Nature's Pharmacy

There are lots of nutritious foods for us to eat. And some of the fruits and vegetables even look like the body parts that they are good for!!

Walnuts look just like little brains, they even have wrinkles and a hard shell to protect them!
Walnuts help our brains work properly.

Tomatoes and hearts are both red and both have 4 chambers, or sections. Tomatoes have lycopene in them, which is good for our hearts and blood.

Kidney beans and kidneys look almost exactly the same. The beans help the organs filter our blood.

Have you ever heard that carrots are good for your eyes? Well it's true! They look just like them too :)

Celery, Bok Choy and Rhubarb look just like our bones. They make sure your body has enough sodium so that it doesn't have to take any from your bones, which would make them weaker. What happens if you have weak bones?

So make sure you get enough fruits and vegetables. It's not just these ones that are good for your body. All fruits and vegetables are. If it's fresh or it came out of the ground, it's good for you.
I got most of this information from an email, so if you notice wrong information or if I missed something, please let me know!

The Elephant Song

I just stumbled on Eric Herman's Elephant Song on You Tube.
It's very cute and will help kids learn about animals in a silly way :)
Follow the link to hear the song!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yihq8BIhL9c

Atlas held a Tomato

School Bus

Put your answer in the comments section and tell us how you know!

Quote of the Day

"You have to eat a lot of cereal to get the toy."

(I think Dolly Parton said this. What do you think she meant?)

Leaf Motif

An activity for a sunny fall day:
Go outside and collect some big leaves (this works best if the leaves are whole). Hold them onto a piece of paper, and paint on top of the leaf and out to the edges. When you take the leaf away, you will have it's colourful outline! Layer them and use different paint colours to get different looks.

How to Help your Parents

Parents are busy! But there are lots of fun things kids can do to help. But remember to praise their hard work and don't re-do what they've done. Helping out is fun!
(tasks vary, depending on age and ability)

Ideas for the kids:
- set the table - do you remember what utensils you need to eat? where does everything go?
- practice using scissors - cut out coupons (round-ended scissors are available)
- tidy toys, make your beds
- sweep or zap dust bunnies put on some music and dust everything while you dance!
- be the light police - turn off lights/electronics when they're being unused
- washing things (dishes without glass or knives, windows etc) can be fun with warm bubbly water
- laundry - can you sort colours? pour the soap in? Folding is fun if you do it together
- mix ingredients together when you're helping cook or bake

Handy Rainbows

To brighten up a dreary day, all you need is paint, paper and a hand.

The Cracked Bucket (A Story)

An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots,
each hung on the ends
of a pole which she carried across her neck.

One of the pots had a crack in it while the
other pot was perfect
and always delivered a full portion of water.
At the end of the long
Walk from the stream to the house, the cracked
pot arrived only half full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with
the woman bringing home only one
and a half pots of water.

Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its
accomplishments.
But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its
own imperfection, and
miserable that it could only do half of what
it had been made to do.

After 2 years of what it perceived to be
bitter failure, it spoke
to the woman one day by the stream. "I am
ashamed of myself, because
this crack in my side causes water to leak out
all the way back to your house."

The old woman smiled, "Did you notice that
there are flowers on your
side of the path, but not on the other pot's
side?" "That's because
I have always known about your flaw, so I
planted flower seeds on
your side of the path, and every day while we
walk back, you water them."

For two years I have been able to pick these
beautiful flowers
to decorate the table. Without you being just
the way you are, there
would not be this beauty to grace the house."

Each of us has our own unique
flaw. But it's the cracks and flaws we
each have that make our lives together so very
interesting and
rewarding. You've just got to take each person
for what they are
and look for the good in them.

SO, to all of my crack-pot friends, have a great day and remember to smell the flowers on your side of the path!

Find the Face!

Can you find the man's face hidden in the coffee beans?

Garbage Art

Check out this Link!

http://www.chrisjordan.com/current_set2.php

The artist takes pictures of garbage and multiplies it to show how much of each object is used each minute/day/week/year.

This is just a snapshot of all the plastic bottles used in 5 minutes!
See the rest of this picture and many others on his site.

What is eaten in one week:

Chad: The Aboubakar family of Breidjing Camp. Food expenditure for one week: 685 CFA Francs or $1.23

Bhutan: The Namgay family of Shingkhey Village. Food expenditure for one week: 224.93 ngultrum or $5.03

Ecuador: The Ayme family of Ting. Food expenditure for one week: $31.55

Egypt: The Ahmed family of Cairo. Food expenditure for one week: 387.85 Egyptian Pounds or $68.53

Poland: The Sobczynscy family of Konstancin-Jeziorna. Food expenditure for one week: 582.48 Zlotys or $151.27

Mexico: The Casales family of Cuernavaca. Food expenditure for one week: 1,862.78 Mexican Pesos or $189.00

Italy: The Manzo family of Sicily. Food expenditure for one week: 214.36 Euros or $260.11

United States: The Revis family of North Carolina. Food expenditure for one week $341.98

Germany: The Melander family of Bargteheide. Food expenditure for one week: 375.39 Euros or $500.07

I just thought this was a powerful visualization of how much families eat every week, in different parts of the world. This was a forwarded email to me, I don't know who made it, but I think it's interesting and well done.

Recipe Book

I just discovered a great Book! It's full of recipes and ideas to disguise and hide nutritious food in yummy dishes (for those picky eaters!)


It's called The Sneaky Chef by Missy Chase Lapine
The cover looks like this (but it's not backwards :)

Happy Cooking!

Door Knob Hangers

Making these door knob hangers is easy and fun!
They can be any shape or colour, but remember to cut a hole big enough for the door knob!


Instead of saying "Keep Out!" you can make one like this! Write down the different things you do in your room and use the paper clip to point what you're doing at different times of the day.

Extras - add glitter or stickers. Put your name on it and draw your favourite things. You can make one for any room in the house, so be creative!
If you make it double-sided it might be a good idea to glue two pieces of paper together so the colour won't show through.