Is one of these your typical scenario?
1.) It’s 6:30 p.m. You just walked in the door, kiddo in tow, and set your handfuls of bags down from the day. You have an hour and a half to fit in family dinner, bathtime, and 8:00 bedtime… and time to connect with your child or children. Decompress? That maybe happens after cleaning up from dinner, preparing lunches for the following day, reading the piled-too-high mail, shoveling the walk and driveway yet again, doing a much needed load of laundry, and returning a few phone calls or emails. Decompression post 10 p.m. is just sleep deprivation when you have an early rising toddler.
OR
2.) You’ve got a day to spend with your child, and a to do list that could outlive you both. Amidst the four hours of house cleaning, four hours of work or homework you intend to do, three hours of errands you’d like to run, nevermind that two hour nap you’ve needed for weeks; you’ve got appointments to make, yard work, a dog to groom… you’re hoping to spend some part of the day connecting with your child.
OR
3.) Maybe you have nothing but time and like a little parent-to-parent sharing. I rely on it. Whether you have a partner in crime to tag team with, you want to hang out with your kiddo. Sometimes five minutes is what you have and makes all the difference. And not just for your child.
No age restrictions here - just quick One-A-Day’s when you and your kiddo are ready for some fun, and time is not of the essence. Just like January and February, key here is spending time together. Minimal materials needed… just you+kiddo.
One-A-Days: 5 minutes of fun with the kiddo(s)
| 1. Bake up some organic Sweet potato fries with your lil sweetheart | 2. Map fun: look at a map together, talk about what you see, identify new places, your home, etc. | 3. Breath, be conscious, be present together, maybe while you do yoga stretching. | 4. Make “No David” eggs together: butter is an egg’s BFF | 5. Make and Eat Ice Grapes together |
| 6. Sit back and listen to a story together, without leaving home | 7. Design a fun Purim mask | 8. Make steel cut oatmeal for breakfast, mmmm. Your kiddo can add the dried cherries (cherries with nothing added) | 9. Fix gnocchi for dinner tonight: better than playdough | 10. Take a picture walk through a book. Discussing pictures is a great way to prepare a beginning reader for the words s/he will see. |
| 11. Make and practice flashcards together: new vocab words from a new story (ie: cheetah, share) | 12. Make a favorite yogurt dip or dessert together | 13. Try no mess marbled painting together | 14. Visit your local library, check out FREE music, fiction, non-fiction. Attend storytime or just browse. Does your kiddo have his/her own library card? | 15. Choose a favorite February one a day to do this month |
| 16. Toss a strawberry salad together | 17. Raid your fruit bowls and mix up a favorite smoothie | 18. Help your child make his/her own fun and educational placemat to use | 19. Turn a recycled plastic bottle into a maraca, using sand or old rice or lentils. | 20. Make homemade granola bars together: what a great grab n go |
| 21. Have a dance party, take turns being DJ | 22. Make your own peanut butter together | 23. Choose a favorite January one a day to do this month | 24. Need to dump out BAD ingredients like table salt? Spread in an edged baking sheet and draw/learn letters in the salt! | 25. Make a list of what things you want to do for Earth Day (or any day) |
| 26. Sing and play Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes. Start slow, see how fast you can go. | 27. Play Go Fish (if your child is ready, request pairs of cards that add up to 10, like 6 & 4) | 28. Try this new quinoa salad with avocado dressing, together | 29. Play I Spy with 20 question-type clues | 30. Plan and perform a play for another family member or stuffed animal |
I'm a mom of 2 having fun using simple, natural ingredients for cooking and cleaning.
I've come to believe that treating food as medicine can up my family's ante for living and being well. 
