Do you ever find it difficult to get your kids to eat different foods? We’ve found the perfect way to give them a little bit of everything. This is also a GREAT way to handle portion control and overeating at snack time.
Tools:1 ice cube tray
Ingredients:ANYTHING you wish! However, remember to choose healthy things to munch on.
This may be the easiest snack you’ll ever have to put together. Simply grab an ice cube tray and fill each pocket with healthy snack foods! Serve to your kids and watch them enjoy their ice cube tray buffet.
Mason jars are a FANTASTIC way of preparing, organizing and transporting snacks. We’ve put together three of our favourite snacks for after jumping that you can try at home! They are so easy to put together and the air tight jar keeps them fresher longer.
Our first mason jar snack is a classic combination - veggies & dip. Simply spoon whichever dip you prefer (we used ranch) into the bottom of the jar about an inch high. Next, cut celery and cucumber into pieces that will fit nicely into the jar and place them as well as some baby carrots inside. Note: we used celery, cucumbers and carrots but you could also use other veggies such as peppers for this snack as well.
The second snack idea is one of our personal favourites, a yogurt parfait! We recommend using vanilla yogurt but you can use any flavour yogurt you wish. Grab your mason jar and spoon about a half an inch of yogurt into the bottom. Next, pour another half inch of granola into the mason jar and top that off with some blackberries and chopped strawberries (you can use blueberries or raspberries too!). Repeat these steps as many times as it takes to fill up your jar and voila! Get ready to enjoy a delicious parfait.
This last mason jar snack is VERY easy and takes basically no preparation! Follow these three simple steps:
1) pop a bag of popcorn in your microwave
2) fill your mason jar with popped popcorn
3) fasten the lid!
How easy was that?! This is a great way to manage portion control and store popcorn for later.
What’s a perfect way to get your kids to eat fruit? Put it in an ICE CREAM CONE! Here’s a great looking AND tasting idea for making a typical fruit salad more appealing to your little ones:
Tools:
melon baller
cutting board
knife
Optional: place cupcake cups into ice cream cone to hold the fruit
Ingredients:
cantaloupe
watermelon
grapes
ice cream cones
Directions:
Take out a cutting board and knife and grab your watermelon and cantaloupe. Cut the watermelon and cantaloupe in half and scoop out pieces of each using the melon baller. Once you have all of the watermelon and cantaloupe balls scooped out, set out enough ice cream cones for each person and arrange the balls and grapes in the cone – as seen below. Serve to your kids and watch them enjoy this delicious fruit salad!
One order of nachos please… Sweet & Fruity Nachos that is! This post-jump snack is one that your kids are sure to dive right into after a long jumping session. It’s fun to create, great to share, and appealing to eat. Here’s how you make this delicious and healthy order of nachos:
Tools:
knife
spoon
cutting board
Ingredients:
2 apples
½ cup chopped strawberries
½ cup blackberries
¼ granola
¼ cup yogurt
shredded coconut
Directions:
Grab your cutting board and cut two apples into thin wedges. Drop the apple wedges onto your plate and spread them out as desired. Next, take your chopped strawberries, blackberries & granola and sprinkle them over the apple pieces. To top your nachos off, take a spoon and drizzle yogurt over top of the fruit and granola – it is up to you as to how much yogurt you want! Sprinkle the entire plate with shredded coconut and you have your Sweet & Fruity Nachos.
We’ve taken a sweet spin on the traditional sushi dish. These banana sushi rolls are sure to be a hit amongst your kids – and of course mom and dad too! The bite-sized snacks are great to share and even more fun to make. Get your kids to help you roll ‘em up! Here’s how it’s made:
Tools:
cutting board
2 knives
plate
Ingredients:
1 banana
1 tortilla wrap
Nutella
Rice Krispies
Optional: replace Nutella with peanut butter
Directions:
As you can see we’ve created two types of banana sushi rolls for you to choose from. To begin creating this masterpiece of a snack you'll want to set out a tortilla wrap on the cutting board. Next, spread your desired amount of Nutella (or peanut butter) across the surface of the wrap. Peel the banana, lay it across the centre of the wrap, and roll it on up!
Now that the banana is rolled up in the tortilla wrap, you can choose to leave it as is and cut it into sushi-sized pieces OR you can make it even MORE delicious. Grab a plate and pour some Rice Krispies onto it. Next, spread Nutella or peanut butter on the outside of your wrapped up banana and roll it across the plate of Rice Krispies. Cut your roll into bite-sized pieces and enjoy this sweet and fun treat! :)
What could look more appetizing than an avocado salad INSIDE of an avocado? This delicious mixture of tomato, onion, celery, cucumber and of course avocado is the perfect snack to get your kids to eat their vegetables. They’ll have fun scooping out the bowl before they even realize it’s good for them! Want to find out how we made this funky salad?
Here’s the recipe:
Tools:
cutting board
knife
bowl
Ingredients:
1 avocado
¼ cup diced tomato
¼ cup diced cucumber
¼ cup diced onion
¼ cup diced celery
salt & pepper
Optional: balsamic vinegar & olive oil
Directions:
Putting the salad together is quite simple! First, cut the avocado in half and scoop out the pit. Next, dice the tomato, cucumber, onion, and celery. Put each diced vegetable into a bowl and mix together. Sprinkle a pinch of salt and pepper over the vegetables and mix again. Spoon the veggie mix into the avocado and ta-da! You have our Adventurous Avocado Salad. Note: you may choose to drizzle olive oil and balsamic vinegar over the vegetables if you wish to have more of a dressing for your salad.
If you feel like it, dice more of your veggies and save them for a tasty snack the next day!
There’s nothing more refreshing than a popsicle on a hot summer day. Instead of buying sugary popsicles from the grocery store, why not make your own at home using fresh fruits and juices?! The fruit chunks look awesome once the popsicles are frozen while also tasting really fresh.
Tools:
popsicle mould
cutting board
knife
Ingredients:
1 kiwi
¼ cup blackberries
¼ cup cut strawberries
¼ cup cut grapes
white grape juice
Directions:
Grab a cutting board and chop the kiwi, strawberries and grapes into a desired size for your popsicle mould. Layer the chopped fruit and blackberries into the mould – make sure some of the fruit pieces lay against the sides so that your popsicles have a cool & fruity effect once they’re frozen! Finally, pour white grape juice into each popsicle mould, insert the plastic mould stick, and put your popsicles in the freezer.
And of course, enjoy your popsicles outside with friends, family and your Springfree. :)
The Parent’s Choice Foundation has selected Springfree™ Trampoline as one of the winners of its coveted 2009 children’s toy awards, a huge honor that we are very proud receive.
Established in 1978, The Foundation is the nation’s oldest nonprofit guide to quality children’s media and toys and is trusted by parents for their objectivity, respect, and expertise in child learning and development, helping make informed decision about the right products for their children.
According to the Foundation, Trampolines were not usually recommended however the Springfree™ Trampoline’s unique design has changed history.
Although our judges are not in the habit of awarding trampolines, the Springfree™ Trampoline had so many unique safety features that they couldn’t deny. Our testers, ranging in age from six to sixty-six, found skills they hadn’t known, confidence that needed reawakening, and a hefty dose of much needed family fun. If your family has been thinking about a trampoline, this is highly recommended and worth serious consideration.
This Award reflects Springfree™ Trampoline’s commitment to safety and innovation and is a testament of parent’s belief in choosing the safest products for their children. Trampolines provide so many developmental and health benefits but until the Springfree™ Trampoline the benefits were outweighed by the risk.
Submitted by springfreetrampoline on Fri, 10/16/2009 - 10:00
I’m the proud mother of two very active and occasionally very naughty young boys. By the ages of 9 and 7 you think they’d be over the young naughty stage and start to take just a little more responsibility for their thoughts and actions. Well, one would hope and pray. Alas one Wednesday I received a phonecall from the school – my kids attend a rather proper Catholic school where nuisance is not easily tolerated – so you can imagine my horror when the head of religious education (also the deputy principal) rings me to advise my youngest darling has been involved in an “incident”.
At this point my mind is jumping between expecting the next sentence to include mumblings of his mutilated body dangling from some piece dangerous playground equipment and emergency services are on their way, through to the other extreme of him having thrown a chair at the teacher and has been duly expelled, sitting in the principal’s office awaiting my arrival.
Fortunately it was somewhere in between, but certainly the head of RE was not impressed. What had transpired was my 7 year old petal had gotten himself in a fight in the toilets and settled the matter by flushing the other child’s school hat in the urinals (are you getting the same vivid image at this point?). Trying not to laugh, I offered my profuse apology insisting I instill a suitable punishment and offer to purchase a new hat for the other child. Needless to say number 2 son was duly punished with the removal of Xbox, DS and Wii privileges for 2 weeks and removal of pocket money. Even removal of his most prized rewards had little impact on his behaviour or demeanor. Is it getting harder to find a suitable punishment for kids or is it just me? How do you find a punishment that works without resorting to “the strap” (what we got when I was a wee girl) ??
To those of you who have primary school aged kids – no doubt you could tell a similar tale of school yard goings on. If you have a similar story to tell, or a recommendation on punishment options – please share it with us…….
Blogged by: Tanya, Assistant Marketing Manager from Down Under and Mother of 2.
Springfree™ Trampoline is recognised as one of the best backyard play options for kids in the Sydney Morning Herald (one of the most popular Aussie newspapers for those of you overseas).
Featured in the Essential Style lift out of the Sydney Morning Herald and in the papers online version, we’re described as the Volvo of trampolines.
We love journalist Stephen Lacy’s witty yet precise depiction of the safety benefits of the Springfree™ Trampoline, making for fantastic and entertaining read.
Essential Style paid tribute the Best in Outdoor Equipment with the Springfree™ Trampoline taking the spotlight for kids.