowl.
- Add crispy rice cereal and stir until evenly coated.
- Smoosh mixture into heart-shaped cookie cutter. Place cookie on waxed paper or parchment paper. Repeat until mixture is gone.
- Refrigerate cookies for 1 hour until firm.
- Enjoy and share them with others. It’s a sweet way for children to show thanks.
Adapted from Focus on the Family Clubhouse Jr.
Games are a great way to build up your brain muscle!
What You Need:
- Cube-shaped container (e.g., a facial tissue box or shipping box)
- Paper (any type -- to cover the cube-shaped container)
- Faces depicting different emotions (Drawings, photographs, or cutouts from magazines)
- Tape or glue
What To Do:
- Cover the cube-shaped container with paper. Use tape or glue to secure the paper onto the cube.
- Glue a face depicting a different emotion to each side of the cube.
- Now you’re ready to play the “feeling dice” game with your child! Start by having your child roll the dice.
- When the dice lands, ask your child to identify the feeling (or label it for her).
- Ask her to describe a time when she felt that way. She may need help from you to recall a time.
- Now it’s your turn to roll the dice, identify the feeling, and tell her about a time you felt that way.
- This game is helpful for adults too: games are a great way to build up your brain muscle!
Use this activity to bond with your child
What You Need:
What To Do:
- Ensure your child is sitting or lying comfortably.
- Take one foot and gently rotate it a few times in each direction as you support the foot at the heel. Gently flex the foot backwards and forwards.
- On the sole of the foot, use a thumb over thumb motion to massage from heel to toe. You can also use your thumb to trace circles over the bottom of the foot.
- Apply gentle pressure to the heel and the tendon in the ankle of the foot. Continue to support as you squeeze and knead along the base of the foot.
- Apply gentle pressure to the area under each toe. To finish off, grab each toe between your thumb and forefinger and gently pull until your fingers slip off the end. Do this for all 5 toes.
- Repeat the process on the other foot.
- If your child wants to, let her give you a foot rub, too! Comment on how nice it feels.
Dancing with your baby helps to calm her, helps her feel secure, is a wonderful bonding activity, and stimulates almost every area of your baby’s brain.
What You Need:
- Any type of music/song to dance to
What To Do:
- Hold your baby gently and securely against your body. If your baby does not yet have adequate neck muscles to lift her own head, support the head in all dances.
- How you hold your baby will depend on their level of muscle tone. You can hold your baby in the tummy time position, facing toward you, facing away from you, etc.
- If your baby is facing toward you, look directly in her eyes as you talk, dance and sing.
- Pat your baby to the beat of the song, or walk around keeping beat.
- Try slow and fast movements. Freeze dancing is always fun: dance to the music then stop and freeze when the music stops.
- Be careful not to overstimulate the brain by spinning or dancing too fast or for too long. Be guided by your baby and her reactions.
- Enjoy this special time together! Dancing with your baby helps to calm her, helps her feel secure, is a wonderful bonding activity, and stimulates almost every area of your baby’s brain -- encouraging the growth of vital neurotransmitters. For an adult’s brain, the benefits of dancing are equally significant, including an increase in cognitive abilities.
Adapted from: GymbaROO Active Baby Smart Kids
