Tales for Tots: We’re Going on a Bear Hunt in Red Deer!

momstown Central Alberta's monthly story time and craft program featured the book WE’RE GOING ON A BEAR HUNT by Michael Rosen.

We’re Going on a Bear Hunt is about a family going on a hunt for a bear. On each page the family have to overcome different obstacles they come across in order to continue their hunt. 

To go along with the hunting and exploring theme of the story our craft this month was toilet paper roll binoculars. The kids colored & decorated construction paper to wrap around the toilet paper roll tubes with the help of the Chapters Staff. 

To engage our imaginations, after the binoculars were complete, we went on our own bear hunt around the store, pointing out all the bears we could find.

One member each month gets to take a copy of our book of the month, sponsored by Scholastic, home to their family! 

This month’s book was LUCKY DUCKLINGS by Eva Moore. 

It is the story of a mama duck and her ducklings out for a walk that get rescued by the towns firemen when the ducklings fall into a storm drain.

Junior Chef: Deceptively Delicious!

Have a picky eater in your house? Struggle to get your kids to eat their fruits and vegetables? Why not disguise them with these yummy recipes from the cookbook Deceptively Delicious. 

momstown Central Alberta's Junior Chef event created these wholesome treats full of pureed fruits and veggies. And no one complained about the cauliflower.

We suggest trying these at home!

Banana Bread with Cauliflower

Ingredients:

Nonstick cooking spray

3/4 cup whole-wheat flour

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar

1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil

2 large egg whites

1 1/2 cups banana puree

1/2 cup cauliflower puree

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350. Coat a 9×5-inch loaf pan, or 2 mini pans, with cooking spray.

2. In a bowl or a zipper-lock bag, mix the flours with the baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.

3. In a large mixing bowl, mix the sugar and oil with a wooden spoon until well combined. Mix in the egg whites, banana and cauliflower purees, and vanilla. Add the flour mixture and mix just until combined.

4. Pour the batter into the loaf pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 55 to 60 minutes for the large loaf, 25 to 30 minutes for the mini loaves. Let cool on a rack for 5 minutes, then turn the bread out of the pan to cool before serving.

Applesauce Muffins

Topping:
 2/3 cup old-fashioned oats or instant oats

1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp butter, melted

Batter:
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour or whole wheat flour

1 cup old-fashioned oats or instant oats

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup squash or carrot puree (we used carrot)

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/4 cup oil

1 large egg

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coat a 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray or use muffin baking cups.

2. To make the topping stir together the oats, sugar, and cinnamon in a bowl. Stir in butter. Set aside.

3. To make batter, combine the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl and stir. In a second bowl, mix the applesauce with the milk, vegetable puree, sugar, oil, and egg with a wooden spoon. Add the flour mixture, slowly stirring until moistened. The batter should be lumpy. Do not over mix.

4. Divide batter evenly between muffin cups and sprinkle with streusle topping. Bake until topping is lightly browned and a toothpick comes out clean. About 18-20 minutes. Turn the muffins out onto a rack and allow to cool completely. Store in an airtight container (if they last that long).

These make great snacks for lunches, after school snacks and for moms and dads too. 

While we waiting for our masterpieces to bake, we had some park play time!

Earth Day Walk in Red Deer

momstownCentral Alberta celebrated Earth Day with a nature walk at KerryWood NatureCentre. 

The weather was beautiful and sunny, a perfect day to enjoy Mother Nature. 

Earth Day is a great chance for kids of all ages to learn about how they can care for the earth. Moms and Dads were encouraged to pack a plastic bag and pick up litter on our walk; it was so nice to see that after our very long winter we found no litter at all. 

We didn’t spy any wildlife but we did see lots of signs of animals and animal activity.

Art & Play – Little Explorers in Red Deer!

It’s that time again...time to get crafty! This month the members of momstown Central Alberta became Little Explorers. 
 

First we created toilet paper roll binoculars so we could see what we were exploring.

Supplies

Empty toilet paper rolls

A hole puncher

A stapler and staples

A piece of yarn long enough to fit around your kid's neck

Instructions

Take two toilet paper rolls

Staple together

Then punch a hole in the top/outer side of each roll

Have your child string a piece of yarn through the holes to make a rope for hanging

Have child color and decorate how they please

 Next we made backpacks and filled them with all kinds of things we would need to take exploring.

Supplies

Construction paper

Scissors

Glue

Printed exploring supplies pictures (or site word cards)

Instructions

1.     Cut about 2" from the long side of your construction paper - this will be the backpack. Cut the two corners off the top of your paper. Use the leftover paper to cut 2 strips for the backpack straps about 1" X 7"

2.     Fold your paper into an envelope. The flap to open the backpack will be the top of the paper with the cut corners. Glue or staple the sides of the backpack to make a pouch

3.     Turn your backpack over. Fold tabs on the ends of each strap and glue in place

4.     Cut out your safari supplies and place them in your backpack!

These are super easy crafts you can do at home to be your own Little Explorers

momstown Monet: Let’s Celebrate Earth Day in Red Deer

With Earth Day being next week we thought we would celebrate by tapping into our artistic sides and creating our own earth painting. 

We took a small canvas and traced around a large bowl to create a perfect circle for our earth. 

We then used blue and green paint to paint on the canvas to design our earth.

Baby Basics in Red Deer! Hand Casts with Wee Piggies & Paws

Have you tried to capture the hand print of you baby with one of those cast kits?

I have and it was a MESS and comical!!

We were very lucky to have Megan from WeePiggies and Paws Red Deer join our special Baby Basics event.  First we powdered the tiny hands (or feet) so they didn’t stick to the clay. 

Then they were guided by Megan into the clay to make the imprint. It will take up to 2 weeks for the clay to cure and the finishing touches will be added on. 

momstown Central Alberta extends a big thank-you to Megan for coming out and making hand and foot imprints with us. 

The ornaments were free, and Wee Piggies and Paws collected a $5.00 donation per ornament to go to the Ronald McDonald House.

Belly Basics with Peek a Boo Baby in Red Deer

momstown Central Alberta was very lucky to have Shelly from Peek a Boo Baby join us for our Prenatal program Belly Basics. 

We chatted about our experiences with Ultra sounds, both diagnostic and optional, and saw all the keepsake options for this very special time in pregnancy.

Peek a Boo Baby specializes in non-diagnostic 3D and 4D ultrasounds. It gives families a detailed image of the baby's face and body that traditional 2D ultrasounds cannot offer.

Peek a Boo Baby offers a variety of packages available to suit everyone’s needs. 

As well they offer a Beating Heart Bear which stores a recording of baby’s beating heart, my personal favorite.

Check out Peek a Boo Baby at http://www.pkboo.ca/

Alphabet Play in Red Deer. D is for Dog

momstown Central Alberta joined Chapters for our monthly program Alphabet Play, where we read a story and do a craft for a different letter of the alphabet. 

This month was the letter D. 

The Chapter’s staff read Clifford the Big Red Dog by Norman Bridwell.
 

After the story we created our own dog. 

We had 4 cut out pieces; a head, a body and 2 legs. 

The kids could then color and design each piece, once finished it was assembled into our very own dog.