Feathery Fun

by Little Lotus Yoga Founder Amanda DeGrace

There are so many fun props that you can use in your child's yoga classes. We often use stickers, buttons, pom poms, puppets, stuffed animals, sticks, balloons and so many more. Today I want to share with you one of my favourite props: FEATHERS! Who doesn’t love a tickly colourful feather?!

Here are some ways that you can incorporate feathers into your child’s yoga practice and how to have some fun with them at home:

1.    Body Wake Up: Take your feather and start to tickle your cheeks, your head, your ears, your shoulders and make your way down your body towards your feet! Start off your yoga practice by waking up all parts of your body with your feather. 

2.    Blowing: Place your feather in front of your mouth and gently blow on your feather. Now place one hand on your belly and see if you can feel your belly moving as you blow on to your feather. Next close your mouth and blow through your nose to see if you can make your feather move and dance. 

3.    Downward Dog Feather Fun!: In downward dog place your feather under your doggie nose and see if you can blow your feather really far. Chase your feather around the room as you wag your tail in down dog and practice blowing your feather.

4.    Counting Toes: Sit on the floor with your legs straight out. Melt your belly towards your legs and reach your feather to your toes. See if you can count your toes with your feather!

New Year, New Us!

By Misty Pratt

Kids in the Capital has a new look! Due to some technical difficulties we experienced over the holidays, we decided to take the plunge and redesign. You will recognize our signature look, but I think the new design is cleaner and much more efficient.

Sponsors now have better visibility, and there are more ad space options. Are you a business that serves parents and kids? We'd love to talk about working with you! Sponsors make it possible for us to manage this blog, and allow us to continue to share all the wonderful information we have compiled over the years.

And in terms of sharing, we also welcome new contributors. This is YOUR site, and we would love to hear what you're doing and seeing in Ottawa. Inquiries and submissions can be sent to kidsinthecapital@gmail.com.

Tell us, what's your favourite thing about Kids in the Capital?

New Food Challenge

by Misty

A friend of mine recently snapped a picture of this book at the grocery store the other day and tagged me on Facebook. Two days later, a different friend sent me this handy chart.

Hmmm, could my friends be trying to tell me something? It’s no secret that my oldest daughter is Picky with a capital “P.” We tried baby-led weaning with my youngest and I suspected that’s why she turned out to be much more adventurous at dinner time. But I’ve been told by many other parents that personality often plays a big part in children’s fussiness at the dinner table.

My five year-old is certainly one determined little girl. Meltdowns occur daily over things like itchy tags, socks with a “bump,” pants that are too baggy, and hair that gets in her face. When it comes to food, she doesn’t like things mixing on her plate, food touching, weird textures, and specks or flakes (i.e. herbs and spices). But most of all, she doesn’t like anyone telling her what she should/should not eat. She definitely thrives with control.

So I’m excited to start a new food challenge with her this year. Using a combination of the chart above and the book, we’ll be trying as many new foods as we can manage. She’ll have a hand in designing a little chart, choosing new foods she would like to try (pomegranates and blood oranges are at the top of my list of new suggestions!), and helping to prepare them. I can’t wait to see how this goes!

Do you have a picky eater? How do you manage mealtimes with your family?

Arctic Alive! Giant Arctic Floor Map at the Museum of Nature

There is a giant map of the Arctic at the Museum of Nature. You can go check it out over the holidays and let me tell you: it's really cool. I got to see first hand the impact this map had on students' awareness and perception of the Arctic. It was impressive.

When we think of the Arctic we think cold, snowy, and quiet. Those are some of the exact words students from a grade 5/6 class used in the beginning. After spending 20 minutes walking over the map and learning about the plants, animals, fossils and minerals found in the Arctic, you know how they described it? Vibrant, colourful, and alive. Just how the plant scientist who collected specimens there did. Their understanding of the great white North had completely changed.

From December 26th to January 4th anyone visiting the Museum of Nature can take a stroll through the Arctic. Five copies of this 8mx11m map and real specimens will spend 2015 traveling across Canada to schools where students will learn about the Arctic. In fact, there are lesson plans available from kindergarten through grade 12.

While you're at the museum I strongly encourage you to check out the special exhibit called Arctic Voices. There were lots of great hands-on things for kids, beautiful images, and interesting info.

Arctic Alive! is a joint venture between the Canadian Museum of Nature and Canadian Geographic Education. The map and specimens will be available to the general public from December 26th to January 4th as part of the holiday programming at the museum.

Arctic Voices is a fascinating new exhibit at the museum that runs from December 5th, 2014 until May 3rd, 2015

Disclaimer: I was able to check out Arctic Alive! and Arctic Voices free of charge. All opinions are my own.

Pinterest Round-Up: Keep boredom at bay over the holidays!

I'm one of the lucky ones who will have time off in between Christmas and New Year's. And the way the holidays fall this year, my manager has given us an extra day so that we head back to work the same time the kids head back to school - Monday January 5th. So that's exactly 11 days we have at home as a family. I imagined us getting outside a lot - sledding, hiking and maybe even trying out some skiing. But alas, the weather man is predicting a very rainy Christmas in these parts. No snow, and possibly ice once temperatures drop again.

So I'm turning to Pinterest in an effort to plan some fun activities that will amuse my girls all week. We have no family visiting - no meals we have to cook (other than for our family of four), no outings scheduled and no "awww, Mom, do we hafta go?"

So here are several great Pinterest pins, appropriate for younger children:

Make your own play dough!

Get little bodies moving indoors

Indoor physical activities

Make a kazoo!

DIY Moon Sand

Tell me, what do you have planned for the holidays?