It's back to school time so I thought I would include some more back to school resources. I hope you find these helpful.
Back to School Bingo
I use this Back to School Bingo sheet each year just to tick off the things that need to happen before school goes back. You're probably all over this by now but just in case you're still organising back to school things, you can download the back to school bingo sheet here.
Getting back your school groove
Back to school brings change, and change can bring nerves, anxiety, disturbed sleep, and more. For both the kids and us. 🥰That’s why I work on getting our back to school groove happening.
Here’s what I’ve been doing.
✅had conversations about what veg & fruit in lunchboxes this term plus what mains are preferred.
✅worked out the school routine - what time Ril needs to be out of bed, dressed, breakfast etc, in order to be out the door to catch the bus.
✅practice making lunchboxes again. Agreed what days I will pack, what day Ril will pack his. (#itsnotallmyjob)
✅yesterday we started the wean off screens. Ril's been having more screen time than we usually allow. The research is clear that screens can be addictive, so we didn't want this to come to an abrupt stop.
📝Saturday we will practice the morning school routine to make sure he won’t miss the bus.
📝Monday will be the start of getting back into school sleep routine and Ril will pack his first lunchbox (Mondays and Thursdays will be his day to pack his lunches).
📝Tuesday we’ll start eating food at the same time as the bells at school. Normal school bedtime routine will commence.
School returns Friday for Ril. Hopefully the above actions will help him and the family transition back to school life with relative ease.
I spoke about this on my ABC Radio NSW segment on Tuesday in more detail.
You can tune into the segment or read the transcript here.
Back to school snack recipes
Let's just start with the simplest and most nutritious snacks. Vegetables and fruit. They contain incredible fibre that our gut needs, and they help keep our kids fuller for longer.
In my Lunchbox Reset and Thermo Lunchbox Reset Programs, I provide resources to help empower kids to choose their own staple vegetable and fruit snacks. My suggestion is if you don't already talk about vegetables and fruit as snacks, now is a good time to start. Serve them up alongside food that your children think of as snacks.
With that said, I also recognise that many kids are looking for other snacks too. Here are 3 of my favourite go to snacks that are easy to make, freeze well and are tried and tested with hundreds of children.
- Chocolate protein bliss balls
- Chewy caramel rice bar - think LCM but more nutritious.
- 3 ingredient biscuits - these aren't the most nutritious but the recipe makes a lot and you can make different flavours.