Getting kids to eat their fruits and veggies takes a combination of a lot of things! I think if you create a culture in your home where fruits and vegetables are fun and enjoyable it helps to reinforce the idea that produce is our friend! Play time is a great time to include fruits and veggies! In my opinion play is practice for life! Through play, kids can learn to appreciate fruits and vegetables and connect the fact that they are part of making healthy choices for themselves!

So when Hannah found some plasticine the other day, we had a great time making our favorite fruits and veggies! I think that any chance we get as parents to incorporate fruits and vegetables we should take it…even if it’s just during play time and no actual food is involved.

Play time is also learning time so it’s a great opportunity to bring fruits and vegetables into the mix!

Happy Healthy Playing
Kia

Kia Robertson is a mom, children’s book author and the creator of the Today I Ate A Rainbow kit; a tool that helps parents establish healthy habits by setting the goal of eating a rainbow of fruits and vegetables every day. Kia is passionate about creating tools that help parents raise healthy kids!

When I think Earth, I think blessed!

In the month of November, its common to want to count our blessings in honor of Thanksgiving.  When you think about Earth, what comes to mind?  As a nature and green enthusiast, I think about how lucky we are that someone spoke up for the rights of the animals, our oceans, our parks, and the solidity of our way of life.  More than a decade ago, people weren’t aware and took for granted what beauty we possess on this beautiful planet.  We took for granted what we consumed and fed our children and we took for granted that the swamps, oceans, lakes, and parks would always stay pristine.  I propose that this Thanksgiving, you introduce your love of the planet into your feast!  This is a great way to pass down the wisdom of the ages to your children.  It’s easy!  All you have to do is write it down, mention it aloud, or simply invite changes into your meal for everyone to notice.  You can do this by using a free-range turkey, composting your scraps, or by using your green bags to buy your Thanksgiving meal this year.  You lead by example and trust me, your kids and other family members will take notice! Stay tuned for up coming tips on how to go green for Thanksgiving but for now, just be grateful to have gone green and look up the cheap skip bins, they are a great way to start recycling,  Skip Bins Brisbane and their system will then give you the best price for one of our skip bins in your area from one of our many trusted and reliable suppliers.  Your awareness reduces your carbon footprint on the planet.  Now that’s something to be grateful for!

Buy your Thanksgiving meal with a nifty green bag!

Consider alternative fuels to reduce your carbon footprint

Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle bottles, newspapers, plastic bags, and more!

If you keep plants or plant a tree, expect clean air for years to come

Earth is really in the palm of your hands!

Be thankful that you decided to Go Green!

Blogger Laurali Star can be found on her blog, Charming Laurali Star, and on her site, The Damsel in the Attic, where she sells handmade and vintage clothing and accessories.  Another fab way to help reduce, reuse, and recycle!  Check it out!

Green Halloween® is a nationwide non-profit initiative started by mother-daughter team Corey Colwell-Lipson and Lynn Colwell. In 2010, Green Halloween became a program of EcoMom® Alliance and has events in cities across the U.S.

In our ongoing taste adventures, my daughter Hannah and I found a curious looking fruit the other day that we just had to take home and investigate!

The label said it was a prickly pear but when I picked it up I didn’t think it was very prickly. We got home and started washing it…and THAT is when we learned the hard way why it’s called a prickly pear! Our fingers felt like we had slivers up and down them but we couldn’t actually see them!!!  Not our idea of fun but we had to laugh!!  We decided to just ignore the slivers and give the fruit a taste.  Neither of us liked it very much! To be honest I don’t know that we gave it a fair chance because we were slightly annoyed that it gave us so many slivers! The texture was really odd and there wasn’t much flavor.  Not worth the pain in our opinion!

However if you do give a try be sure to wear thick gloves when handling them and give them a good scrub!  Slice both ends of the prickly pear off. Discard them then make one long vertical slice down the body of the prickly pear and peel back the skin.  You’ll be left with the edible prickly pear…you can just chop it up and eat it…seeds and all!

If you’ve tried prickly pear and enjoyed it I’d love to hear from you…maybe I just picked the wrong one…or maybe if I didn’t end up plucking clear slivers out of our hands for a couple of days after eating it I would have given it a more fair chance to win me over

Happy Healthy Eating
Kia

Kia Robertson is a mom and the creator of the Today I Ate A Rainbow kit; a tool that helps parents establish healthy habits by setting the goal of eating a rainbow of fruits and vegetables every day. Kia is passionate about creating tools that help parents raise healthy kids!

Halloween is a really fun tradition and as all you Green Halloween fans know, it can celebrated in ways that are good for our bodies and for the earth! It’s so fun to get dressed up and live in a world of make believe for a day! The scary party might just be all the candy and junk food that most likely has made its way into your house. I think Halloween is the perfect time to show parents that when junk food is in the house it’s hard not to eat it…this is the same all year long…it just gets amplified on this day! If you keep all the candy and treats just pay attention to how much harder it is resist. It’s an excellent example of why healthy eating is so much easier if you don’t bring tempting junk food into the house!

Need ideas for getting the candy out of the house?  Here are 10:

1. Give your kids a chance to choose their favorite treats and give them one per day for a week.
2. Have a visit from the switch witch and trade the candy for a toy or maybe some money. There is even a book about the Switch Witch!  Or maybe a Candy Fairy can come for a visit!
3. Find out if a dentist in your area is taking candy in exchange for toys. There are many dentists that offer this buy back type of service! Halloween Candy Buy Back!
4. Send candy to soldiers…just Google that phrase and you’ll find quite a few sites with information such as Operation Gratitude.
5. Take some to nursing homes or women’s shelters.
6. Do some baking with some of those sweets and share with your neighbors.
7. Save some to decorate your Gingerbread houses at Christmas time!
8. Turn it into a science experiment.
9. Give some to the grandparents, grown up cousins that are “too old” to trick or treat, or to aunts and uncles that don’t have kids!
10. Take it to work!  If you work from home do one of the above or else you’ll probably find yourself “snacking” more often than you’d like!

So enjoy the festivities, have some sweets and then be sure to feed your families extra fruits and veggies to help your bodies process it all! Perhaps make these Rainbow Fruit sticks!

 
Happy Healthy Halloween!

Kia

Kia Robertson is a mom and the creator of the Today I Ate A Rainbow kit; a tool that helps parents establish healthy habits by setting the goal of eating a rainbow of fruits and vegetables every day. Kia is passionate about creating tools that help parents raise healthy kids!

Welcome to Day #31 of our

“31 days of {Green!} Giveaways“

Today’s question: Happy Hallogreen! Are you having a happy, healthy day?

*Attention Facebook fans: Please answer as a comment on our blog, not our Facebook page in order to be entered to win!*

Today is day #31 of our month-long, trick-or-treating party for parents!

Just knock on our door (AKA blog) each day, answer the daily question (in lieu of shouting, “Trick or treat!” – although you are totally welcome to write that as well) and you’ll be entered to win some absolutely fabulous, ever-so-eco-friendly prizes.

Today’s prize package is worth $110!

 
Specialty Gift Basket includes healthy-for-family goodies and other gifts from Nature’s Path.  Ships to continental US and Canada only!

 
One set of three (3) Preserve Jr. Toothbrushes. Value $10. Continental US only.

Here’s how to enter:

1. Add your e-mail address to the comment login, below. (We cannot notify you if we don’t have your e-mail address!)

2. Add a comment (one per e-mail address) with your answer to the question above.

3. Comment must post before 11:59pm PST – TONIGHT

Be sure to review our giveaway rules here. Please note shipping limitations.

Be sure to subscribe to our blog and follow us on Facebook & Twitter for daily reminders & updates for the 31 Days of {Green} Giveaways promotion.

Good luck & have FUN!

(& See you tomorrow )

Green Halloween® is a nationwide non-profit initiative started by mother-daughter team Corey Colwell-Lipson and Lynn Colwell. In 2010, Green Halloween became a program of EcoMom® Alliance and has events in cities across the U.S.