YWCA Boulder County
Parent Resource Weekly
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Hello 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.
This week we have a fun cooking video from Carter and Tori. We encourage you to try this at home with your families. It is cost-effective, easy to make, and delicious!
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Coping with COVID-19: Series for Families
"
Kidlutions: Solution for Kids” is a great blog with parenting tips on a variety of subjects. They have a great new series on Coping with COVID-19 and will be publishing additional episodes in the coming weeks.
They will share links to their latest’s posts as they become available. So far, they have these articles:
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Domestic Violence Resources
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For some in our community, staying home is also not safe.
This is a stressful time for all of us. The uncertainty created by the COVID-19 public health emergency combined with social isolation, reduced access to employment and food, and in some cases lack of child care, is difficult for many families and individuals to endure.
Please reach out to your family, friends, and neighbors by phone or video during this time, and help ensure they feel supported.
We also recognize that for some families and individuals, the difficulties are too much to handle.
The
Boulder County Abuse and Neglect Hotlin
e is available 24 hours a day, every day, at 303-441-1309.
Boulder County responds to concerns around potential abuse and neglect by working with families and individuals to understand their challenges and -in many cases- connecting them with supports they may need. The safety of children and at-risk adults is a top priority. Anyone witnessing a child or at-risk adult in a life-threatening situation should call 911 immediately.
Here are some tips from SPAN: Safehouse Progressive Alliance for Nonviolence:
If a friend or a neighbor is in trouble, what can you do?
- Help them plan where they (and the children), could go in an emergency or if they decide to leave.
- Agree on a code word or signal they can use to let you know they need help.
- Help them prepare an excuse so they can leave quickly if they feel threatened.
- Find out about how the police can protect them, and if calling the police is an option.
- Help them prepare an "escape bag" and hide it in a safe place. If they leave, they will need money, keys, clothes, bank cards, driver's licence, social security documents, property deeds, medication, birth certificates, passport and any other important documents.
- Think if it is safe to help interrupt an episode of violence, create a code so you can knock on the door.
- If they decide to stay they may need to think about other ways to protect themselves and the children from further violence.
***Be careful. Don't place yourself in a position where the person who is being abusive could harm or manipulate you. Don't try to intervene directly if you witness a person being assaulted - call the police instead.***
24-Hour Crisis Line: 303-444-2424
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Mirrors: A game to be played with two people together: Have two people looking at each other and try to copy the "leader" and mirror their movements
Hopscotch: use sidewalk chalk.
Filling and dumping: a great cause and effect game for toddlers. This can be played with any sort of basket, socks, soft blocks, reusable shopping bags, cotton balls, or anything else that can be packed and unpacked, or into and out of, time and time again.
Family Scavenger Hunt:
- Think about things and places around your house.
- Place clues around the house (or carry a list of clues that you will read out loud) that lead to different locations around the house, or yard.
- Make clues age-appropriate for child. Example: Where do we go potty? vs. Where do we wash our hair? Example: Where does the milk live? Vs. What keeps our food cold?
- Hunt can be as long or as short as you would like.
- The last clue can lead to something fun, maybe a special snack or a game, even something as simple as lunch.
- Congratulate child on each success and assist if child is struggling.
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If your child is in our Preschool classroom at Children's Alley, this should be some familiar nap time music. Every day we would begin playing this song at 12:45 while the kids quietly work on puzzles and look at books, until we begin our lie down/rest time at 1:00.
Playing the same music at the same time each day acts as a signal to the brain and can create a sense of safety in routine.
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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.
Oobleck
Homemade Finger Paints
Watercolor Paint
An easy way to make watercolor paint is to find old markers that are drying out. Put them in any size container of water and let sit. They will be ready to use in just a few hours, but the longer you leave them the better the color will get. They can be used with a paintbrush and some paper, cotton balls and paper towels, coffee filters or paper plates. Putting newspaper under will help soak up the extra color. Doing it outside can make the space better for messes!
Outside painting
… just use water and a brush! Using water on a garage, sidewalk or fence can lead to great conversation with forming minds. Most surfaces will look darker when they get wet, so your child can see what they have painted. when it dries, paint it again! Having them paint and then seeing it dry in the sun is science before their eyes!
Shapes & Sorting:
Cutting shapes out of colored paper, scrap paper, cardboard, or even old mail is a great task for children. If the child is too young to cut out shapes, an adult can do it for them. Once the shapes are cut out, the child can sort all similar shapes, sort into different colors, even gluing the shapes to make other shapes or a beautiful picture. It helps them learn shapes, categories, and expand their artistic abilities!
Cut paper towel tubes into rings (about an inch each) and use them like beads. String them onto yarn, a shoelace, or a pipe cleaner (make sure whatever you use isn’t long enough to wrap around your child’s neck if they are under 3). Your child may want to color, paint, or decorate the rings to make them more fun!
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Old McDonald Had A Farm:
Here is a link to an example of one way you can sing it with your kids!
Lyrics:
Old MacDonald had a farm Ee i ee i o
And on his farm he had some cows Ee i ee i oh
With a moo-moo here
And a moo-moo there
Here a moo, there a moo
Everywhere a moo-moo
Old MacDonald had a farm Ee i ee i o
Old MacDonald had a farm Ee i ee i o
And on his farm he had some chicks Ee i ee i o
With a cluck-cluck here
And a cluck-cluck there
Here a cluck, there a cluck
Everywhere a cluck-cluck
Old MacDonald had a farm Ee i ee i o
Children love this song and the possibilities are endless!
You can incorporate movement into this song as well: gallop like a horse, hop like a frog, crawl like a cat or dog, etc.
Other examples: Pig, horse, sheep, and other farm animals.
To make it more interesting you can pick different animals.
Examples: fish, bear, snake
You can even pick things around the house (children love this!)
Example: light says blink, blink, blink
Vacuum says vroom, vroom, vroom.
Make music in the kitchen!
Let your child experiment making sounds with pots and pans, cookie sheets, wooden and metal spoons, or whatever else you have around. This can get loud so make sure you are prepared and/or are in a good headspace for it. Encourage your child to help you clean it all up when you’re done.
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Fruit of the Week & Veggie of the Week
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Fruit of the Week:
Apples
Apples are a great source of energy (carbohydrate), fiber, antioxidants, and Vitamin C.
Vegetable of the Week:
Asparagus
Asparagus is a great source of folate, potassium, fiber, vitamin A, vitamin C, and vitamin K.
Check out what produce is in season
here.
In season produce is cost efficient, more abundant in stores, and has richer flavor!
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Roasted Lemon Parmesan Garlic Asparagus
A quick an easy side that is full of delicious parmesan garlic flavor with a hint of lemon. This is a side that you will make again and again!
Ingredients
1 pound asparagus
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 Garlic Cloves minced
3 Tablespoons Parmesan
Juice of one lemon
salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. On a baking sheet, arrange the asparagus in a single layer. Toss in the olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Roast for 8-10 minutes or until the asparagus is crisp on the outside and tender in the center. Toss in the garlic, parmesan and lemon juice. Add more if desired. Serve immediately.
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Here are some resources to check out this week:
Storyline Online, streams videos featuring celebrated actors reading children’s books alongside creatively produced illustrations.
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We want to hear from YOU!
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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!
You can also submit questions or feedback anonymously through the
signup form (do not enter your name or email in order to make it anonymous).
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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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