Details on the UCCC Circus Parade & Picnic:

• Friday, July 20th
• Parade begins at 11:15am and wil take us to Metcalfe Park.
• Picnic lunch will be served at 11:30am.
• Families are welcome to join us! Please RSVP in your child's classroom.
• Volunteers are needed to make this another great time for the children, please sign up at the front desk.

Plus they found a surprise behind all of the potato leaves.

There are a few key points to helping your child develop healthy sleep habits.

• Maintain a consistent sleep routines and schedule
• Good daily balance of exercise…indoor and outdoor.
• Don’t go to bed hungry
• Avoid caffeinated products
• Plan up to 1 hour of quiet time before bed time
• Other bedtime routines – Quiet time may include taking a bath, going to the bathroom, brushing teeth, etc. Also, it is important for children to be brought to bed/put into bed awake so that they learn to fall asleep themselves.
• Your child’s environment is key – Your child’s bedroom should be quiet, comfortable and invitational. NO TV! The child needs to have their sleep object/s available such as a teddy bear, blanket, or doll.

http://fox2now.com/2012/07/07/summertime-family-children-sleep-tips/

Today, Mr. Z gave some helpful hints and indoor activities to play with your kids on the noon broadcast of KPLR11. For the next couple weeks we will continue to bring you great ideas that will help you beat the heat and have fun with your kids!  Let's start with this one.

ICE SCULPTURES

Materials Needed: 

•         Regular sized ice cubes
•         Salt shaker
•         Tray or lipped container

Directions:

Sprinkle salt on the flat side of an ice cube
Take another ice cube and set on the salted ice cube, you will find that they stick together.
Continue the process as you create your own sculpture!

View the video of Mr. Z on KPLR

If you are interested in applying for HealthNet for KIDS, click here, or come in to the University City Children's Center to pick up a hard copy of an application!

Specifically, we would like to thank our volunteer teachers, as well as former board member Leslie Florez, who was instrumental in compiling both a set-up group and a service group to volunteer during the auction. A huge thanks to our event chair Beth Louis, who might have been at the Center last week more than some of our students!

Due to your generosity, we were able to raise money for our scholarship fund, which supports over half of the UCCC students.

Again, thank you for your help and support. Below is a thank you video which also highlights some of the pieces put up for auction: 

Photo by Kristin Durbin

An article on Mashable pulled together a few fun food ideas from Pinterest. 

But what to cook when kids are in the kitchen? What will keep them healthy and keep their interest? Fear not; social media has the answer. Here are five Pinterest recipes that will turn dinnertime into fun time in no time at all.

Do you have some favorites that deserve to be shared with other families? Let us know in the comments below.

Post by
Jeffrey Pomranka

Mr. Z hit the airways once again to talk about our Take A Seat party and art auction.

Last chance to get your tickets!

A chain of child care centers in Australia is looking at building new playgrounds where:

Children would be given trees to climb in, a creek to explore and material to build cubby houses under proposals for a new childcare centre and kindergarten which aims to buck the trend of wrapping them in cotton wool. (The Courier-Mail article)

Does that sound like our adventure playground? We have built an outdoor play space where children can learn to take appropriate risk and build resiliency. As author, educator and parenting specialist Maggie Dent says so well, 

What worries me is we have spent so much time trying to safely guide our children and prevent bad things from happening to them that we are dissolving their ability to judge risk for themselves which ironically sets them up for disaster. (full article)

It looks like the UCCC playground model is moving around the world!

Post by
Jeffrey Pomranka

Photograph by Stockbyte

Having gone through the fun but often difficult process of teaching my girls how to ride a two-wheel bike, getting them to let go of training wheels is almost as hard as "losing the binky." What if they never had training wheels? The article, "Down With Training Wheels" may be onto something. 

For generations, training wheels have been the standard way of not teaching children how to ride a bike. It’s a time-honored childhood ritual: fumble with wrench, remove tiny wheels, watch child fall on face, repeat.

I am not sure you need to buy a specific balance bike, because you can get a similar effect by removing pedals. The idea of first learning balance before taking on the task of pedaling does sound like a good plan. However, one tool I highly recommend for teaching a child to ride a bike is a bike trainer handle of some kind. It is worth it's weight in gold.

Do you have any suggestions for families working to teach the art of riding a two-wheeler? Add you tips, suggestions or questions in the comment section below.

Post by
Jeffrey Pomranka