Kid Friendly Archives - Page 16 of 33

5 Tips for Getting Kids to Drink Water

September 20, 2012 By Michelle Barneck Leave a Comment

Water is awesome. It’s cost free, calorie free, sugar free, and life sustaining. Now how do we convince reluctant kiddos to dive in and drink? Here are 5 tips to help get your kids to drink water instead of their sugary counterparts.

1. Make it fun!

Let kids choose a fun water bottle or cup with a favorite color or character. They will drink more if it has a cool container. You tend to drink more with a straw so buy a big pack of disposable or a few funky re-usable and get to sipping! Adding a slice of lemon or orange can make flavor it without loads of sugar. Teach kids fun facts about water.

2. Make it easy!

Have water easily available at all times. If you fridge does not have a dispenser, put a dispenser in the fridge so it’s always ready to go. Have a stash of water bottles ready to grab on the go for practices or school.

3. Make it cold!

Kids tend to like water better when it’s cold. Keep water in the fridge and have fun shaped ice cubes to add in. Consider freezing fun non-toxic toys (small enough to fit but not to swallow) inside so they get a little reward when they finish their bottle.

4. Make it clear!

As much as we don’t like to admit it, kids love to talk about pee. Take advantage of it and tell them about the pee test. Dark needs more water and near clear is good to go. Make it seem like a game.

5. Make it happen!

Kids learn by example. If they don’t see you drinking water they are not likely to. We can’t drink soda all day and expect them to be content with water. Show them the importance by being a fan of water yourself.

We had a chat about water and shared some fun facts:

I polled our Tipsy Facebook fans and they had some fabulous ideas:

Our kids are allowed 1 glass of juice at breakfast and 1 glass of milk with supper – the rest of the day the only option is water.

Crystal lite. Start with a full pack then gradually do less! Eventually you’ll need none.

I have a mug of ice water that I carry around the house and my kids see it and always want to share it with me. They think it is fun to drink “mommy’s water!”

I add one drop lemon, grapefruit, tangerine or lime essential oil. Not only are the as natural as can be, but they are also natural antioxidants and natural detoxers. Oh and they taste yummy. (so say my kids).

Juice is a special and rare treat and I still mix it with water for her anyway! She’s just grown up loving it.

She does love to drink from my water bottle though and thinks its somehow more special than her own water! So sometimes I give her my bottle as a treat! Lol

My kids like it REALLY cold. So I freeze half a bottle and then add water. That way the cold lasts 🙂

That’s how we helped we kids discover the wonders of water. Brita’s new product, the Brita Bottle for Kids, now provides an easy and fun way to have clean, filtered H2O on the go.

Now I’m curious…

How do you encourage your kids to drink more water?

Reply below and one of my readers will win a $50 Visa gift card!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Brita. The opinions and text are all mine. Official Sweepstakes Rules.>

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EasyMake Bedding for Kiddos

September 13, 2012 By Michelle Barneck Leave a Comment

You know where I find my son’s comforter every morning? In a pile next to his bed. We long ago discarded the flat sheet. It was more of a tangle hazard than anything. What if I told you that your five year old could make his bed by himself every day? Comforter sheets and all. Sounds like a myth right?

That’s what I thought too…

I was contacted by Easymake to try out their bedding that makes it super easy for kids to make their beds. How does it do that you may ask? Zippers. Zip the comforter to the flat sheet and the flat sheet to some panels on the fitted sheet and voila. Genius.

The panel holds the blanket and sheet in place as to avoid the aforementioned bedside pile in the morning. I don’t know who was more excited to try it out me or my son. We put it through the ringer. Night after night of ninja sleeper. I swear I don’t know what that kid does in his sleep, but it is crazy.

The first few nights the zipper was unzipping while he slept and the blanket would be disheveled or even off by morning. I was frustrated and even tried safety pinning it until I realized just today as I checked their site that we had put the bedding on upside down. The panels were supposed to be by his feet. Whoops! I felt a little better when I saw that the instructions on the website are more clear than those on the packaging.

As a sidenote there was also a flaw (shown above) on one of the panel zippers when it came out of the packaging.

So let’s review…

Cons:

Directions on packaging should be clearer like those on website

Quality control needs improvement (small tears in product)

Currently only comes in two colors

Pros:

Machine washable

Comes apart easily for washing

Classic look (goes with lots of decor and age groups)

Kids can make their own beds!!!

Saves time

Keeps blankets on the bed so they don’t get cold in the middle of the night

If I do end up making it, it looks like this in less than a minute…

Now that I figured out what was going on I really do love it. It’s fluffy and cozy for my little guy and sooo easy for me. It keeps the sheet and blanket together which is something I had given up on long ago. Hurrah for chore time slashed!

I received product and a stipend from Easymake for my time. The opinions are obviously mine.

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Fun School Lunch Idea

August 23, 2012 By Michelle Barneck 3 Comments

When it comes to school lunch sometimes things can get repetitive and boring which is why I was thrilled to take the challenge from Glad to come up with a fun new school lunch idea. I have seen so many cool Bento ideas, but I don’t have any of those boxes. What I do have is tons of Glad containers. Don’t we all? You don’t need a special box to make a special school lunch for your kiddos, just a little imagination.

Dino Themed School Lunch

It’s this little sandwich cutter for a couple bucks at Wal-mart that makes this lunch super easy.

INGREDIENTS:

Spinach tortilla wrap

Turkey

Provolone

Pretzel rods

Fruit roll-ups

Celery

Strawberry yogurt

Red food coloring

Juice pouch (frozen)

I put the dinosaur scene in a Glad entree size container and the yogurt in a mini round.

INSTRUCTIONS:

It’s a good idea to pack lunch night before so you can freeze the yogurt and juice.

1. Cut dino shapes from your wrap, provolone, and turkey. Layer them with two turkey and one provolone in each. I stacked two little sandwiches on top of each other. I did not use condiments because I did not want it to get soggy. You could pack some on the side, but they really aren’t necessary. I ate a couple dinos and as long as your wraps are fresh they are not dry at all.

2. Cut leaf and spikey bush shapes out of the fruit roll-up. Break the pretzel rod in half and stick leaves on the top of each to make trees. Place the bushes and trees around the dino sandwiches.

3. Cut a celery stalk into little bites and fill the bottom of the container to act as foliage.

4. Fill the mini round container with strawberry yogurt and swirl some red food coloring on top to look like lava. Put the sealed container in the freezer so it will stay cold in the lunch cooler.

6. Put a napkin in a resealable bag and lay it over the dinosaur scene to keep the tortilla fresh and soft. This will also protect the napkin and wrap from the condensation as the juice thaws.

7. Lay the frozen juice pouch on top of the napkin and put the lid on the container. The juice will keep the meat and cheese cold and keep things from shifting around.

8. Put a spoon in the entree container.

9. Place everything in a lunch cooler and it will all be thawed just in time for lunch.

My little guys were so excited to chomp down their prehistoric lunch. One said it was the best lunch ever and kept telling me how it was so cool.

He loves it because it’s cool, I love it because it is low fat and contains all four food groups. Win win.

How do you make school lunch more fun?

Everyone who shares a back to school recipe, tip, or idea before August 31st on the “Mom Made” promotion on Glad‘s Facebook page, is eligible for a chance to win a Lunch Kit for their kids’ entire class! For more info, visit www.facebook.com/GLAD

I have partnered with The Glad Products Company through DailyBuzz Moms to help promote their Food Storage products. I have been compensated for my time commitment to review this product. However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments. Thank you GLAD!

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Letter of the Week C

August 22, 2012 By Michelle Barneck 1 Comment

It’s time for another post in the Letter of the Week Series. This time the letter of the week is C. It was so fun to realize how many things around us start with C and how many different sounds it makes.