by Katy Killilea

Yogurt and hummus are two of the main food groups for lots of young families, and typically these foods are  packaged in #5 plastics. Number fives aren’t yet recyclable in Rhode Island, so after you’ve reused your containers as paint-mixing receptacles or bathtub cups, they’re usually landfill-bound.

Relief is in sight for environmentally concerned parents of  yogurt munchers. Preserve is a company that needs your #5 plastics—to make toothbrushes, razors, and colanders, and nifty green storage bowls. Participating Whole Foods stores act as collection sites on behalf of Preserve, including both Providence locations and the Cranston store.

For more information, read all about it here!

My projects tend to spring from big ideas that involve many steps—working with kids reminds me to keep things simple. Depending on their mood, crafty inclination, and attention span (what attention span?), I find that doing projects with my kids falls into two categories: either the goal is the experience itself (such as working with playgdough and paint) with no preconceived final project in mind, or the project is driven by what we want to create (this frequently crops up around the holidays when we make a gift for grandma, class valentines, etc.). I believe that kids have more fun and there is less stress on the parents with the first category.

This simple project, which I did with my kids when they were three, combines both types of projects. The making part is easy and quick enough to be stress free, and it involved hours of fun for my children. What’s more, since we had all the materials on hand, we didn’t spend a dime, and cleanup was a breeze.

Supplies
Popsicle sticks (wide ones work best)
String
Tape, glue, scissors
Toys (see how-to for details)

How-To
1. Gather toys. This is fun for kids and may even be a good way to clean up their toys as they search for their favorites. Many toys will work but figures and animals with bendable parts work best for balance. We used a variety of plastic superheros, wooden pirates, and dollhouse people from Melissa and Doug along with mini plastic Pixar toys.

2. Glue two popsicle sticks together to form an X. If your child is too impatient to wait for the glue to dry, tape works fine.

3. Tie string to each hand of toy.

4. Attach other end of string to a popsicle stick by tying string around popsicle stick and securing with tape. (For a more finished appearance, drill holes in ends of the popsicle stick. Thread string through hole and tie in a knot. Dab glue on knot to secure.)

5.  To create a stage for the marionette show, drape a towel or blanket over a chair. Or use a cardboard box or foam-core to make a tabletop puppet theater. Cut strip out of the top to balance marionette sticks.

Let the show begin!

By Katy Killilea

The CDs in Putumayo displays always look so quirky and appealing—and that’s a problem. They all look so right that it’s hard to choose one, so I’ve always chosen nothing, until this: European Playground. Putumayo Kids promotes this collection as “a fun-filled musical tour of Europe,” and with fifteen countries represented, it’s quite a trip.

This is not a collection of saccharine kiddie music nor is it the traditional folk music I was expecting with a cringe. Instead, it’s as if each nation’s Dan Zanes had stepped up to perform. Since the collection includes artists from Hungary to Finland to Ireland, it’s a diverse lot of songs, all of them fun. On the rainy day that I first put the CD on,  children immediately started to dance. It really brightened up the day! And listening to my kids try to rap in French or sing along in any language they don’t speak is now one of my favorite pastimes.

The details:

Putumayo Kids Presents: European Playground
$14.98 May 2009
Putumayo Kids

By Melissa Brusso

“During the new mentor training, we learned about the 10-block radius, a term that refers to kids who grow up in the inner city and are limited to experiences within their own neighborhoods and never get a chance to venture outside that zone. That concept really hit home when I took T to the East Bay Bike path. He was so amazed by the peace and quiet of the bike path. He told me it must be the nicest place on earth! I thought it was such an everyday outing, but to T, it was like being transported to a whole new world. Later that day, when I dropped him off at home, I thought: here’s his apartment, his school is across the street, the rec center and afterschool programs are right down the block, and his church is there too. It made me realize how important mentoring can be in opening a child’s mind to new places and experiences. I feel lucky to be able to play that role in T’s life.” — RISE mentor

On any given day, more than 4,300 Rhode Island children have a parent who is incarcerated.

Rhode Islanders Sponsoring Education (RISE) reaches children of currently and formerly incarcerated parents and helps them change the course of their lives, through educational opportunity and mentoring.  RISE is Rhode Island’s only organization that focuses on the needs of children with incarcerated parents.  With RISE’s winning strategy of quality private education and mentoring, 180 Rhode Island kids are beating the odds and succeeding through high school graduation and beyond.  Working with thirty-five private schools across the state and a group of committed sponsors, RISE students are thriving in competitive academic environments and participating in their school communities through sports, the arts, and volunteer work.

The Mentoring for Academic Success program provides support in the form of a one-on-one relationship with a caring adult.  Currently, about one hundred RISE students are matched with mentors who serve as positive role models and friends. Mentors and mentees attend sports events, visit museums, go bowling, explore the outdoors, and just spend time together.  A mentor’s one-year commitment of just six hours per month makes a world of difference for a child at risk.  Mentored children have higher grades, better school attendance, and healthier self-esteem than their non-mentored peers.

Make a positive impact on a child’s life: become a RISE mentor.

RISE seeks volunteer mentors for children ages 7 to 14 enrolled in our program. These are terrific kids whose families have indicated that they would like a mentor. RISE mentors and mentees enjoy an exceptional support system, which includes a complete and comprehensive training, monthly activities (sailing, ice skating, golf, barbecues, athletic and event tickets, and much more), and networking meetings.

Mentoring with RISE is a fantastic way to cultivate existing interests while introducing a young person to new people and places. Interested candidates complete an interview and screening process that includes reference and criminal background checks. All mentors complete a comprehensive initial training session.

Details:
For information on mentoring, or to request a mentor application, email Liza Manchester at lmanchester@RISEonline.org  or call 421-2010.

Melissa Brusso lives in Pawtucket, R.I., with SportsDad, daughter Stretch, 11, and the Little Man, 8. She spends her time fund-raising for Rhode Islanders Sponsoring Education (RISE), schlepping her children to one or another sports practice or game, cooking and baking, and trying valiantly to keep up with domestic tasks. She can be reached at mdbrusso@yahoo.com.

This D.I.Y. castle project requires a little bit of planning, measuring, and cutting with an Exacto knife by an adult. Kids can help by finding books about castles to use as references and by collecting their castle figurines and props to bring the castle to life. Kids can help decorate the castle once it’s cut (prior to attaching sides) with paints, paper, flags, etc. My boys were so eager to get on with playing that they chose to keep their castle white.

Supplies
Foam board (I reused pieces from old projects)
Ruler, straight edge
Exacto Knife
Pencil

How-To
1. Download castle template (Castle PDF) and enlarge to desired size (our castle measures 15″ square) or design your own.

2. Use a ruler and straight edge and pencil to draw four castle walls. Include doors and windows.

3. Use an Exacto knife to cut out doors and windows.

4. Paint or color the castle before assembly

5. Attach walls with packing tap or duct tape on the inside seems. I left one seam untaped so castle can fold up when not in use.

6. Add details (optional):
Flags: Bamboo skewers, colored paper (fabric and felt would work great as well)
Drawbridge: Attach with string

The last time I walked into a row-house on the East Side of Providence, it was to visit a friend, where I was greeted with a warm smile and a lovely dinner. This time when I walked into a row-house on Wickenden Street, it was to have lunch at Blue Elephant. Their business message, “Fine food and jewelry,” is not to be underestimated. Since Kidoinfo’s visit last winter, the restaurant has developed quite a loyal following. In this review I would like to provide an overview of their extensive and delicious menu as well as recommendations for the best times to visit because this place gets crowded!

With so many tantalizing options on the breakfast and lunch menu, it was hard to choose which meal to eat at 1 o’clock in the afternoon. The breakfast menu boasts six kinds of egg sandwiches and five versions of eggs benedicts, not to mention their breakfast platters and rotating specialties. Similarly, the lunch menu is split into four categories; hot dogs, sandwiches, hamburgers, and burritos. Every item on this menu is mouth-watering and the combinations are savory and unique. Blue Elephant’s menu also incorporates avocado into more dishes than I thought possible. They are definitely onto something considering avocados are one of nature’s most complete foods, providing many varied health benefits, including decreasing the risk of heart disease. For example, Blue Elephant’s variation on the BLT was one of the items that included not only avocado but also onion and a blue cheese balsamic hot sauce. These two ingredients added a deliriously good flavor to an already flavorful sandwich.

Alongside their delectable breakfast and lunch menu is a very cheeky kid’s menu that spins chocolate chip pancakes into the shapes of moons and stars, and constructs a sandwich out of French toast, complete with banana or strawberries for filling. The most amazing item on the kid’s menu is the Peanut Butter Monster. I could imagine flipping out for this triple-decker sandwich that contains not just peanut butter and jelly, but also Marshmallow Fluff and Nutella! If any kid you know has been brave at the doctor’s office or performed spellbinding feats in the spring dance recital, I would definitely suggest treating them (and you) to a delicious meal at Blue Elephant. What also makes this place great for kids are the paper table covers, and they even provide you with crayons for drawing whilst you wait for your meal!

(more…)

By Katy Killilea

There’s no shortage of experts and autodidacts encouraging us to reduce our food-related carbon footprints. Organic. Local. Is there really anything left to say? Three lovely new cookbooks offering new, creative, useful information are available. Here’s what I love about each of them.

Almost Meatless is definitely not for vegetarians. The chapters (”A Taste of Turkey,” “Light on Lamb”) offer recipes for meat-based entrees that use less meat. Lots of families are eating fewer animals these days, for assorted reasons: carbon footprint, cholesterol, and grocery-bill reduction being the biggies. And so here we have ingenious concoctions like the “B4 Burger,” for which half a pound of ground beef (might as well get the grass-fed beef from Aquidneck Island at the Pawtucket Farmer’s Market), black beans, bulgur, and a few other ingredients are combined. The book is beautiful to look at, with photos of most recipes, and will not give you one iota of a deprived feeling.

Big Green Cookbook has the clean look and color palette of Kidoinfo but is a chunky recycled-paper paperback that will never stay pristine in a bustling family kitchen. Organized by season, it’s full of the sorts of recipes busy, choosy families will flip to every day. The exciting twist here is that the recipes are written to help home cooks waste as little food, water, and energy as possible (including strategies for creating minimal dirty dishes). Some ideas shocked me, like this one to reduce food waste, which is either brilliant or gross, depending on  how you make your salads: whirl leftover dressed salad in a blender to make a pesto-style sauce. Roasting, my favorite cooking method for many of my local, organically grown foods, is sadly but fairly lambasted in Big Green Cookbook (super hot oven = tons of energy), but I am loath to give it up. Which I realize makes me more like the lady who drives a Humvee to the farmer’s market than I care to admit.

The Accidental Vegan is the smart creation of an omnivore who happens to love vegan cooking for good reasons: it’s delicious, creative, fresh, economical, and environmentally sustainable (unless you buy your asparagus in October and roast each spear individually). This is a handy, neatly-laid-out book with building-block recipes like lo mein and super-fast mole sauce as well as curries, tamales, and soups that are family friendly (i.e., not too complicated to make and not boggling to an inexperienced palate). This is the ideal vegan cookbook for non-vegans and their kin.

The details:

Almost Meatless
By Joy Manning & Tara Matazara Desmond
$22.50 Ten Speed Press

Big Green Cookbook
By Jackie Newgent
$24.95 John Wiley & Sons

The Accidental Vegan
By Devra Gartenstein
$16.95 Celestial Arts

By Maura Keating

Everyone wishes that they could go back in time to advise their former self: Don’t date that boy. Study harder for that test. Enjoy lazy Saturdays while you can! If I could go back to my former self, I would definitely advise her to try a wrap with her colicky infant. I think it would have made a world of difference.

My current self has a toddler of two and a half years and an infant of eight weeks. We have been wrapping our infant daughter since Day Two and she loves it, we love it, my toddler loves it. The wrap is a minor miracle. My daughter typically falls asleep within five minutes of being wrapped. If she is fussy, she calms down. The wrap enables me to interact with my son without worrying about the Babe, or if my son is sleeping or my husband is home, I can actually get something done around the house (like write this review). My husband uses the wrap and my babysitter uses the wrap now too. People stop me in public and ask about the wrap—amazed that I am able to carry my two children or that my daughter is content in such a variety of settings.

I tested two wraps for this review—the Sleepy Wrap and the Moby Wrap. At first glance, they are very similar. Both are long pieces of cloth with tapered ends that are designed to be wrapped around your body. The wrapping procedure can be a little daunting, but keep trying, watch videos online, and you’ll be a pro before you know it—probably because your child will demand your expertise! Both the Moby Wrap and the Sleepy Wrap come with great instruction manuals with detailed instructions and full color pictures. Both have carrying sacks that you can use to store your wrap (assuming you’ll ever want to take it off). Both wraps are machine washable and dryer safe—essential for any carrier that will be exposed to an infant prone to spitting up or diaper blowouts. Both wraps I tested were exposed to all sorts of stains and cleaned up great.

(more…)

I am thrilled that this series is back for another season—so cool to watch a free movie outdoors in downtown Providence. Films are shown every Thursday at dusk from June through September, weather permitting. The movie is projected on the side of the building across from Tazza (corner of Westminster Street and Union Street). Bring a blanket and some snacks or grab some food and drinks from nearby downtown eateries like Tazza or La Laterie to enjoy while you watch your favorite flicks under the stars.

Although some of these movies may be fun for the whole family, this event also makes for a great date night or mom’s night out.

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory plays June 25, the last day of school for Providence Public School children. This is one of my favorite kids’ films so I plan to celebrate the start of our summer vacation by watching this film with my family. Bring a blanket and join us!

Schedule:

June
6/4  Cinderella Man
6/11  Pirates of the Caribbean
6/18  The Sting
6/25  Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

July
7/2  Butch Cassidy and the Sundanace kid
7/9  Walk the Line
7/16  Ferris’ Bueller’s Day off
7/23  North by NorthWest
7/30  The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe

August
8/6  History of the World Part 1
8/13  Jaws 3-D
8/20  For your Eyes Only
8/27  Rainman

September
9/3  Wayne’s World
9/10  Cannonball Run
9/17  The Graduate
9/24  Sixteen Candles

By Jeanine Silversmith

In an effort to spend as much time outside this summer as is humanly possible, I’ve registered my family as a team in the Rhode Island Great Outdoors Pursuit, a free twelve-week contest that will have us decoding clues, discovering state parks throughout Rhode Island, and participating in fun activities and challenges—all for a chance to win prizes!

In combination with the 100 Year Anniversary of RI State Parks, this year’s RI Great Outdoors Pursuit challenge includes six guided family events and five self-guided events at state park and beach locations and runs from the last Sunday in May through the end of August. Where, you might ask? Well, that’s the fun of it. Although we know that on May 31, we’ll be enjoying a variety of activities like hiking, fishing, or participating in a scavenger hunt at Lincoln Woods State Park, we’ll have to look for clues to help us figure out which park to visit next. And the more parks we visit, the more credits we’ll receive, which increasing our odds of winning a cool prize at the grand finale event on August 23.

To play, all you need is a minimum two-member team (including one adult and one child under 18) and the desire to have a great time, all while discovering the beauty and activities in Rhode Island’s state parks and natural areas.

Don’t miss the fun! To learn more, visit the website.

Jeanine Silversmith is a self-described tree hugging, science and math geek whose love of nature, coupled with her absolute certainty that people, especially children, are happier, healthier, and wiser when they regularly spend time in nature, led her to establish Rhode Island Families in Nature.  She loves to run, garden, bake, hike, and go camping, especially when accompanied by her husband, Ian, her 3½-year-old daughter, Sierra, and her 1-year-old son, Devin.  They live in Warwick.