momstown Kids take a Trip Around the World to Japan!

Konichiwa!

Our momstown Milton mamas and tots had a great time traveling to Japan at our Trip Around the World program.

We started off talking about the Japanese language.  We learned that the word "konichiwa" means hello, and looked at how the word is written.  We first looked at the English word "hello' and the children identified the letters.  Then we looked at the Japanese word "konichiwa".  We learned that Japanese characters are different from the abc's that we use in the English language.  Next, we watched a short segment of Japanese Sesame Street so that we could hear how speaking the language sounds.  I think the kids were surprised to see Elmo speaking Japanese!

We then talked about the flag of Japan.  Our travellers identified that the flag was made up of a red circle and a white rectangle.  Japan is also known as "the land of the rising sun", and the red circle represents this.  We all made a flag - a very quick craft!

 

After the flag, we talked about the delicious food that comes from Japan.  There are so many great dishes, however I chose to focus on sushi.  We talked about the different ingredients that go into sushi - the special rice, the nori (seaweed), and the filling - we chose avocado, cucumber, and yams.  Our World travellers had a chance to taste some nori.  A hit with some, but not for all!

 

The children were interested to see sushi being made.  Once the sticky rice was spread over the nori, the sweet potato was added.  Using a sushi mat, I rolled it up and voila!  Sushi!

Everyone was invited to try some rolls, and received a small amount of soy sauce on their plates for dipping.

Once we were all finished with the yummy sushi, we talked about origami, a popular activity for Japanese children.  We made simple hats.  This could easily be done with a sheet of newspaper for party hats, pirate fun, or a rainy day activity.  Our hats were about the right size for a doll, or for an adorable baby!

We headed to the back yard where everyone was given a colourful origami boat to float in the pool!  This was a hit with the kids!  Making a boat is really easy.  Our boats floated, but didn't last too long in the water!  The boats falling apart in the water was also very entertaining for our little travellers, so no one seemed to mind when boats started sinking and falling apart!  

It was a wonderful morning.  Thanks to everyone for coming out, and thank you to all the brave travellers who tried sushi for the first time today!  Sayonara!

To learn more about what momstown Milton is all about - Click Here

To register for a 6 week FREE trial membership - Click Here
 

If you are a business that would like to sponsor our events or advertise with us please contact info.milton@momstown.ca

 

Submitted by Paula Porter, a momstown Milton member and

 mother of two amazing girls.

momstown Milton Little Scientists Explore the World of Birds!

Our momstown Milton mamas and kids had fun exploring the world of birds at our Little Scientist program recently!  I think it is safe to say that we are all breathing a sigh of relief that warmer weather is on the way.  After a long winter it is exciting to celebrate the return of Spring, and we are always happy to see the robins return to our back yards!

We had a big group of Little Scientists, and we started off by talking about what makes a bird, a bird!  The kids had many ideas about what a bird is!  We narrowed down their ideas to a couple of traits that all birds share:  Birds have feathers covering their bodies; and birds are hatched from eggs. 

I asked the group: “Do all birds fly?”.  Our smart little ones knew that all birds do not fly.  We talked about how all birds can walk, most can fly, and that some can even swim.

We read a book about birds called Sparrow, Eagle, Penguin and Seagull – What is a Bird? by Brian P. Cleary.

After the book, we talked about how Spring is nesting time for birds, and how they are very hungry after migrating back from their warmer winter homes.   Our Little Scientists got busy making pinecone bird feeders to bring home and hang outside in their back yards. 

Moms helped tie strings onto the pinecones (less messy to tie it on BEFORE the peanut butter and bird seed is applied).

Everyone had fun using butter knives to spread peanut butter on their pinecones.

 Once the peanut butter was spread on, the kids took turns shaking their pinecones in a Ziploc bag half filled with birdseed.

Voila!  A wonderful treat for our feathered friends!

After our bird feeders, our Little Scientists worked on colouring a Bird Watching list.  This was a page filled with birds that our little ones will see in our area – robin, chickadee, blue jay, cardinal, duck, goose, etc.  We named each bird and looked at a photo of each bird.  They enjoyed colouring the birds, and all were excited to start looking for the different birds as they left for home.

Thank you all for coming out to the Little Scientist group today!  See you next time!

To learn more about what momstown Milton is all about - Click Here

To register for a 6 week FREE trial membership - Click Here

If you are a business that would like to sponsor our events or advertise with us please contact info.milton@momstown.ca

 

Submitted by Paula Porter, a momstown Milton member and

 mother of two children.

  

What our Milton moms LOVE about being a member of momstown

Momstown is a great place to meet new people and connect with your community.  Any mom who has been a part of momstown Milton will tell you how great it is and how much they love it.  After all, where else can you go and get fun arts and crafts classes, cooking classes, holiday parties and so much more for just $45 a year?   I know that without momstown, I wouldn’t have gotten out of the house as much as I did when I was on mat leave.  My kids have made some new lifelong friends and I feel I have too. 

We posted the question on our message board to our moms “What do you LOVE about momstown?“ 

Here is what some of them had to say.

1. Friends:

“The awesome friends I made, I hardly knew anyone until I had Caleb and now I've a great group of girls that I call friends.”

“A member for over 3 years and I love that there was/is a group of ladies that have been or are going through the same challenges of being a mom that you can lean on. momstown was there to pull me out of the house when Ethan was 3 months old, when Kaiya was 6 weeks....and will be there when #3 arrives to get me out, connected and build friendships not only for myself but for my kids too”

2. Mom’s Night Out (MNO):

“The MNO is one of my fave events. It is the perfect break that all moms need.”

"Totally needed that night out. Thanks for the amazing company and fun evening ladies! Can't believe I got home passed midnight!"

"It was perfect!  I soooooooo needed that. Can't wait for the next one!"

3. Calendar Events:

“For me, it's all the great activities on the calendar. I love seeing how my little one's react in different places/ playgroups/toys etc.. I've also learned about the different resources -businesses/ kid friendly programs in Milton

4. Family Events:

“And dad likes the family events! He really likes getting a chance to learn what is available in town for programs or activities, that's been a HUGE thing for us with the events.”


"We had a super fantastic time yesterday! Sam - kudos to you for everything! Hubby is still talking about what an amazing job you did"

5. Momstown Owner:

“There's this pretty cool mom leading the group, she loves getting to know the moms and their kids, and she can talk over everyone at group events so you don't miss what's being said.... ha ha”

"I joined Momstown this past June and honestly, it is one of the best decisions that I've ever made since moving to Milton almost 1 year ago. Momstown has an incredible network of supportive women who understand that while being a mama is the best job, it's also the hardest. I'm so grateful for the caring community that Sam has fostered through momstown Milton. Today was a really great memory and I know there are many more to come!"

6. Keeps me Sane:

“Being a momstown member has helped to save my sanity. Having 3 kids under 4, I needed the adult conversations and escape from our house to a new environment.”

7. Support:

“When I have a problem, I know I can post something on the message board and at least one of the other moms will have a suggestion to help me”

“I like the vent thread on the message board.  It’s nice to know there are other moms who understand where I am coming from.”

8. Mom to Mom sale:

"What a great way to help other moms find items they are looking for."

9. Great Discounts around town and on-line:

"I love taking advantage of all of the amazing discounts that being a momstown member offers. All I have to do is flash my card around town and save tons of money! "

10. Weekend and Evening Events:

"I like that my kids and I can still be included in events even though I have returned to work."

 

Want to be a part of this amazing community?

Register here for your FREE Trial and come out and meet these incredible mamas!!

This Blog was written by Angela Hickman - mother of 2, momstown Milton member and blogger - Mommy TimeOut.

 

Fun with Fruit

This month our momstown Milton junior chefs had the opportunity to have fun with fruit by assembling fruit kabobs with dip. Our instructor Mary-Anne started off the program by stressing the importance of kitchen safety and demonstrating to the kids how to carefully spear the fruit onto the wooden skewers.




After the safety lesson was completed, we spent some time identifying each of the fruits that were cubed on the trays before us. What a tasty variety! The kids could hardly wait to get started. They were each given their own skewer and began to pierce each cube with parental supervision. It was a simple yet challenging task for our youngsters that helped to build on developing their fine motor skills. You can see the intense look of focus and concentration on their faces and how proud they were as they completed the task!





Once the skewers were completed, the dipping began. There was carmel, chocolate, vanilla yogurt and coconut to choose from. Most of us could not make a decision so we settled on sampling all of them! What a decedent, healthy treat!





Want to catch a glimpse of what we're up to in the kitchen next month? Register for our 6 week FREE trial membership and join us for the next momstown cooking adventure!

How to build a Sandcastle

Our little ones visited Indigo Milton yesterday for our Children's book club.The momstown themed curriculum was At the Beach this month so we focused on all that the beach has to offer. We started off with our craft which focused on how to build a sandcastle. The tots had a great time with this tactile experience and even our youngest members dove right in to give it a try.






After we finished constructing our castles, we assembled for circle time. We sang songs about creatures you would find in the ocean. A few of the favourites were Five Little Fishes in the Sea,Fish in the Sea and Five Little Shells.





We were then ready to read our feature book "The Sandcastle Contest". This is a classic tale from Robert Munsch and the kids absolutely adored it! If you've never read the book here is a summary of what it is all about. At the end of the program we were able to give away a copy of the book to our lucky winners Alexandra and Gabriella courtesy of Scholastic Canada!






Sign up now for next months Children's book club where will be focusing on Making Music!