Picky Eating – what NOT to do

What not to do

Don’t force your child to eat. Pressuring will only backfire and make meals unpleasant for everyone. You’ll also be teaching him to ignore his internal signals for hunger and fullness, which can lead to overeating later on.

Don’t use dessert as a bribe. It may work in the short-term, but eventually your child will start hating the food you’re asking her to eat because she’ll view it as a punishment. Better to let her have a little dessert no matter what she eats at dinner. It’ll help her learn that sweets can be a small part of a healthy diet.

 

To see more about what TO do, visit : http://www.parenting.com/article/picky-eating, Guide to Picking Eating

Educational Wii Games for Children – What’s important to attract kids

Nintendo Wii Family of Games

The Nintendo Wii features a line of interactive video games that teach kids all sorts of things from musical instruments and dancing to identifying animals, learning math and even learning how to spell. There are word games and games that are intended to help children build problem solving skills. The great part about these games is that the kids are active while playing and this does a lot to help eliminate the issue of sitting idly and playing video games for hours.

My Word Coach
Learning new words + spelling. It uses a number of interactive activities such as spray painting in whatever letters appear to be missing and also choosing the correct definitions to go with each word.

WordJong
Mahjong + Scrabble. Up to 4 players. For kids who enjoy competitive games then this game will offer that along with the same mental exercises other puzzle games offer. Parents love this game as it teaches logical progression, problem solving and creative thinking. In addition, new words are discovered with just about every game.

Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree
Academic version of the Wii Fit Plus game. Can be improved through practice and time played. Up to 8 players. Teaches children how to use determination and fast thinking as well as diligence in order to improve their rankings.

Endless Ocean
Educates about Marine life. Use the Wii to swim around a make believe island called Manoa Lai to check out a variety of underwater zones and examine different species of marine life. no element of danger, not even when a shark encounter takes place.

JumpStart Pet Rescue
Most kids love the idea of pet rescue and are drawn to television shows like animal cops and the like. This game allows children to care for stray or abandon pets. Kids can do a variety of things like change their appearance, decorate their homes, change outfits, feed and groom their pets and even win story books and earn a series of rewards.

Most parents whose children play Wii educational games regularly find themselves pleased with the results.  The Wii allows children to move and exercise while they play and that in itself is a wonderful feature.

Bon Appetite Arcade Game

Explorers make meals that have foods from each of the food groups. How many balanced meals can you make? Good Luck!

Game Instructions

Click on the picture to start the game. To play aim your fork at one of the food items and click the mouse to collect food. See how many plates of food you can make before the time runs out. Each plate of food must have one food from each of the food groups!

See more at http://www.nourishinteractive.com/kids/healthy-games/10-bon-appetite-arcade-nutrition-fun

-Hillary

An Anatomy App for Kids

“The Human Body takes kids through a journey of their own insides. Breaking down human anatomy into different systems (the circulatory system, nervous system, limbic system, and so on), The Human Body teaches kids what their bodies do and how their bodies work through play exploration.”

http://www.fastcodesign.com/1673309/as-beautiful-as-a-golden-age-picture-book-an-anatomy-app-for-kids

Link

This Board Game Teaches 4-Year-Olds To Code

“…it was just this idea about what it would be like to sever the dependence that computer programming languages have with plain text. What if you could program something with colors, or curlicues, shapes? Something that wasn’t the way of visualizing the code, but was the code?”