March and Beyond

Lucky us! 🍀

We have a really nice variety of events coming up in the next couple of months that we're excited to share.  From fitness, to mindfulness, to sign language & lots of opportunities for music.  Check out the schedule below or click this link to get more detailed information.

MARCH:

• 3/3 Music with Mega 12:15pm *

• 3/7 Live Cello in the Playspace* 

• 3/7 First Saturday Expecting Parent Meetups & New Parent Circles with Parentline *

• 3/7 Intro to EMbody Every Mother 1pm (TWO SPOTS LEFT)

• 3/9  Little Ladybugs Music with Toby 11:30am *

• 3/19 Establishing Healthy Eating Habits for your toddler, preschool & whole family 7:30pm

• 3/20 Intro to Baby Sign Language 10am

  • 6 class Playgroup every Friday runs 3/27 - 5/8

• 3/21 Japanese Storytime 10am

• 3/25 CPR for Parents & Caregivers. Infant, Child and Adult CPR + Chokesaving. 7:30pm

SNEAK PEEK into APRIL:

• 4/5  Drop off Cooking Class for Kids, followed by a family meal. Stay tuned for details 10-12:30

• 4/13 Intro to Mindfulness for Parents - cultivating, calm & compassion in the face of chaos

  • 5 week series, enroll before 3/23 to get the early bird special!

* = free for members

Live Cello is just one of our Playspace Activities.  
When you're a member of Recess, all of the following activities are included in your plan!

Mondays: Coming Soon - Infant Sensory Play 

Tuesdays: Music with Mega 1130 (playspace) 1215 (classroom)

Thursdays: Stories and Songs w/Regina 11am

Fridays: Sensory Play 4pm 

Select Saturdays:  Live Cello 10am & Sensory Play 11-12, New and Expecting Parent Circles

THIS COULD ALL BE YOURS!
When you book a party at Recess, the entire playspace is yours.  Invite up to 45 of your closest friends, bring whatever food/drink/decor you'd like, and get ready to enjoy a stress free celebration.  

Hop over to the calendar and secure a date.

BUILDING COMMUNITY.  New and Expecting Parent Groups - First Saturdays
Creating a network of support is important at every stage of life...but it's particularly crucial for new parents.  We invite you to build community through Parent Circles at Recess. You’ll organically meet like-minded parents and begin building your new family’s community, while gaining resources to help support your little one's growth.  More info here.

INTRO TO MINDFULNESS FOR PARENTS. You may know Charity Kahn the children's musician and educator.  She's also an incredible parent educator and community builder.  Recess is teaming up with Charity to bring a five week class, Mindfulness for Parents, to the space on Monday evenings 4/13-5/11.  We hope you'll join us in this opportunity for self care, stress reduction and insanely useful skills to ground yourself so that you are able to support your children.  More info here

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It's just a space without you.  What would your family like to see at Recess?  Many of you have completed our survey to help shape the future of Recess.  If you have not yet, and would like to share your thoughts/desires for our organization, please hop over to the survey! 

Would you like to help bring play to families who cannot afford it.  

$1, $5 or $10 a month can make a difference in the lives of local children.  Click here to donate.

Activities this Winter

If you are familiar with Recess, you know that supporting growth through exploration, creativity and play is our priority.  As the weather gets wet and chilly, come inside to play!

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We work to transform our knowledge of brain development into programming that helps children thrive. In addition to child-directed play in our two playspaces, Recess has daily Playspace Activities and a variety of Kids Classes.  

Check out our Age-by-Age Guide to play & learning at Recess

Activities with an * are included in membership. 

ALL AGES

JAMboodas Dance Party* - One Monday/mo at 11am

Music Time* - Mondays at 5pm, Tuesdays at 10:30am, one Saturday/mo at 10am.

Ukulele Concert* - Thursdays 10:30am 

Story Time* - Tuesdays at Noon, Sundays at 10:30am, and impromptu times throughout the week!

INFANTS

New Parent Groups - Fridays at Noon 

Baby Play* - Mondays at 3:30

Mini Messy Art - Mondays at Noon & 1pm

Under 6 mo?  Check out our Free Newborn Membership.

TODDLERS

PRESCHOOLERS

Toddlers boogying to Music Time, developing rhythm & learning new songs.

Big Block Play*

Sensory Lab*

Toddler Chefs

Messy Art

Cooking classes to introduce kitchen skills and develop experience with a variety of tastes and smells.

Precess - Daily 8:30-11:30

Junior Chefs -Tuesdays at 4:30

Balance those kid activities with something for YOU. Join our fitness classes, parent workshops, or use the workspace + childcare.  

Especially for Moms: Healthy Meals & Nutrition Framework

Guest post by Sri Bodanapu

Being a mom is hard work! While we focus on ensuring our families are well taken care of, we often tend to neglect our own nutrition needs. And as we know, lack of proper nutrients can lead to a variety of health conditions such as fatigue, stress, weight gain and blood sugar problems. Nutrition can impact how we feel, how our bodies function and our ability to lead a high quality life.

So let’s simplify your nutrition needs by using the Bauman College’s Eating for Health Model.  You need protein to maintain/build our muscles and organs, healthy fats to maintain cell integrity, complex carbohydrates as a source of energy and many essential vitamins and minerals to regulate metabolism, blood sugar and cholesterol.

Depending on your health goals, macronutrient ratios can be adjusted so you get your desired nutrition levels. As an example, perhaps you want to work on blood sugar management? In that case, you could increase your intake of clean fats like avocado, flaxseeds, cold water fish, and nuts and lower your intake of carbohydrates. Or you might want to build muscle in which case you would increase your intake of protein from legumes, meat, eggs and simultaneously decrease your intake of the other two macronutrient groups.

Let’s start by using this simple matrix to build your meals. And once you have your ratios figured out, use the cheat sheet below to quickly plug in the relevant ingredients depending on what suits your palate. Also pump up your intake of booster foods which are nutrient dense and have many health promoting properties.  
 

Eating for Health Model*

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Eating for Health Ingredients List*

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Fine Tuning Your Plan

A second step to optimizing for your nutrition is to focus on any additional needs your body has and increase the intake of specific nutrients. Moms often complain about stress, fatigue and gut health. Here are some important nutrients to address those issues.

Stress

Magnesium
A magnesium deficiency may play a strong role in disrupting the body’s stress system. Best sources are leafy greens, sea veggies, black beans, pumpkin seeds and flaxseeds.

Zinc
It is considered to be a ‘resiliency’ mineral and plays a part in controlling the brain and body’s response to stress. Best sources of food are oysters, red meat, pumpkin seeds, split peas, sesame butter and nuts like walnuts, almonds and pecans.

Fatigue

Iron
1 in 4 women is iron deficient which makes low iron a leading cause of fatigue. Beef liver, ground beef chicken and turkey (use grass fed meat as much as possible) are great sources of iron. For a vegetarian diet eat more lentils, leafy greens, kidney beans and blackstrap molasses.

B12
A deficiency in B12 can be caused by low stomach acid, GI issues and often a vegetarian diet. B12 is mostly found in animal proteins and as such not bioavailable in the vegetarian diet. If you are a vegetarian, the best sources are seaweed, spirulina and nutritional yeast. And apple cider vinegar is a great way to boost that stomach acid and increase the absorption of B12.

Gut health

Fiber
It is extremely important as it improves motility and helps eliminate toxic compounds. A diet rich in fresh fruits and vegetables is key to increasing fiber intake. Taking a combination of soluble and insoluble fiber is important since it not only helps with a consistent bowel movement but also reduces chances of other conditions such as cardio vascular disease and blood sugar dis-regulation.

Probiotic support
Increasing 'good' bacteria will help restore the balance in the gut. Lactobacillus acidophillus and Bifidobacterium infantus, can help heal a compromised gut. Great food sources are yogurt, kefir, tempeh, and fermented vegetables like kimchi and sauerkraut.

As you can see, there is so much that can be done to improve your health. Start small. Make one little change, practice it for 3 days and then add to it. Set yourself up for success so you feel motivated to do more! Eating healthy is not hard - it just takes some planning and can definitely be implemented into your lifestyle!

Interested in learning more?
 

4 week workshop starts September 22

Join us for an informative and timely class on health and nutrition! Participants will learn the tools necessary to better their health, energy, and performance in the workplace and beyond. Topics such as eating for health, weight management, complex carbohydrates, clean proteins and healthy fats and weight management will be covered in this 4 week workshop. Each class will be one hour long and include a 30 minute lecture, a healthy homemade snack and plenty of time for questions!

Two participants will be offered 4 individualized nutrition consultation sessions and will receive a personalized health plan that includes diet and lifestyle recommendations based on their health and wellness goals!

Cost: 4 week series $40/non-member, $35/member

About the Author and Workshop Instructor: Sri Bodanapu is currently finishing up her Nutrition Consultant degree from the Bauman College of Holistic Nutrition. She has worked in the food industry in a variety of roles and is a firm believer that food can heal and make us thrive. From soaking to fermenting and packing meals with nutrient dense ingredients like nuts and seeds, she believes there are many easy ways for us to eat better. Sri is a mom to a 1.5year old and in her free time obsesses about what to make for her family's next meal.

Questions? Email vaishnavib@gmail.com

*Eating for Health model and Eating for Health Ingredients List adapted from the Bauman College of Holistic Nutrition.

** The purpose of the article is not to provide medical nutrition services, or treat a disease. Rather, I educate people on the benefits of a healthy lifestyle to improve their quality of life.

Toddlers in the Kitchen - Sign up now

Can Toddlers Really Cook?!  

What do you actually do in Toddler Chefs? 

We really do cook!

Here's how each class is structured.  We begin each day with a "taste test." Every child smells, feels, tastes, and learns about each ingredient in the day's recipe.

Our chefs then take turns chopping, pouring, mixing, blending, rolling, mashing... all the steps needed to prepare the food for the stove or oven. Teacher Carissa usually handles the "cooking" portion of the class, while our little chefs take a break with blocks and puzzles.

When are food is ready, it's time for the best part - eating our creations!  

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Benefits of early exposure to cooking 

• In class, we chop, mix, blend, stir, crack, pour, and shake our ingredients together.  All of these activities develop hand/eye coordination and fine motor skills.  These are skills that are important for tying shoes, hand writing and typing.

• Exposure to new tastes, textures and smells.

• Especially with food, it's incredible to watch a toddler's openness to trying new things when they see other children trying new things too!  

• Children who play a key part of the cooking process have a boosted confidence and pride when enjoying the final product.   

• You'll gain strategies for involving your child in the cooking process at home (they really can do SO much!).

• You'll learn fun, simple, quick recipes to can recreate at home. 

• Lay the foundation for preschool and beyond through the classroom format of this class.  Your child will begin to practice listening to a teacher, sitting for extended periods of time, taking turns, practicing patience, interacting with peers... and more!

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Some of our favorite creations so far: 

• Pesto sauce with noodles
• Banana oat bars
• Funny face pizzas
• Fruity smoothies
• Hummus and crackers
• Quesadillas with guacamole
• Fried rice
• Veggie tostadas
• Lettuce wraps

AUGUST CLASSES BEGIN 8/7.  

Tiny Toddler Chefs, 18-30mo, Mondays at 9:30am,
and Toddler Chefs, 2.5-4yrs, Mondays at 4pm. 

Cost:  $100 for the 4 week series (includes play before/after each class)
Members SAVE up to 25%!