Mind Zone

Our MIND ZONE is focused on FINE motor skills while educating families with nutrition based lessons and games.

SCIENCE IN NUTRITION:

How much sugar does your child's drink contain?

One of the biggest problems our kids face is the SUGARY drinks pushed at them in all aspects of their life. Whether it be a sports, diet soda, or a juice drink they need to be aware of why WATER is such a better choice. Sometimes it is hard for kids to understand something simply by telling them. This activity is perfect for them to get a visual of just how much sugar are in their drinks and why it could be harming their bodies. (Refer to our blog from yesterday for a detailed explanation of sugars affect on our bodies) This activity is simple and fun for all ages:

• Start out by talking to your kiddos about what kind of drinks you drink during the week/day and the amount that you drink of each one. (Tell your kids the whole truth, they will know if you are misrepresenting yourself and they may take it as an okay to do the same when it is their turn.)
• Have them brain storm what their favorite drinks are, then next to each one have them put the amount of times they drink them per week/day.
• Google their favorite drinks nutrition labels together. This will help them learn where to go for answers when needed.
• Help them look at the labels and calculate the amount of sugar per serving.
  • Sports Drink:
  • Energy Drink:
  • Coffee:
  • Tea:
  • Soda:
  • Diet Soda:
  • Milk:
  • Juice:
  • 100% Juice:
• Have them measure out the amount of sugar in each drink (Be sure to leave the sugar measured out so that they can compare)
• Now have them compare what they see from one drink to the other. Talk about the amount of sugar contained in water.
• Ask them questions such as;
  • “What are the effects of too much sugar?”
  • “How much sugar a day should you consume?”
  • “What is the best choice for a drink based on the sugar in them?”
• TAKE IT FURTHER: You can help them make a graph of their findings.   

CHALLENGE YOUR WHOLE FAMILY:

10 Day Family Challenge: FRUIT (Copy and paste these challenges and then print them for easy card making!!!! Have your kids cut them out with child safe scissors)

Eat a fruit at every meal
Eat a red fruit today
Eat an orange fruit today
Only eat fruit as a snack today
Eat fruit for breakfast today
Eat a fruit smoothie today
Eat a salad with fruit today
Eat 3 different colored fruit today
Bake a whole grain with fruit today
Eat 5 fruits today

Keep it positive and keep is fun!!!!! You don't want to make it seem like a chore!!!!!

FAMILY GAME NIGHT:

YUMMO

            

           One of my favorite things to do is to come up with creative ways to get the whole family involved in learning about nutrition and fitness. Hence part of the reason why we created Minds on the Move J Children are sponges and they love to retain new information starting at a very young age. The more fun they have the better.

Family activities are a great way for kids to learn while having fun! Minds on the Move focuses on feasible ways to get your whole family involved. With that said, what could be more cost efficient than a do it yourself game. I’ve already done half the work for you and the other half you can do with your children. J

            The first game I am going to share with you is called YUMMO! This game promotes the 6 food groups along with simple math. It can be played by kids that are 1^st grade and older. Younger ones could always play they will just need a bit more guidance!

            The objective of this game is to promote the food group colors, order the food groups by importance, and to encourage simple math.

I have played this game the last two nights with my niece. Each time I have found ways to improve it to better fit her needs and you can too. Every child is different, and nobody knows what he or she enjoys more than their caregiver! If your child doesn’t understand YUMMO, talk to them about it and see if there is a way you can simplify it for them. This can work for older children also. If they seem like they are breezing through it, add a few new rules or increase the stakes of some of the Food Combinations.

This game awards points to each side of the dice depending on what food group it represents. At the top, is the fat and oils group worth one point and at the bottom is the grain group worth 6 points. In between there are the groups protein, dairy, fruit and veggie groups. They are listed in the importance of getting each food group into your day.

I think once you look at the score sheet you may be able to figure out what this game is based on, but yet it is totally revamped to reinforce the food groups. The instructions on how to get points are on the score sheet.

On the left you have the Food Groups. You have one chance to add up each food group depending on how many you roll and their point value. If you get to 60 points all together then you get a 35-point bonus (I mean who doesn’t like bonuses).

On the right side you have Food Combinations, again you can only get each one time. These include 2 of a kind, 3 of a kind, Full Belly (2 pairs), Snack Time (3 different food groups), Meal time (4 different food groups), and YUMMO (5 of the same dice).

Once you have filled all the Food Combinations you add them together. ~Side note if you roll a turn that doesn’t match any of the groups/combinations you have left then you must put a zero on one of your lines, but you can pick any open one you’d like for that zero~ After you have added up the two sections individually, add them together. Once you get those numbers for everyone you will have a winner. Lets remember though the purpose of this game is to reinforce healthy habits not to get competitive, however a little friendly competition has never hurt anybody.

So far it’s a go in this household. My middle niece asked to join in on the fun tomorrow after school. The oldest is the one who asked me to play today, so I’d say she approves!!! It’s awesome to help her count large sums. She struggles but we use our fingers and she keeps up very well. I’m curious how sharp her counting will be in a week or so!!!

The only materials you need for this game is some do it yourself dice and a score sheet (which lucky you I am providing it for you). We found out how to make the dice on YouTube and then drew a simple picture on each side representing their food group. To make the scoring easier you can draw pictures corresponding to each food groups point value (meaning draw 1 fats and oils picture and 6 grains) This will make them more similar to “dice” and will keep you from checking the score sheet every two seconds. Don’t worry I am no great artist but I did manage to get a recognizable picture on each side. I even quizzed my 7-year-old niece and she knew what each one was. Then to represent the food group colors we shaded the background the color they are on the pyramid;

·      Fats and Oils = YELLOW

·      Protein = PURPLE

·      Dairy = BLUE

·      Fruit = RED

·      Vegetable = GREEN

·      Grain = ORANGE