September: Mandala Coloring Page

To color:

  • Click on the image to open it in full size.
  • Right click (or command click on mac) and save picture to your computer, and
  • Use Paint or a similar program to color on your computer, or
  • Print the picture and color it with crayons, paint, glitter…whatever!

September: Mandala Coloring Page

To color:

  • Click on the image to open it in full size.
  • Right click (or command click on mac) and save picture to your computer, and
  • Use Paint or a similar program to color on your computer, or
  • Print the picture and color it with crayons, paint, glitter…whatever!

Ch-ch-ch-chia Fresca & Pudding

Chia seeds (chia hispanica) are amazing and nutritious. The originate in Mexico, where they have been cultivated for centuries. In fact, Aztec warriors used to carry chia seeds with them when they went into battle, and they were sometimes referred to as “runners food” because, it was said, eating just a small amount of these tiny, lightweight seeds could sustain the scout runners and warriors for an entire day. A chia seed can also hold up to TEN TIMES its weight in water! You’ll see how holding onto so much water gives the shell a slippery gel coating that allows us to make recipes like chia pudding. It also helps YOU stay hydrated (which means you have enough water in your body) because that gel coating of water and electrolytes is released slowly, as they make the journey through your digestive tract.

Today, scientists have discovered that chia is good for: balancing insulin levels and helping prevent diabetes, burning fat and providing loads of essential fatty acids, vitamins, nutrients, and fiber. They’re good for your guts, bones, skin, and brain!

Let’s do some warrior poses and eat some tasty chia treats!

Chia Fresca

In Mexico, chia fresca is made of fruit juices combined with chia to make a gelatinous, cooling drink for summer. It’s typically made with lemonade, but all kinds of juices can be used! Let’s make a pitcher of chia fresca. It’s both filling and light, which makes it a perfect drink-snack for hot summer days.

Chia con Limonada (chia with lemonade)

(Makes one pitcher, or four glasses)

  • 48 oz cool water
  • 4 large lemons
  • 1/4 c of sugar (or sweetened to taste with your favorite sweetener)
  • 2 Tablespoons of dry chia seed

(a single glass)

  • 12 oz water
  • 3 teaspoons lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
  • 1 teaspoon dry chia seed
  • 2 teaspoons sugar (or sweeten to taste with your favorite sweetener)

Note: If you’re using a type of juice that is already sweet or sweetened, you do not need to add any additional sugar

Stir all the ingredients together except the chia and make sure the sugar or sweetener is dissolved in the water. Add the chia seeds and allow the chia drink time to gel in the refrigerator. You will need to wait at least 4-6 hours for the chia to gel. You can make it before you go to bed and leave it to fully gel overnight. This lasts about five days in the fridge (but you’ll probably drink it all up before that!).

Chia Pudding

Chia pudding can be made into lots of flavors, using a variety of ingredients.

What you need, per serving of pudding:

  • 1 cup of a creamy ingredient, like milk, almond milk, coconut milk, etc.
  • 3 Tablespoon of dry chia seeds
  • fruit juice, cocoa powder, or extract (like vanilla extract) for flavoring
  • Sweetener, as needed (Sugar, honey, agave syrup, stevia, etc.)
  • Optional: nuts and cut up, fresh (or frozen) fruit, shredded coconut, flax meal — for extra texture and flavor

You may also like this a little thicker, to make it extra pudding-like; or thinner, so you can drink it. You can add extra chia seeds to thicken it, and fewer chia seeds to make it thinner.

Mix all the ingredients well, and then add the chia seeds and shake or stir them in as much as you can. It’s helpful to put each serving, if possible, into a 1/2 pint jar with a lid so you can shake it up halfway through the gelling process. This keeps the chia seeds from settling to the bottom and clumping into a hard mass. Usually if you can shake it up a few times during the first hour and a half, it won’t clump, even if you leave it to fully gel overnight. I like to make this at bedtime so it’s ready for breakfast!

If you want to blend fresh fruit into your pudding so the whole pudding is flavored (versus using pieces of cut fruit), put all the ingredients into a blender – EXCEPT the chia seeds (this is important; they will not gel if the seed coating is broken) – and puree, adding the chia seeds to the blended mixture right before it gets sent to the fridge.

Follow these basic directions for all the recipes below. Lasts for about 4 days in the fridge.

Chocolate Chia Pudding

  • Coconut milk
  • 1 1/2 T cocoa powder
  • 2 Tablespoons sugar

Horchata Chia Pudding

  • Rice milk
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Vanilla Chia Pudding

  • Any creamy base “milk”
  • A little sweetener
  • 1/2 teaspoon extract

Fruity Chia Pudding

  • Use 1/3 cup of berries (blueberries, strawberries, raspberries), or 1/2 large banana, or 1/4 c fruit juice
  • Use only 3/4 cup of creamy base
  • Sweeten if needed

Use a blender to blend chunky fruits and base mixture together before adding chia and refrigerating.

Be creative! What delicious flavor combinations can you come up with?

Math Medley

Using the one-serving size as your starting point, how much of each of the ingredients would you need to make enough servings for your family? Or for each morning of your school week (five)?

Laughing Language

Since chia fresca is a Mexican creation, can you learn to say all the ingredients of your chia treats in Spanish? Here are a few to get you started:

    • Milk – leche
    • Fruit – frutas
    • Lemon – limón
    • Strawberry – fresa
    • Vanilla – vainilla

What else are you using in your favorite chia recipe?

Ecological Echoes

Chia is one of over 3500 species of plants belong to the mint family — called Lamiaceae. All members of this family of plants have simple leaves that are directly opposite of each other on square stems, with five-petaled flowers that are fused into what looks like a single upper petal and one lower petal. All members of the mint family may not be tasty, but they are all edible. Some other members of the mint family include peppermint, spearmint, basil, lavender, marjoram, rosemary, savory, and thyme. Different types of mint grow all over the world…can you identify any wild mint plants in your local wildlife area?

Ch-ch-ch-chia Fresca & Pudding

Ch-ch-ch-chia Fresca & PuddingChia Seeds

Chia seeds (chia hispanica) are amazing and nutritious. The originate in Mexico, where they have been cultivated for centuries. In fact, Aztec warriors used to carry chia seeds with them when they went into battle, and they were sometimes referred to as “runners food” because, it was said, eating just a small amount of these tiny, lightweight seeds could sustain the scout runners and warriors for an entire day. A chia seed can also hold up to TEN TIMES its weight in water! You’ll see how holding onto so much water gives the shell a slippery gel coating that allows us to make recipes like chia pudding. It also helps YOU stay hydrated (which means you have enough water in your body) because that gel coating of water and electrolytes is released slowly, as they make the journey through your digestive tract.

Today, scientists have discovered that chia is good for: balancing insulin levels and helping prevent diabetes, burning fat and providing loads of essential fatty acids, vitamins, nutrients, and fiber. They’re good for your guts, bones, skin, and brain!

Let’s do some warrior poses and eat some tasty chia treats!

Chia Fresca

In Mexico, chia fresca is made of fruit juices combined with chia to make a gelatinous, cooling drink for summer. It’s typically made with lemonade, but all kinds of juices can be used! Let’s make a pitcher of chia fresca. It’s both filling and light, which makes it a perfect drink-snack for hot summer days.

Chia con Limonada (chia with lemonade)

(Makes one pitcher, or four glasses)

  • 48 oz cool water
  • 4 large lemons
  • 1/4 c of sugar (or sweetened to taste with your favorite sweetener)
  • 2 Tablespoons of dry chia seed

(a single glass)

  • 12 oz water
  • 3 teaspoons lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
  • 1 teaspoon dry chia seed
  • 2 teaspoons sugar (or sweeten to taste with your favorite sweetener)

Note: If you’re using a type of juice that is already sweet or sweetened, you do not need to add any additional sugar

Stir all the ingredients together except the chia and make sure the sugar or sweetener is dissolved in the water. Add the chia seeds and allow the chia drink time to gel in the refrigerator. You will need to wait at least 4-6 hours for the chia to gel. You can make it before you go to bed and leave it to fully gel overnight. This lasts about five days in the fridge (but you’ll probably drink it all up before that!).

Chia Pudding

Chia pudding can be made into lots of flavors, using a variety of ingredients.

What you need, per serving of pudding:

  • 1 cup of a creamy ingredient, like milk, almond milk, coconut milk, etc.
  • 3 Tablespoon of dry chia seeds
  • fruit juice, cocoa powder, or extract (like vanilla extract) for flavoring
  • Sweetener, as needed (Sugar, honey, agave syrup, stevia, etc.)
  • Optional: nuts and cut up, fresh (or frozen) fruit, shredded coconut, flax meal — for extra texture and flavor

You may also like this a little thicker, to make it extra pudding-like; or thinner, so you can drink it. You can add extra chia seeds to thicken it, and fewer chia seeds to make it thinner.

Mix all the ingredients well, and then add the chia seeds and shake or stir them in as much as you can. It’s helpful to put each serving, if possible, into a 1/2 pint jar with a lid so you can shake it up halfway through the gelling process. This keeps the chia seeds from settling to the bottom and clumping into a hard mass. Usually if you can shake it up a few times during the first hour and a half, it won’t clump, even if you leave it to fully gel overnight. I like to make this at bedtime so it’s ready for breakfast!

If you want to blend fresh fruit into your pudding so the whole pudding is flavored (versus using pieces of cut fruit), put all the ingredients into a blender – EXCEPT the chia seeds (this is important; they will not gel if the seed coating is broken) – and puree, adding the chia seeds to the blended mixture right before it gets sent to the fridge.

Follow these basic directions for all the recipes below. Lasts for about 4 days in the fridge.

Chocolate Chia Pudding

  • Coconut milk
  • 1 1/2 T cocoa powder
  • 2 Tablespoons sugar

Horchata Chia Pudding

  • Rice milk
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Vanilla Chia Pudding

  • Any creamy base “milk”
  • A little sweetener
  • 1/2 teaspoon extract

Fruity Chia Pudding

  • Use 1/3 cup of berries (blueberries, strawberries, raspberries), or 1/2 large banana, or 1/4 c fruit juice
  • Use only 3/4 cup of creamy base
  • Sweeten if needed

Use a blender to blend chunky fruits and base mixture together before adding chia and refrigerating.

Be creative! What delicious flavor combinations can you come up with?

Math Medley

Using the one-serving size as your starting point, how much of each of the ingredients would you need to make enough servings for your family? Or for each morning of your school week (five)?

Laughing Language

Since chia fresca is a Mexican creation, can you learn to say all the ingredients of your chia treats in Spanish? Here are a few to get you started:

    • Milk – leche
    • Fruit – frutas
    • Lemon – limón
    • Strawberry – fresa
    • Vanilla – vainilla

What else are you using in your favorite chia recipe?

Ecological Echoes

Chia is one of over 3500 species of plants belong to the mint family — called Lamiaceae. All members of this family of plants have simple leaves that are directly opposite of each other on square stems, with five-petaled flowers that are fused into what looks like a single upper petal and one lower petal. All members of the mint family may not be tasty, but they are all edible. Some other members of the mint family include peppermint, spearmint, basil, lavender, marjoram, rosemary, savory, and thyme. Different types of mint grow all over the world…can you identify any wild mint plants in your local wildlife area?

Hurricane Harvey

Hurricane Harvey touched down in Texas on August 25, 2017. What is a hurricane? Why is it called Harvey? How does it compare to other storms? And what can you do to help?

What is a hurricane?

A hurricane is a type of intense tropical storm that forms over water. To be a called a hurricane, storm winds must be stronger than 72 miles per hour. When wind is that strong, it can knock down houses and trees  — causing major destruction.

A hurricane can be further defined by it’s “category.” A category 1 hurricane is the mildest, with winds between 74-95 miles per hour. A category 5 hurricane is the most severe, with winds upwards of 157 miles per hour.

Hurricanes can shift between categories as they shift in form. When Hurricane Harvey touched down, the winds were as strong as 130 miles per hour, making it a category 4 hurricane.

 

Why is it called Harvey?

The World Meteorological Organization is responsible for naming tropical storms. The practice has been in place since the 1950s when people realized that giving the storms easy-to-remember names helped in communication among emergency responders.

The names alternate between genders and some examples of previous hurricane names include Katrina, Sandy and Matthew. Tropical storm Harvey was named on August 17, 2017. It wasn’t considered a hurricane until August 24, one day before touching down.

 

How does Hurricane Harvey compare to other storms?

The strength and size of Hurricane Harvey is comparative to other tropical storms in our country’s history. However, what makes Hurricane Harvey different is the amount of rainfall that continued after it’s initial touchdown.

According the National Weather Service, Texas has received over 50 inches of rain — a record for any storm in the continental United States. (Hurricane Katrina, which happened in 2005, only had 17 inches of rainfall.) This equals to trillions of gallons of water in the city of Houston.

 

What happens now? And how can you help?

Areas in Texas affected most by Hurricane Harvey will have a long road of reconstruction ahead. Many, many people are displaced after leaving their homes and all their belongings to find safety from the flood waters.

Fortunately, at times like this, we find unity and humanity by helping one another. You can help too. Talk to a grown-up to see what you can do. Many charitable organizations (American Red Cross, Save the Children) are accepting Hurricane Harvey relief money. We can’t think of a better way to spend your allowance this month.

 

 

 

 

 

Hurricane Harvey

Hurricane Harvey touched down in Texas on August 25, 2017. What is a hurricane? Why is it called Harvey? How does it compare to other storms? And what can you do to help?

What is a hurricane?

A hurricane is a type of intense tropical storm that forms over water. To be a called a hurricane, storm winds must be stronger than 72 miles per hour. When wind is that strong, it can knock down houses and trees  — causing major destruction.

A hurricane can be further defined by it’s “category.” A category 1 hurricane is the mildest, with winds between 74-95 miles per hour. A category 5 hurricane is the most severe, with winds upwards of 157 miles per hour.

Hurricanes can shift between categories as they shift in form. When Hurricane Harvey touched down, the winds were as strong as 130 miles per hour, making it a category 4 hurricane.

 

Why is it called Harvey?

The World Meteorological Organization is responsible for naming tropical storms. The practice has been in place since the 1950s when people realized that giving the storms easy-to-remember names helped in communication among emergency responders.

The names alternate between genders and some examples of previous hurricane names include Katrina, Sandy and Matthew. Tropical storm Harvey was named on August 17, 2017. It wasn’t considered a hurricane until August 24, one day before touching down.

 

How does Hurricane Harvey compare to other storms?

The strength and size of Hurricane Harvey is comparative to other tropical storms in our country’s history. However, what makes Hurricane Harvey different is the amount of rainfall that continued after it’s initial touchdown.

According the National Weather Service, Texas has received over 50 inches of rain — a record for any storm in the continental United States. (Hurricane Katrina, which happened in 2005, only had 17 inches of rainfall.) This equals to trillions of gallons of water in the city of Houston.

 

What happens now? And how can you help?

Areas in Texas affected most by Hurricane Harvey will have a long road of reconstruction ahead. Many, many people are displaced after leaving their homes and all their belongings to find safety from the flood waters.

Fortunately, at times like this, we find unity and humanity by helping one another. You can help too. Talk to a grown-up to see what you can do. Many charitable organizations (American Red Cross, Save the Children) are accepting Hurricane Harvey relief money. We can’t think of a better way to spend your allowance this month.

 

 

 

 

 

We All Win: Rock, Tree, Bridge!

This is a great game to play with friends! Get into a wide circle and have everyone get into alternating poses of Child’s Pose (rock), Tree, and Bridge. Then, one person gets up and goes around the circle stepping over the rock, walking around the tree ,and through or under the bridge.

Move slowly and mindfully so as not to disturb the rocks, trees and bridges. Work together to get through the obstacle course without a tree falling over or a bridge breaking! Everyone gets a turn.

 

Child’s Pose Instructions: Begin in Heel-Sitting pose. Open your knees a little, so your belly relaxes between your thighs. Bend at the hips and fold forward, letting your shoulders drop down away from your ears and spine. Your arms lie back along the sides of your legs with open palms facing upward. Place your forehead on the floor. Turn your head to one side and take a few breaths. Then, turn to the other and do the same.

 

Tree Pose Instructions: Begin in Mountain Pose. Lift one foot and press your foot against the inside of your other leg. You can use your hand to place your foot anywhere between your ankle and inner thigh. Avoid the knee joint. As your balance gets stronger, you’ll be able to raise your foot higher up your leg. Bring your hands to your chest, palms together in Namaste position. Then raise your arms up above your head. Stretch them out wide, like the branches of a tree. Separate your fingers. Balance and breathe. Now repeat on the other side.

 

Bridge Pose Instructions: Lie on your back with your arms by your sides. Place your feet hip-width apart as close to the sit bones as possible. Press your feet into the ground and lift your hips to the sky. Place your hands however it’s comfortable to support your lower back and pelvis. Lift your chest and arch your spine.

 

 

We All Win: Rock, Tree, Bridge!

This is a great game to play with friends! Get into a wide circle and have everyone get into alternating poses of Child’s Pose (rock), Tree, and Bridge. Then, one person gets up and goes around the circle stepping over the rock, walking around the tree ,and through or under the bridge.

Move slowly and mindfully so as not to disturb the rocks, trees and bridges. Work together to get through the obstacle course without a tree falling over or a bridge breaking! Everyone gets a turn.

 

Child’s Pose Instructions: Begin in Heel-Sitting pose. Open your knees a little, so your belly relaxes between your thighs. Bend at the hips and fold forward, letting your shoulders drop down away from your ears and spine. Your arms lie back along the sides of your legs with open palms facing upward. Place your forehead on the floor. Turn your head to one side and take a few breaths. Then, turn to the other and do the same.

 

Tree Pose Instructions: Begin in Mountain Pose. Lift one foot and press your foot against the inside of your other leg. You can use your hand to place your foot anywhere between your ankle and inner thigh. Avoid the knee joint. As your balance gets stronger, you’ll be able to raise your foot higher up your leg. Bring your hands to your chest, palms together in Namaste position. Then raise your arms up above your head. Stretch them out wide, like the branches of a tree. Separate your fingers. Balance and breathe. Now repeat on the other side.

 

Bridge Pose Instructions: Lie on your back with your arms by your sides. Place your feet hip-width apart as close to the sit bones as possible. Press your feet into the ground and lift your hips to the sky. Place your hands however it’s comfortable to support your lower back and pelvis. Lift your chest and arch your spine.

 

 

Beach Ball Yoga

Beach Ball Yogabeach ball with yoga poses

Do you have a beach ball? You can use it to create this We All Win game! You can play it with 2 or more people.

Materials: 

  • beach ball
  • marker

Instructions:

  1. Write YogaKids poses on each section of the beach ball. (See below for list!)
  2. Throw the ball to a friend to catch. If in a group, you can pass the ball or throw it to someone across from you.
  3. When you catch the ball, see which pose your right thumb is pointing to — and read it aloud.
  4. Everyone does the pose together.
  5. Keep going — and make sure everyone has a turn to catch and throw the ball!

 

YogaKids Poses (Click on the pose to get instructions!)