YWCA Boulder County
Parent Resource Weekly
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Hello all Children’s Alley families!
We thought it would be best to stay connected during this hectic time. Many of us are facing difficulties and uncertainty, and all with kids at home for longer periods than normal with the closure of schools and child care centers. We are here to help with inspiration, activity ideas and parenting tips, and hope this weekly email can provide a brief time to come together and uplift our neighbors, friends, and community!
We'll look forward to connecting with you each Monday with health and wellness inspirations, recipes, and activities to get your family and yourself moving. Let’s stay present and stay positive!
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YWCA Boulder County is dedicated to supporting parents and families. As we all deal with the Coronavirus pandemic, the
YWCA will begin providing virtual activities and learning opportunities from our Children's Alley teachers.
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How are YOU?
Parenting can be stressful and these are even more stressful times. It can seem impossible to find time, but try to be intentional about making time to check-in with yourself and dedicate time to self-care.
Do what you can to get enough sleep, eat healthy, drink plenty of water, get outside, exercise, have fun and be kind to yourself. And acknowledge that these are tough times and we are all doing the best we can. It is okay not to be perfect!
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You probably already have a daily routine of some kind with your family. Now is the time to really be diligent about sticking to that routine to create structure in your daily lives. Children need predictability and routine, especially during tough times.
Especially if you are also juggling working from home during this time, a daily schedule that everyone is familiar with and helps to follow will be grounding to children of all ages.
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Get outside.
Hike, walk around the block, create a scavenger hunt for your kids, visit your nearby park.
Go for a Color Walk around your neighborhood. Pick a color and look for everything you can find of that color while you walk)
Stuck inside?
Create an obstacle course:
- Things you can use: string or tape and streamers, chairs, tables, pillows, toys, sheets for tunnels, stairs for running, etc. Get creative!
Try a Color Scavenger Hunt in the house. For example, ask your child to find two blue things and point them out or bring them to you, now 3 yellow things, etc.
Create fun games like…
A ball toss, hide and go seek, I-Spy (Child must go find the object and touch it or bring it to you), create a race track with furniture.
YouTube movement channels
There are so many kid-friendly movement songs and dances you can find.
Check out these great videos:
The Airplane Song by Laurie Berkner - If your child attends Children's Alley, they should recognize this one!
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Here is a quick 15 minute kids bedtime meditation by Corys ConsciousLiving Channel on YouTube. Play this as you lay your child down to nap or sleep. Lay down with them to listen and enjoy a time of relaxation. Encourage your child to listen to her voice and hear the story.
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Art and sensory activities can be great activities to focus your kids on a project, get those creative juices flowing and relieve stress.
For toddlers especially, sensory activities can be very engaging and hold their attention better than most other activities. This can even be as simple as a bucket of water with cups for filling and dumping.
- Make Playdough at home! (Recipe below)
- Coffee filter Art: An easy art project is to have your child draw on coffee filters with markers. You can take the coffee filters down to the table to make it easier to draw on them. You can take this fun art project a step further and spray the finished coffee filter art with water and watch the marker drawings become like tie dye.
- Turn empty boxes (food, tissue, shoes, cardboard, etc.) into blocks.You can make them even more fun by wrapping them in wrapping paper, coloring or painting on them, adding stickers, or gluing on scrap paper.
- Have your child help you make lunch by cutting up soft food with a butter knife (with supervision) or tearing up greens to make a salad.
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Make at Home Playdough Recipe
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Playing with playdough is a great way for children to build fine motor skills and express creativity. Pounding, rolling, and ripping up playdough can also be a wonderful way to get some energy out when you’re stuck inside. Older children can help an adult make the playdough and learn math and science skills through measuring and watching how the ingredients change through the process. Here is an easy recipe to make your own playdough at home with ingredients that many people already have. When you’re done playing with your playdough put it into a ziplock bag or an airtight container and it will keep for several weeks.
Ingredients: (Makes 3 cups)
2 Cups Flour
1 Cup salt
2 Tbsp. alum, cream of tartar, or baking powder (you can skip this but the playdough may not be as soft or stay good for as long, alum and cream of tartar can be found in the spice section at the grocery store)
3 Tbsp. oil
2 Cups water
Food coloring or paint for coloring
Directions:
- In a medium saucepan mix together the flour, salt, alum, and oil.
- Add the water and coloring and stir until it’s well blended.
- Cook over medium heat and stir constantly until the playdough pulls away from the sides of the pan and forms a big lump. This will just take a few minutes, don’t walk away!
- When the playdough is fully cooked let it sit until it’s cool enough to touch and then knead it (or just smush it around) until it’s nice and soft.
- It’s ready to play with! Try using it with cookie cutters, rolling pins, measuring cups, toy cars or animals, a plastic butter knife or child-safe scissors (for older children), or just enjoy squishing it in your hands!
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Make a fort out of pillows, sheets, blankets, or whatever you have around the house. Try getting cozy in your fort and reading a book or telling a story together!
Favorite song from the toddler room:
Five Little Ducks
Five little ducks went out one day (show 5 fingers)
Over the hills and far away. (make a wave motion with your hand)
Mama duck said quack quack quack (open and close hands to look like a quacking beak)
And four little ducks came waddling back! (Show 4 fingers)
Four little ducks went out one day
Over the hills and far away.
Mama duck said quack quack quack
And three little ducks came waddling back!
(continue until you have no little ducks)
Sad Mama duck went out one day,
Over the hills and far away.
Mama duck said quack, quack, quack,
And all her little ducks came waddling back! YAY!!!
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Fruit of the Week & Veggie of the Week
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Fruit of the Week:
Grapefruit
Vegetable of the Week:
Kale
Lets all try to incorporate these into our diet this week! They will help boost our immune systems, give us good energy, and keep us fuller longer. These superfoods give us many vitamins and minerals that our bodies crave!
Try Kale chips, grapefruit with breakfast, kale in smoothies or in your salad….there are many options!
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Vegan Tofu Stir Fry
Cost: about $16 (without buying spices)
Serves about 4
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes or less
Ingredients:
4 Tbsp Olive oil
1 white onion diced ($1.50)
16 oz Tofu cut into 3/8 thick strips ($1.49 ea.)
8 oz chopped green beans ($2)
1 small Bok Choy ($1.50)
1 package (8 oz) Taste of Thai Rice noodles (serves about 4) ($3)
4 tbsp. Less sodium Soy sauce ($2.49)
3 tsp Cumin (about $5)
3 tsp Coriander (price may vary, about $5)
4 c chopped Green cabbage (garnish) ($2)
Want more protein? Not vegan? Add an fried egg to garnish!
Extras for more flavor but not necessary: Sambal Oelek (kind of Asian chili paste), lemon juice, bean sprouts and/or fried shallot slices to garnish.
Directions:
- Set a wok or large pan on high heat. Once hot, add the oil then the onion, and cook for about 2 min. to soften a bit.
- Add the tofu and green beans and cook for 2-3 minutes to give the tofu a bit of color. Stir gently as you cook, trying not to break up the tofu.
- Add the bok choy. When it wilts add the noodles and carefully spread them in the wok using tongs. You want the noodles to get a lot of heat. Mix gently cooking the noodles for about 4 minutes.
- Now add the spices, soy sauce, and 4 Tbsp of water. Feel free to add others herbs and spices if you like. Get creative! Cook for another few minutes to let the flavors settle.
- When ready, serve and top with chopped cabbage. Add an egg if you wish!
- Add salt and pepper or more soy sauce to taste.
Adapted and modified from
Plenty: Vibrant Vegetable Recipes from London’s Ottolenghi by Yotam Ottolenghi
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There are so many great resources out there. Here are a couple to check out:
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Contact Us with Questions, Comments, Requests and Ideas!
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If you have questions or concerns and/or would like to request specific topics or recommend ideas, please contact Tori Anderson at
Tori@ywcaboulder.org.
We are here to help!
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Thank YOU for your support!
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As a nonprofit, our work would not be possible without the support of passionate individuals and businesses like you, who support our programs and services.
If you can, please consider
making a donation in whatever amount you are able
. Your donation is tax-deductible and eligible for the Colorado Childcare Contribution Tax Credit. Together, we will weather these difficult times and continue our work to provide affordable, high-quality child care for our community.
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