How to Save Big on Back-to-School Shopping

It is that time again; September is fast approaching. It is time to review your child’s back-to-school checklist and find all of the necessary items for the upcoming school year. Shopping for school supplies can be time-consuming and quite spendy. We have compiled a few tips on saving big while school shopping:

Search Around the House

Before going school shopping always search your home for items. You may be surprised on how many leftover items your child has from the previous school year. This will help you save money and will prevent you from purchasing unnecessary items.

Stick to the List

When shopping for school supplies it is very important to stick to what is on the list. Often times, especially when shopping with kids, parents will buy extra and unnecessary items. Ask yourself, does my child need the magnetic locker pencil organizer or will a pencil pouch do the job? When it comes to items you buy every year, simpler is always better.

Buy the Most Important Items First

Make sure to always buy the most important supplies first. This will ensure that you are getting the items your child needs while preventing unnecessary spending.

Shop Online

Check sites such as Amazon, Craigslist, and Etsy. They have lots of great deals this time of year on supplies. Often times, these items will come in bulk as well, which means you will be getting more while saving.

Be Thrifty

When buying items such as backpacks and clothing, check out you local thrift stores. Thrift shopping is the best way to find bargains and still get quality items; you never know what treasures await!

Buy Standard, Then Personalize

When school shopping kids always want the coolest folders and notebooks with pictures and sayings on them. But in reality, these are the most expensive folders and notebooks you can buy. A cute and fun idea would be to buy plain colored folders and notebooks and have your child spice them up using different crafts. This also lets your child be creative and is a great opportunity for bonding time for the two of you. Check out this great tutorial for some inspiration!

So when school shopping this year, make sure you follow the tips above. You will save more money and still get the items you need. In the meantime, check out our website to learn about the various fundraising campaign choices we offer. We wish you the best of luck this school year!

Healthy Bodies and Active Minds: Educational Summer Activities for Kids

School’s out, but that doesn't mean learning has to stop with the summertime sunshine. Keep your kids’ brain and body active, entertained and constantly learning with these educational summer activities for kids.

Read, Read, Read

Nothing soars the imagination further than reading. Whether your child is interested in science, nature, fairy tales, or the fantastic, encourage them to read voraciously. Many libraries even provide the option for you to borrow ebooks from their collection so that books can be sent straight to your iPad or Nook. The ability to read is something many take for granted, so encourage your child to explore different worlds of fiction and nonfiction to improve their comprehension and writing skills. Imagination Soup has an excellent list of new and classic books categorized by genre and age for children of all ages.

Write Journals and Stories

Along with reading, writing will help kids explore their creative imaginations. Have your child keep a summer reading journal where they can write about their own experiences. You can also encourage them keep a notebook and create their very own stories. Developing characters and plots will help them develop their comprehension and become better writers, and regularly writing can only help improve their spelling and handwriting.

Traveling Outdoors

Your child doesn’t have to be a Cub Scout or a Girl Scout to learn about the world around them. Take advantage of every sunny and beautiful day there is this summer outdoors with your family. Whether on a family vacation or a nature hike in your local hometown, have your kids take a keener look at nature and encourage their interest in the great outdoors. Become expert bird-watchers, have them learn how to identify animals, plants, and trees, or go geocaching. See if your local museums and nature parks have educational opportunities for kids. Often times, these events and opportunities are led by expert volunteers and cost little, if anything at all.

Homemade Science Projects

Here’s a simple kid formula: messy=fun. Whether in the garden or in the kitchen, experimental science projects can engage your children’s cognitive and motor skills. Try out recipes to teach about chemistry, create sensory bins with materials from around your house, or create a compost garden bin to learn about the cycle of life. Many blogs, such as Modern Parents, Messy Kids offer STEM-related kitchen science experiments that are parent-tested and kid-approved.

Get Active

It’s just as important to exercise your child’s mind as well as their bodies. First Lady Michelle Obama is leading the national Let's Move initiative to encourage a healthy lifestyle. You can help your child be the healthiest version of themselves by having them engage in summer league sports, teaching them about healthy food or healthy bodies, and encouraging plenty of time away from electronics and technology to embrace their own backyards, playgrounds, and parks. Kids learn best by example, so encourage the whole family to get active.

Word Problems, Brain Teasers, and Puzzles, Oh My!

Research has shown that children lose between two to three months of grade level equivalence over the summer, with math skills and theoretical thinking suffering the most. With teachers typically spending the first month and a half re-teaching old material, you can help kid your child on track and ahead of the curve by having them engage in regular word problems, puzzle solving, and challenging brain teasers. Whether your choose to do this with worksheets or real-world scenarios, a little bit of work every week can help keep your kids active and engaged to help keep their math, science, and language skills sharp.

You don’t have to spend buckets of money on expensive summer camps, lessons or video game systems to keep your kids safe and entertained. There are an infinite amount of ideas and activities to entertain and educate kids of all ages, genders, and interests this summer.

Healthy Springtime Snack Ideas

Robin Williams once said “spring is nature’s way of saying, “lets party!” You can use the change in seasonal fruits and vegetables to help liven up your children’s taste buds and offer them exceptional nutritional value in their springtime snacks.

Blueberry Muffin Energy Balls

Flickr Creative Commons: Photo by @rsseattle

Blueberries are just coming into season and the benefits that come with them are amazing. They are known to soften skin, fight cancer and they are anti-inflammatory. There are a million ways to incorporate them into your child’s diet. Chose an amazing, all natural, healthy and raw ingredient recipe to ensure the care of what goes into your children’s bodies. Blueberry Muffin Energy Balls only have six ingredients. They are easily portable, so you could put them into a lunchbox or eat them on the go.

Homemade Fruit Roll Ups

Homemade fruit roll ups are another great way to utilize all the fruits coming into season this spring. You can use any type of fruit you would like, but some seasonal suggestions include peaches, apricots or pears. This recipe may take a little more time, but can be stored for up to a month so a little preparation goes a long way. Mix fruits to take your children’s taste buds to a whole other level.

Butterfly Snack Packs

Sometimes the way a snack is packaged is all that matters to encourage little ones to eat fruits and vegetables. Butterfly snack packs are a great way to package any healthy child treat! Others have filled them with grapes, cereal or blueberries, but the possibilities are endless.

Flickr Creative Commons: Photo by Jeffreyw

Heart-Healthy Granola Bars

Granola Bars are a favorite of many people- big and small. Our heart-healthy granola bars are super easy to make and you’ll feel good sharing them with your loved ones. They include a lot of great fiber too!

These snacks are portable & nutritious! They also could be made in advance for healthy treats all season long. Try one today- happy springtime snacking!

Ways to Get Your Child Involved WithThanksgiving

Flickr Creative Commons:Photo by woodleywonderworks

Thanksgiving is a time to spend with friends and family and be thankful for all the blessings in our lives.

This Thanksgiving, get the entire family together, and not just at the dinner table. Take away some of your stress Thanksgiving Day and have your child get involved in the kitchen! Almost all ages can help with kitchen prep, decorations, table setting and entertainment on Thanksgiving Day.

These eleven different ideas can add more meaning and eliminate chaos from your Thanksgiving dinner.

Age five and Under	Six through nine	Ten through twelve	Thirteen and older
Tear, Shred and Shuck: Instead of having your child work with knives, let them use their hands! Give your child tasks like washing potatoes, tearing bread for stuffing or shucking corn on the cob! Table Etiquette: Teaching dining etiquette at a young age is never a bad idea. Here is a great video that shows how to set a table and other dinning etiquette skills! Create Décor for the Home: Prior to Thanksgiving give your child Thanksgiving crafts that add a little extra flare to your home! Find thankful turkey crafts on our Pinterest page.	Go Shopping Together: Once you’ve made your shopping list, show your child different ingredients and differences between some foods in the store (yams and potatoes can be confusing). If you’re able, purchase local vegetables at the farmers market and encourage your child to ask the vendor questions!  Put them in Charge: Give your child more responsibility by putting them in charge of a dish that needs constant attention like basting the turkey! Just dough it: If your family is making homemade pies, let your child roll the pie dough out early Thanksgiving morning. Later on in the day, let your child organize the dinner roll dough on a cookie sheet.	Stage a Dinner Theater: Thanksgiving is not just about food and football. Have your pre-teens act out the first Thanksgiving dinner in a play for entertainment while eating. Measure their Math Skills: Challenge your child to show their math skills with a measuring cup set. During this, let them know the importance of proper measuring and the consequences that you could have! Teach Kitchen Safety: With age comes responsibility. Show your child the correct way to hold a kitchen knife, and how to handle raw foods. Remember to teach the importance of handwashing in the kitchen, as well!	Create a Catering Company: Have your child come up with a plan before Thanksgiving dinner. Let them plan the dishes and plan out the prep time as if they were their own catering company. Try Something New: Include your teenager on meal planning by having them find a new recipe that appeals to them. These 13 recipes are kid friendly and put a twist on original Thanksgiving dishes. Encourage your teens to create their own alterations to dishes like adding cheese to potatoes!

Healthy Halloween Treats

Halloween is a notorious celebration of sweets, but that doesn’t mean healthy snacks need to be spooked out of your child’s holiday assortment. Check out these fun, delicious, DIY snacks; options like these are guaranteed to be helpful, and these pictures pretty accurately demonstrate how no-fuss your snack-assembly projects can be!

Picture from here.

Apple Monster Mouths: All you need to create this festive snack are sliced apples, yogurt-covered raisins and peanut butter! The process is as simple as the ingredients – just hollow out your apple slices, fill them with peanut butter and top them off with the raisins Not a fan of the latter? Almonds make for an excellent substitute.

Picture from here.

Snack-o’-Lantern Fruit Cups : Struggle when it comes to pumpkin carving? Good news; hollowing out these cut-out oranges is easy! Give your oranges some fun jack-o-lantern faces, and then fill them with an assortment of fruit or tasty trail mix!

Picture from here.

Spooky Spider Crackers : To concoct these Spooky Spider Crackers, you'll need circular whole wheat crackers, peanut butter or cream cheese, pretzels and raisins. Smooth your topping of choice over one side of the cracker, add your pretzel legs, and sandwich it all together with more spread and another cracker. Finally, give your spiders their eyes with a dollop of spread and a pair of raisins!

Picture from here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheese Broom Sticks : If your child loves string cheese, this snack is likely to be a smash hit. Using string cheese and fresh chives, you can assemble these broomsticks in under 20 minutes!

Picture from here.

BOO-nana Ghost Pops : Who knew bananas could easily shape-shift into terrifying ghosts? You'll start with frozen bananas, and dip them into orange juice, followed by shredded coconut. Go heavy on the shredded coconut. Then, using mini chocolate chips and raisins, design their ghostly faces! For less of a mess, cut your bananas in half and stick them onto Popsicle sticks!

So, hopefully our ideas will kick start your DIY creativity. Candy and other sweets will inevitably sneak into their diets whether you like it or not, so consider these easy, healthy treats as a way to offset the classic Halloween sugar binge!

For more DIY food ideas and crafts for the entire family, follow us on Pinterest and check out our ‘Healthy Halloween’ board.

Happy snacking!