Eat Healthy! (Learning and Living the Gospel)

For this activity, we talked about the importance of being healthy. I was actually pretty impressed with what the girls already knew. We started with talking about "my plate". It's no longer the food guide pyramid, but this. I actually like this much better, especially for kids to know what they should be eating.

                                                        

Then we went thru two other "10 tips" from this website: http://www.choosemyplate.gov/index.html. These were the two I chose to go over. My first vision of this activity was to make a few healthy snacks that the girls could go home and make themselves. I think by giving them some general guidelines and then some snack ideas, we were able to accomplish that.

• http://www.choosemyplate.gov/food-groups/downloads/TenTips/DGTipsheet1ChooseMyPlate.pdf
• http://www.choosemyplate.gov/food-groups/downloads/TenTips/DGTipsheet11KidFriendlyVeggiesAndFruits.pdf

After going over the information from the choosemyplate website, the girls were able to pick a few things from Sister Thomas's garden. We talked about some of the healthiest things for us to eat are FRESH fruits and veggies... and you don't get much fresher than right from the ground! (we also talked about frozen being better for you than canned, and steaming veggies in as little water as possible to keep more nutrients)

 Then with some of the veggies from the garden and some we got from the store beforehand, we used my juicer (Yes...I watched the movie "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead" and immediately got a juicer) to make some yummy juice! We used apples, carrots, spinach and some peaches. The girls loved it. We only had enough juice for each of the girls to try, but they all wanted more :)

Dive into pool safety (Developing Talents)

Each year since I've been doing activity days, we have a pool day and the girls just LOVE it. I used to be a lifeguard and swim teacher so naturally, I love the pool too. We spend the first part of it talking about pool safety and then the second part letting the girls play and do whatever they want. This year we must have scheduled poorly cause not many girls could make it... it was a little more fun and less instruction. Here are a few of the pool safety things I did go over:

• If you ever see someone drowning and you cannot touch the bottom, DO NOT go in after them. No matter how nice of a person they are, they will use you as a floatation device. What you do is throw something to them... right next to them so they can grab on. In a situation where you have something you can reach to them and pull them to the side, you get on your stomach by the pool deck and then reach it to them so they don't pull hard and you end up in the pool. The girls practiced saving each other a few times
• We talked about the importance of knowing how to float. If they were ever stranded in water... the best way to save energy is to float. First we had them jump in the pool from the side and then get onto thier backs. Then since they all have younger siblings I told them to go home and teach thier younger siblings to do that. Then we had a floating contest.
• Last year I went into a little bit of CPR and rescue breathing... this year I could tell they just weren't in the mood. Bottom line: always get help from 911... especially around a pool deck. Then here are the basics: If someone isn't breathing and they have a pulse, they need rescue breathing. If they aren't breathing and they don't have a pulse, they need CPR. The American Red Cross and take it from here.

Then the girls had races, I helped them a little with thier strokes :)

If you are feeling particularly excited for this activity like me... you can send out invitations, found HERE.