After a long day at school, my children usually need an energy boost to hold them over until dinnertime. And honestly, a little pick-me-up that doesn’t play see-saw with my blood sugar levels helps get me through an afternoon slump, too. If you’re tempted to raid the office vending machine around 3 or 4, or you find that the fridge calls out to you a few hours before dinner, try a high-protein snack—protein is more satiating than fat or carbs to tide you over. Try to cap your snack at 200 calories; 100 calories if it’s within an hour of dinner. Here are a few ideas that are sure to satisfy both you and the kids:

Low-Fat Cheese
Kid-friendly fare: Use a few thin, unsalted pretzel sticks to skewer a few mini cheese rounds for a fun snack. Or take out your holiday cookie cutters for all kinds of fun shapes! Use different types of cheese to vary the color on their plate.

Grown-up grub: String cheese is always a quick and easy snack when you’re on the go. Serve with a few halved cherry tomatoes and whole-grain crackers for a well-balanced snack.

Peanut Butter
Kid-friendly fare: Assuming there are no peanut allergies, try a PB&J sandwich on mini whole-grain waffles or whole-grain, brown rice cakes instead of bread. For a fun, new presentation for your child, fill celery sticks with peanut butter and top with strategically placed raisins to create Ants on a Log.

Grown-up grub: Use peanut butter as a dip for your favorite cut-up veggies or spread it onto a couple of Gala apple slices for a sweet treat that has a nice protein punch.

Eggs

Kid-friendly fare: Get creative with omelets, using healthy ingredients your child likes. You can even try whipping up a taco omelet, which is essentially a taco salad (with lean beef) but in an omelet.

Grown-up grub: Prepare hard-boiled eggs when you have the time and keep them refrigerated until you need a quick, filling snack.

Whole-Grain Cereal

Kid-friendly fare: Cereal’s not just for breakfast! Serve their favorite whole-grain cereal (my kids love Kashi) with milk, which is high in calcium and vitamins. You can even add flavorful dried fruit, such as cranberries, blueberries or bananas, to get a nice dose of disease-fighting antioxidants.

Grown-up grub: I put a cup or two of whole-grain cereal in a zip-top baggie and stash it in my purse for a ready-to-eat snack.

Low-Fat Ham
Kid-friendly fare: Roll up thin slices for a fun and easy snack. You may even want to add cheese to these roll-ups for a cleaner way to grasp onto them and for extra protein.

Grown-up grub: Put a thin slice of ham on whole-wheat bread with a spoonful of apricot jelly and a dab of Dijon mustard for a nice change from the norm.

Yogurt
Kid-friendly fare: Serve it plain or with fresh fruit, or step it up a notch by mixing it all together and freezing to create frozen yogurt popsicle treats. Just grab one from the freezer at any time for a healthy and easy snack that’ll keep you going.

Grown-up grub: Mix some chives, garlic powder and a dash of finely chopped cilantro into your yogurt to create a tasty dip for some whole-grain pita chips or some carrot and celery sticks.

Whatever your snack choice may be, mix up the variety and let it fuel you for much longer than it takes you to eat it.

Who else pre-bought tickets to the Muppets?!

We did!

On premiere day, Greg and I took the girls to see the new Muppet Movie.  We were all excited…and we loved it!  I have to admit that I got choked up a few times – especially at the idea that I was sharing this happy part of my own childhood with my girls. And well, a   comeback story always gets me.  And Rainbow Connection?  Bring on the tears.

My girls? They laughed!  And they were sad when Walter was sad.  And they cheered at the end.

And Mommy was a hero!

Why?

Because I know Walter!  Peter Linz, the amazingly talented actor who plays Walter played Polka Dots & Doodle Board on Blue’s Room.  My girls remember meeting Peter who was always so sweet to them.   Congrats to Peter!   You were awesome!

I seriously wish more movies for kids were like The Muppet Movie.  Silly, heartfelt, fun for all ages.  “Forget You” in chicken bok?   Genius.

And my girls can’t stop singing, “Manamana!”   Bonus!

So our kids are well into the thick of things at school. But has the excitement of a new year dissipated? Is that new leaf, which was turned over in September, starting to flip itself back over?  I went to Laura to help us out here on how to keep that love of learning spark hot. “As a mom and a teacher, what are some common issues you see at this point in the school year with kids?

This is one of the trickiest times of the year for both parents and teachers.  For teachers, the newness has worn off and students who come into the classroom in September eager to learn and anxious to please sometimes get stuck in the rut of routine.  It is up to us to re-invigorate the schedule within the comfort of that routine we cherish. It is easy for teachers and students to “slack” between Thanksgiving and Winter holiday breaks because parent-teacher conferences are over and less is expected in terms of testing. But a good teacher can turn out some incredibly valuable activities during that time, much in part for that same reason- the children learn not because they are being assessed, but because they are interested and their thoughts are arrived at organically.

Similarly for parents, once the excitement of the unknown that comes with starting a new school has worn off, all those well-intentioned promises like “I’m going to practice the violin every day” and “I’ll get my homework done before I play,” can quickly become daily battles.  I find my kids work best if they have a written schedule of expectations.  Figure out each task that needs to be done and write it down on a list, a chart or in a planner, depending on your child’s age and organizational style.  There’s something about checking off completed tasks which is simply and amazingly satisfying.

The benefits of creating are endless. It’s therapeutic, fosters imagination, sharpens focus, helps with risk taking, develops communication skills, builds confidence, etc. etc…

If you need some help with ideas on where to start, here are some links:

Disney’s Family Fun, EnchantedLearning, or AmazingMoms

Take some time today and get messy with your kid(s)! It’ll do you both a world of good!

Funded by the CPB as part of its Ready to Learn initiative, SUPER WHY Reading Camps were held in over 100 communities as they built upon the success of the SUPER WHY television show. We are now opening up our signature early literacy curriculum to the community. Online teacher (or parent) tutorials are supplied offering tips and techniques for growing successful readers.

The reading camp is a 5 day interactive learning adventure which shows children the power of reading and motivates them to play with letters, sounds and words through a comprehensive curriculum. A  curriculum which has been developed by noted literacy experts. The activities offered through this curriculum reinforce knowledge through repetition and various forms of learning (i.e. art, music, movement, dance and games) and also utilize CD’s, DVDs, worksheets, and more. Literacy skills showed significant improvement (at the 95% significance level) for those who attended the camp thanks to SUPER WHY Reading Camp’s multimedia approach.

For more information or to download the actual curriculum, click here to go to PBSkids.org

Submissions for our Action News! Storytelling Contest with Launchpad Toys are in! You have until next Wednesday to vote for your favorite News Broadcast.

To view the outstanding work that was submitted go to Launchpad Toys and don’t forget to VOTE for your favorite, as the Top ‘Toon winner will receive $100 to Amazon!!

Back in September we discussed Launchpad Toys’ Toontastic animation/storytelling app (see the post “Your Kids Should Tell Stories”).  Well, they’ve just released  Toontastic V1.4, Attack of the Megazoid Monsters!  The new update includes 3 New Mega Awesome Playsets featuring Sir-Stomps-a-Lot smashing and grabbing through San Francisco, King Jinx taking a waffle-cone sized bite out of the Chrysler Building, and Mr. Lizard – that slimey scourge of a sea monster– terrorizing Tokyo. Thankfully, the TV8 News Crew is live from the scene!

With this update, we’re hosting an Action News! storytelling contest with Launchpad Toys for kids to create and share their own News Broadcasts (Monsters Optional).  One winner will receive an Amazon.com Gift Card valued at $100, compliments of Launchpad Toys.

To Participate:

1. Create a cartoon News Broadcast using Toontastic for the iPad (download the app HERE). Being that we’re nearing Thanksgiving, extra points for “signing off” with the line “Let’s all be thankful for ______. This is TV8 News, Signing Off.”
2. Upload your cartoon to ToonTube and send a link to your cartoon to actionnews@launchpadtoys.com by November 9th.
3. Participants will be announced on November 10th. Voting will be open through November 16th.
4. The contest winner will be announced on November 17th.
5. Contest is open to residents of the United States, Canada, Great Britain, and Australia. Please see contest rules for further details.

We can’t wait to see what mayhem your kids exact on toon-cities everywhere!

I met up recently with my friend Joey Mazzarino, who is also the head writer & puppeteer extraordinaire for PBS’ Sesame Street.

I got the scoop on his personal but lesser known puppet favorites like Stinky the StinkWeed, the difficult search for strong girl role models and how his daughter has made such a huge impact on his craft. His segment/song “I Love My Hair” was not only inspired by her, but it was essentially her gift of empowerment and pride for oneself that was wrapped into a clever number which immediately went viral (presently closing in on 3 million views)!

That’s what I call harnessing positive screen power AND the power of a very loving Dad. Need I say, Joey Rocks?!

[See my PBS Parents’ The Parent Show interview with Joey Mazzarino on PBS.org]

After careful deliberation of some incredibly creative & just plain cute Halloween costumes, the judges have reached their final decision.

Congratulations to Nathan B. who wow’d our judges with his (or more accurately his Mom Kimberly’s) handmade Mr. Stay Puft Marshmallow Man costume.  He will be receiving $50 worth of Super Why & Blue’s Clues merchandise to share with his family and friends.

Thank you everyone for Liking us on our Facebook fanpage and for sharing your wonderful photos with us in our 1st Angela’s Clues Halloween Photo Contest.

From my house to yours, have a fantastic Halloween!!

~Angela

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) report came out last week reiteratin­g their 1999 stance that “babies (0-2 yrs old) should learn from play, not screens”.

The question isn’t whether we all agree that babies should play (who is going to be against play?), but how, in this day and age, do we use this informatio­n in our everyday lives? I crave informatio­n and I believe in well grounded research and advice from experts.

I want us parents to be as informed as possible so that we can see the educationa­l difference in content as we make our media choices for our children and our family. So, although it is not groundbrea­king, there is worthwhile informatio­n for us parents:

– No matter how persuasive the packaging is, it is not likely that a baby will go to Harvard because he watched a baby video. (Yup, they got me too. Hook, line and sinker)

– Shut off the News: Background media is harmful to kids. Babies have been found to play less and adults interact less when the tv is on in the background­. (The news stresses me out, let alone what it would do to my kids…)

– What about my free half hour? Bring back the Playpen (to a certain degree)!   A safe play area with some stacking blocks?  What about sitting on the floor of the kitchen with a pot and a wooden spoon?  Everything in moderation, but a properly setup and tended playpen may be a pretty good alternativ­e to screen time for babies.

– Haven’t we proven that television can be educationa­l? Yes, for preschoole­rs, 2-5 years old, longitudinal studies have proven that curriculum based television programming can help them learn (hello, Blue’s Clues…Super Why!). But babies brains are different. They need to be developed enough to absorb the images and information in order to learn.

Read more on this topic from my friend and colleague, Dr Dan Anderson HERE