Summer Activities: Place Mats

Place Mats are a good thing to have if you have a messy child or if you are just trying to keep your kids entertained at the table, restaurant or their grandparents house.

Mr. I really likes to make food groups so for our place mat I drew the food plate from the http://www.choosemyplate.gov/ and then we cut out food from magazines. You could do any theme you like or you could just draw a picture. It's really up to your child what they like the best. 

Supplies:

Paper

Glue

Scissors

Markers, Crayons or Paints

Contact Paper 

Directions:

Take the paper and make a design using writing utensils or gluing magazine clippings. 

When you are finished measure out some contact paper and cut. 

Remove the backing of the contact paper and put it on top of art work. Repeat on the back side. 

Cut off access contact paper. 

Display your play mat on your table or keep for visits. 

Here's another idea. Use draw erase markers to draw on them and wipe them off.

Trying to be Healthy

Get up and go to kitchen. Look for healthy food. Go ahead go look. I’ll still be here when you get back. What did you find? If you’re like me you found a bunch of junk.

I decided it’s time for me and my family to start eating better and I need to loose some of my weight. Let's get started. Most of all I just really want my family to eat better.

I just started my journey this week and I must say it’s hard. I never realized how much junk I had in my house until yesterday. I went into my kitchen to find something to eat for lunch. I opened my cabinets to find macaroni and cheese, packages of rice and instant potatoes. Than I went to the freezer and found tater tots, french fries, waffles, ice cream and pot pies. The refrigerator let me down too. I found nothing but a whole lot of processed foods and fatting snacks. I was really sad. I guess I never really looked at my pantries that way before. 

I thought we were doing good. I mean I use ground turkey instead of hamburger. I serve at least two vegetables at dinner. Isn’t  that good enough.  So in my despair I opted for the pot pie from the freezer for lunch. I know it’s an awful choice but what else was I suppose to eat. Oh, I could’ve had a peanut butter sandwich. That would have been a better choose but I didn’t think of that.

I decided it’s time for me and my family to start eating better and I need to loose some of my weight. It’s time to get started. Most of all I just really want my family to eat better.

So last night before bed I got onto Pinterest and started looking for healthy choices. There are a ton of alternatives to all that stuff I have hidden away in the cabinets. I was surprised at how many things I forgot about and things I’ve never thought about.

It’s my goal from now on to make better choices. I’m not planning on changing over night or taking everything out of the house that is bad but I do want to offer things to my family that are better. I want to at least try. Even if it’s just having fresh veggies and fruits available all the time, that is a great place to start.

Here’s to make better choices.

What does your family enjoy? Are you making good choices for your family? What are some of your favorite snacks or meals?