Wednesday Baby & Me Walks @ Queens Quay!

We're excited to partner with our friends at Lick It Gelato at
250 Queens Quay, who have invited momstown to join in free
Baby & Me Walks on Wednesday at 10:30am each week.
Perfect summer stroll!

Sandra, an owner at Lick It Gelato is an early childhood educator and child resource consultant and is also offering Wednesday walkers a discount on coffee, lunch and treats.

Yum yum yum.  Seriously, just look at this scrumptious gelato at the shop!  The pear and salted caramel are my favourites. Coffee is delicious too.

See you on Wednesday mornings!

Get more info on our calendar of events and sign up for momstown Toronto membership here

Alphabet Play - Let's Start with the Letter "A"

We had a blast at our first Toronto Alphabet Play today!

Lots of words start with "A" - like apple, animals, airplane, so it was a fun place to start.  Join us each month as we work through letters of the alphabet.

 Here's how you can have some Alphabet Play fun with the letter "A":

Any great Alphabet Play session starts with the ABC song, of course..

Show the letter "A", see if kids can identify it

Identify any kids who's names start with "A"

Talk about words that start with "A"

Start drawing some pictures based on those words and see if you can turn them into stories.

Name characters in the pictures/stories with "A" names

In normal conversation, stop to point out words you've said that
start with "A" - again, and, also, age, adult

"A" Words for Pre-schoolers

• apple
• ants
• airplane
• art
• animals
• arm
• ankle
• ambulance
• astronaut
• alligator
• arrow
• apron

 Awesome...that's an "a" word too!

 Have Fun!

The Toxic Ten Ingredients to Watch For In Personal Care Products

Every week we see new messages about research studies highlighting what is and isn't harmful to us these days.  What isn't always available are easy, clear specifics about ingredients that help us make real world choices when selecting the products we use for ourselves and our families.

Enter Environmental Defence's Just Beautiful campaign, which highlight The Toxic Ten - the top 10 ingredients they recommend we try to avoid in personal care products (cosmetics, moisturizers, hair care, soaps, etc).

Make your own Bubbles!

Bubble bubble bubble!  That's a favourite chant in our family.  Bubbles are such a fun, easy activity that everyone can enjoy.

Eager little hands are often prone to spilling brand new bottles of bubble liquid though, so to avoid disappointment and ensure a steady supply, we've learned to make our own.

Here's a very simple formula:

1 cup water

2 tbsp dishwashing soap (like Dawn)

1 tbsp light corn syrup 

*The light corn syrup helps make the bubbles stronger/last longer.  In a pinch you can do it without the corn syrup, but the bubbles won't be as good.  

*If you want to make even better bubbles, replace the corn syrup with the same ratio of glycerin (you can find bottles at most pharmacies not expensive either since a bottle will make a whole lot of bubble solution over the summer)

Mix together well, but not so hard that it gets overly sudsy.

Let the mixture sit a couple of hours if possible.  Not required, but produces better results.

Experiment & Enjoy!  

Different water and different brands of dishsoap may result in different results, so play around with the mixture to find what works best for you.  Bubbles don't form?  Add a bit more soap.  Won't last?  Add a bit more corn syrup.

Other Bubble Tips

• Keep your homemade bubble solution in an easy pour jar or a juice jug with a spout - easy to refill small store-bought bottles.
• Store all your bubble supplies, wands, etc in a lunch bag. Easy to wipe clean any spills or sticky residue, and kids love having their very own special bubble kit for easy transport to the park!

Roots of Empathy Elementary School Program Seeking Mom Volunteers in Toronto

This great program came to our attention today, and we wanted to help by spreading the word about their need for Mom & Baby volunteers to participate in their 2013/2014 program.

Roots of  Empathy are seeking parents, whose babies will be between 2 and 4 months of age in October that may be interested in volunteering to participate in the program as instructors.