Mommy & Me Monday: Melt the ice cube game

"Melt the ice cube" is a fun game to play with your little one. In fact, your whole family may want to join in. I have had this out as an activity in my Montessori classroom for the past week. The photos shown are ones from when I set this up in the classroom two years ago. At that time, I had two children do the game together and each child had their own ice cube to melt. Right now in my classroom I have two children play together, but they jointly try to melt one ice cube. Of course you may decide how you'd like to do this in your home setting.

The gist of the game is that you roll a die to determine which action you must take to try to melt your ice cube. The second photo shows a close-up of the chart which tells what you have to do for each number rolled. There are lots of giggles and squeals when a number two is rolled. If you are interested in printing out your own chart, CLICK HERE. That link will take you to my original post which has a hyperlink to the site where you may download the printable. Hope you have some chilly fun doing this. It may be perfect to go with the weather we are supposed to get this week.

Cool Mom Tip

Today's cool mom tip is:

Spray painting the snow!

Simply give your child a water bottle filled with colored water for them to mist the snow...they will think you are the greatest and you will have the most colorful yard in the neighborhood.

IF YOU HAVE A COOL MOM TIP....PLEASE EMAIL IT TO AMBER. We would love to hear what makes you cool!

Mommy & Me Monday: Iceberg Play!!

Your kids will think you are the coolest mom ever if you make them this fun (and easy) activity. Simply freeze some bowls of water in your freezer and you have instant icebergs. I have this exact activity out in my Montessori classroom now as we are studying arctic animals. I place the iceberg on a blue tray (which represents the arctic ocean) and added a basket with arctic animals. This exact set of animals can be found at Michael's or Hobby Lobby. It it the Safari Arctic Animal TOOB. Of course you could use any small animals and your kids will have a blast. Keep a small towel on hand for them to wipe cold hands on. It doesn't get much easier than this. Add in a literacy component by reading some books and stories about arctic animals. Have fun!!

Healthy Living With Monica Green-Connell MSPT CSCS

Happy New Year!

Well, we all survived the holiday season. Some of us eager to bring in the new year with New Year’s resolutions and personal goals. A common resolution is to lose weight and be healthier. From my past experiences going to gyms in MN, LA, TX and CT it was a trend to see more people in the gyms in January and February and then the aspiring new members started dwindling. Why? Lack of motivation, no immediate results, busy schedules, etc…..

I always give advice to people who are working toward a final goal to set small goals along the way. Example: If my goal is to lose 15# in 3 months then I will reward myself if I did not GAIN weight the week I had several parties to attend. I could also treat myself to something special if I was able to work out 4-5x/wk. Remember to never lose sight of your goals/dreams…….they may take time to accomplish but if you have determination and perseverance you will ultimately succeed.

Working out with a partner or in a class may be the outside motivation you need if you feel you do not have enough inner motivation to keep you going. This may also help you prioritize your time and even with a hectic schedule you will know someone is waiting on you or you may feel guilty paying for classes if you do not attend.

I thought I would jot some exercises/activities down you can incorporate in your day to help strengthen muscles, burn calories and improve balance. Most of us want to lose belly fat after having kids and many people believe if you do sit ups/crunches that will help.

FYI: there is no such thing as spot reducing….meaning if I do tons of crunches I will lose weight at my belly. In order to lose your belly you have to have negative calories and lose weight overall. Keep in mind doing deep ab ex and kegel exercises will help firm your stomach up and give you a stronger core.

1. Isometric contraction of deep abs and pelvic floor muscles while in neutral pelvis.
(Neutral pelvis: your ‘tall’ but comfortable position.)Need to really show you this in
person.

Base position: 1)neutral pelvis 2)kegel 3) pull tummy in

You can do this in sitting, standing, walking, laying down, as long as you keep your neutral pelvis and you contract your pelvic floor, transversus abdominus, multifidus.

PTs teach core ex in neutral and some trainers, pilates instructors may teach you core ex out of “your neutral”. I feel like training neutral first is VERY important to avoid injury!

FYI: When training core with rotation ALWAYS move your hips with your torso to avoid increased disc shearing and injuring your back!!!

2. Mini-squat or ¾ squat. Feet shoulder width apart. Bend knees slightly. Buttocks go out like your sitting in a chair. Knees need to stay behind toes. Hold 5-10 sec. 10-12 reps. You can also add in tightening pelvic floor and deep abdominals.

3. Mini-lunge or ¾ lunge. Step forward with one foot, bend that knee slightly and shift bodyweight over front foot. Tighten thigh and buttocks of front leg. Hold 5-10 sec. 10-12 reps. Add in contracting of pelvic floor and deep abdominals.

4. Standing on one leg. Keep hips level and pull tummy in. Can do when doing dishes, talking on the phone, etc…. See how long you can stand on one leg without using your arms for support. Doing single leg stance is great because it forces you to use many muscles to keep you upright.

I am not a big believer in crunches and definitely NOT sit-ups! These work your rectus abdominus(6 pack) which does not provide much stability when compared to your deep abs. To discuss the progression of lower abs is very difficult without demonstrating it.

I am hoping some of these ideas are helpful and if you have questions please feel free to call me at 527-7131 or grab me at the next MOPS meeting. I love to teach and help people get more fit!

I am planning on having a running/walking club in the spring, probably meeting on a week night. If there are suggestions please email me or call. I would love input. My email is jomogreco@sbcglobal.net.

Physical fitness usually leads to improved grades/mental sharpness. I will leave you with the following to think about:
A new study that followed nearly 300 adults over 13 yrs. found that walking 6-9 miles/week may stop your brain from shrinking as you age. This will decrease risk of developing memory problems. (Sunday World Herald Sunday Jan 2, 2011)

What better motivation to exercise!?

LIVE WELL!!!!!
Monica Green-Connell MSPT CSCS

Tuesday Tunes

PMS- Preschool Mom's Survival Night!

Come down to Midwest Lanes for a Mom's Night Out on January 26th. We will be meeting at 6:30 PM for bowling and fun! Food is available for purchase.

Hope to you see you there!

Mommy & Me Monday: Snow Dough

This activity is so fun. You make up a batch of "snowy" playdough and let your child use it to create snowy things like snowmen. CLICK HERE to go directly to a post I wrote a few years ago about making "snow" playdough. In addition to a link to the homemade playdough recipe, you'll see some photos of cute snowmen made with the dough. A few other ideas besides making a snowman with cookie cutter circles and beads are: help your child make a 3D snowman by showing them how to roll the playdough into balls then use things you find around your house to decorate your snowperson OR roll the dough out flat to make some "snowy ground" then have your child use small plastic animals to make animal tracks in the snow.

Tuesday Tunes

Mommy & Me Monday: Painting Snowflakes

This week's project is super simple. You will need only a few materials: some paper doilies (found locally at Kally's General Store on the square) and watercolor paints. I placed doubled-up paper towels under the doilies when my boys painted them.





Once you have everything set up, just allow your child to paint as they wish.

Here is one of my sons' finished snowflakes. I meant to take a photo of them taped up on our window, but it got too dark!! If you are a bit of a snowflake purist (i.e. you only think snowflakes should be white.........I confess to being a closet snowflake purist myself) you can CLICK HERE to see how I set up a snowflake-making activity in my preschool classroom. (NOTE: Snowflake purists should omit the painting step....... ;-)

Mommy & Me Monday: Book Activity for "The Mitten" by Jan Brett

This project is from the "archives" of my personal blog. Even though I've had several days off from my job, my boys and I didn't get around to doing a new project for me to post about this week. Luckily, I had this one from a few years ago to share with you. In January I like to do "wintry" activities in my preschool classroom and also at home with my boys as I have time. When possible, it's fun to do an activity that goes along with a great book. The Mitten by Jan Brett is one of my all-time favorite books to read with children in the winter. For this project my boys and I made patchwork, laced mittens and also made some animals to place in the mittens to act out the story. CLICK HERE for my original post which includes links to where you can download a mitten pattern as well as the patterns for the animals. My boys loved retelling the story with their "props".

The photos below show the mittens my boys made two years ago when my oldest was 7 1/2 and my youngest was three.

The next photo shows the animals that my oldest son colored to go in his mitten.

January Book Club

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen is our January book club selection. Becca has selected this book for us and we will be meeting at her house on January 25th at 6:30. Please feel free to join in with book club anytime or just with the books you are interested in.

The book hits the big screen (or the big top, however you want to put it!) on April 15th. You can be sure that several book club members will be going...feel free to come along, even if you don't come to book club!