This healthy recipe is suitable for breakfast or lunch. Suitable for kids. It’s also quick and easy.
Ingredients:
1 skinless chicken breast, cubed
2 burrito wraps
2 tablespoons reduced-fat natural yoghurt
1 cup shredded lettuce
1/4 cup low-fat cheese, grated
2 tablespoons diced tomato
1/2 onion, diced
1/4 teaspoon coriander, chopped
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon garlic, crushed

Method:
1. Heat the wok to medium heat and cook onion. Then add the garlic, coriander, cumin and turmeric.
2. Chop the chicken into small cubes/ strips and add to wok. Toss into spices, onion and garlic. When chicken is cooked through, remove wok from heat.
3. Heat wraps in microwave until soft and warm. Place on a plate. Put 1 tablespoon of the yoghurt onto the wrap and place half of the chicken onto it.
4. Put preferred amount of lettuce, cheese and tomato on chicken. Fold bottom of the bread and fold the sides of the bread over the filling. Do the same for the second wrap.

Easy Crafts For Your Toddler

Keeping an inquisitive toddler entertained and stimulated isn’t always an easy task. His curiosity will usually get him in all sorts of trouble as he is taking things apart to figure out how they work. A great way to keep him busy with something slightly less destructive is to make crafts with your toddler. Crafting is also a wonderful way to spend quality time with your child. Take a look at the craft ideas below, pick something and start making an easy craft with your toddler.

Paper Plate Mask

Who knew that plain paper plates could be so much fun? All you need are the plates themselves of course, some scissors, markers and some string. Start by holding the paper plate in front of your child’s face and mark the spots for the eyes. Cut two holes for the eyes so your child will be able to see through the mask. Cutting a mouth opening is optional. Then let your child decorate the mask with markers or crayons. You can also have her cut shapes (think ears) out of construction paper and glue them on the paper plate mask. Tape or staple a piece of string to each site of the mask and use them to tie the finished mask around your child’s head.

Collages

Here’s another one of our favorite craft activities – a collage. You can make a collage with your toddler on just about any topic. Keep old magazines and even grocery flyers around and let your child cut items out of these papers. Then use a glue stick to glue them on a large sheet of paper or construction paper. Use markers, crayons and stickers to further embellish the collage. Don’t forget to hang it up when you’re done.

Macaroni Necklace

Macaroni aren’t just good for making mac and cheese. They are also the building blocks of macaroni necklaces. All you need is a handful of uncooked macaroni noodles and a piece of string. Make a large knot in one end of the string, then let your child thread the noodles on the string. When she’s done, just tie the two pieces of string together and the necklace is ready to be worn. You can also make a colorful necklace by painting the individual noodles with acrylic paint.

Crayon Suncatcher

If you have a toddler in the house, you are bound to have lots of small pieces of broken crayons as well. Here’s a simple craft that will turn those crayon pieces and a little wax paper into a colorful suncatcher. Start by grading the crayon pieces with an old cheese grater, or shave them with a knife. Put each color into a small bowl or in a little pile. Then cut two round pieces out of wax paper. They should be the same size. Let your child sprinkle the crayon shavings on one of the pieces of wax paper. When she’s done, cover it with the other piece of wax paper. Put an old towel on your ironing board and carefully transfer the wax paper crayon “sandwich” on the ironing board. Turn your iron on medium high (without steam). Add another towel on top of the wax paper and gently iron over it several times until the crayon shavings are melted. Allow your suncatcher to cool and harden before you pick it up. Thread some yarn through it to hang it up in the window. You can also sew a button stitch all around the suncatcher with some yarn and a thick needle to make the suncatcher a little more stable.

Finger Paint

What child doesn’t love to finger paint? Smearing paint with your fingers is just plain fun. You can use store-bought finger paint, or make your own by mixing condensed milk with a few drops of food coloring. This works just as well as commercial finger paint and is completely non-toxic. Don’t forget to cover the “work area” with plenty of old newspapers to make cleanup a snap

Sock Puppets

Does your washer or dryer eat socks? Ours sure does and we end up with quite a few single socks whose counterparts have mysteriously gone missing. These socks are perfect for making sock puppets. All you need are two buttons for eyes and some scraps of fabric or felt and a little yarn. After that it will be up to your toddler’s imagination to turn the sock into a puppet – with your help of course. Not only will you have a lot of fun making these sock puppets, you and your child will enjoy playing with the finished products just as much.

By: Susanne Myers

How would you like to get craft ideas like these along with parenting information, product recall info, recipes, book reviews and more delivered to your email inbox every week? That’s exactly what ParentingZoo – the new online Parenting Magazine does. Sign up today at www.parentingzoo.com

Article Source: www.ladypens.com

By: Sherry Frewerd

When toddlers play and explore with blocks they are learning to experiment with new ideas and pretend. At the same time, their physical skills develop through the moving, balancing and building of blocks. Believe it or not, toddlers learn math concepts and problem solving skills through block play. When they play in a group they are also developing important social tools as they share and work with other children to create towers and buildings from blocks.

As you observe an active toddler playing with blocks, you’ll notice that he will pick up, drop, pack around and put blocks into baskets, boxes and bags as he attempts to move them from one place to another. To many parents, block play may not seem like a toddler learning activity, when in reality block play is a very important aspect of toddler learning. Through block activity, toddlers learn about weights, sizes, shapes and colors. They notice through repetition the different kinds of sounds that blocks make as a block tower crashes to the floor. Young toddlers will most often simply gather and carry their blocks around, whereas an older toddler will usually begin to construct towers or lay their blocks out in simple designs on the floor.

How can you add to your toddler’s block play to encourage further learning? Introduce easy props to your toddler’s block toy box. You can keep block props in separate bins so that your toddler can get to them easily.

Some ideas for the kinds of props to add to your toddler’s block activity are: little people, small automobiles, doll house size furniture, paper rolls, small animals and trees, posters of buildings, fences, boats, and traffic signs.

Ideas for encouraging your toddler’s block play:

• After your toddler has built a block tower count the number of blocks that he has used.
• Show your toddler the difference in block sizes by helping him use different size blocks and build towers side by side.
• Encourage sharing and cooperative play with your toddler by building a tower with your child. Let your toddler begin building with the first block and then you put the next block on top etc. Talk about whether your tower should be big or little, large or small and so on.
• Provide a variety of blocks in your block box and let your toddler choose and sort the blocks they want to play with.
• Using small flat boards, have your toddler build ramps for small cars and trucks to drive up and down.
• Bring your toddler’s toy animals and dolls into their block play and encourage your child to build their animals a house.
• Buy different colored tape and make roads on the floor for your child to build block buildings around and then drive their small vehicles on the floor.

Get down on the floor and play with your toddler. Extend your child’s learning by taking time to talk with him about what he’s building with his blocks. Although blocks may seem like simple, basic toys, they can be important learning tools for your toddler’s early development.

Article by:

Sherry Frewerd publishes ‘Family Play and Learn’ a play and learning resource for Toddler Learning Activities. See our all new Toddler Activities at familyplayandlearn.com/toddler-activities.html