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    First, a story about me! I used to be a substitute teacher.  I have even written a post about what a great job it is for a mother, which you can read here.   Quite often I did long term positions, when a teacher had to be away for an extended period.  Those times were usually in the primary grades,k-3.  While I was teaching these young children, I learned a few tricks and techniques, one of which I am going to share with you today.  It has to do with coloring! But before I share my trick, let's find out why kids should color.
  I have heard some people wonder why coloring is something that children need to do in school.  Can it really be considered educational, or is it just fun?  I am here to tell you that coloring for children is a very important step in their education and development and you should start your children coloring as soon as they can hold a crayon.  (Just monitor them and keep them away from walls!)  Here are some of the reasons why coloring is important: 

• Coloring helps strengthen a young child's grip, preparing them to hold a pencil correctly and to have hand strength for many other tasks in life. 
• Coloring helps children develop their fine motor skills.  They become more coordinated as they learn to manipulate that crayon. Coloring also aids in hand-eye coordination.
• Coloring helps a child learn to focus on the task at hand.  If they start young enough, they will begin to lengthen the amount of time that they will spend concentrating on finishing their picture.  (I'll share how I helped young children focus better in a minute.)
• When  children color, they begin to become more creative.  They must choose colors.  Even though they are learning to stay in the lines, which will help with writing later on, they can make creative choices for their project. When a child finishes a coloring project and is praised, it builds his or her self esteem.
• Early aged coloring can be a great way for a child to learn their colors. Sometimes the coloring my be a color by number sheet or other code.  These can help with learning numbers and problem solving.
• Learning to stay in the lines helps a child to learn boundaries and why sometimes those boundaries must be followed for the desired results. So, the child must learn self control.  They also learn when it is okay to change the boundaries.  For example, adding a sun or flowers to a picture of a house is perfectly acceptable.  Sometimes it is a great idea to ask children to add something more to a picture, making it their own.
• Coloring is calming and stress relieving.​​
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Color with your children! The Trick I used to Help Kids Focus.

    When I was teaching, I used this simple trick that would help children to settle down and color. It also helped me to keep control of a class of many children who may have wanted to play around rather than sit and color their work.
    Most of the time, the children would be sitting at tables or in groups of desks together.  If they had a coloring project that they were supposed to be working on, I would tell them that I was going to be coloring with them.  I was looking for the group that was coloring the most quietly and getting their work done. Then, I chose one group and joined them for a little while. After a couple of minutes, I would move to another group.  The children loved to have me sit and color with them.  They would all get so quiet.  I would go to a group and politely ask if I could borrow a certain color of crayon to color my picture with.  Then I would talk to them in whispers  about the things we were coloring as we did the work.  They would watch me color and compliment my work.  I would tell them little tricks for staying in the lines and model how the work was to be done.  After a couple of minutes, with the rest of the class anxiously waiting for their turn, I would move on to another group.  At times I would go back to a group where I had already been if they were doing particularly well.  This technique worked like a charm to get even those who disliked coloring to stay on task.  If someone got silly or loud, the rest of their group would remind them that they wanted a turn to color with me. I usually didn't have to say anything except give compliments on how well they were all doing. 

    This trick can work even if you have only one child. Having a parent, (or grandparent),  color with them will encourage children to stay on task longer and this in turn helps them learn to focus on what they are doing.  Also, coloring together can be a great way to bond with your child.  Find out what their favorite color is! Ask them why they chose that particular picture to color.   My 21 month old granddaughter will color with me twice as long than she will on her own.  And, she already knows all of her colors! Currently, her favorite color is blue.  She likes to reach over and color on my page, too, but I don't mind! Ha ha.

    Now a story about my mom!

When I was young, I remember my mom coloring in our coloring books.  She used to like to take the pages that had a little scribble on them and "fix" them so that they looked beautiful.  She later told me and my siblings that coloring was a way that she relieved stress when she was feeling particularly worried over something.  
    Well, it turns out that my mother knew a thing or two about relieving stress.  Coloring for adults is  a therapeutic way to relieve stress and to help them focus on the task at hand rather than worry about things out of their control.  Many behavioral health units have coloring pages for their patients  to help them relax and de-stress.  This is also why adult coloring books have become so popular today. Coloring in a picture may not replace a therapist, but it really can calm some frazzled nerves! 

    Finally, coloring together gets your faces away from electronic devices and allows everyone to spend some time together creating something beautiful without even being an artist!  And, coloring supplies are inexpensive and plentiful! Here are some of the supplies that I found at Dollar Tree today! 

    I like coloring books because they keep all of the art work contained in a book, rather than having pages scattered everywhere!  But, if you would like, you can find coloring pages to print off with your printer and the cost will only be your ink!   There are some Nay Sayers out there who don't approve of coloring books, but I have read their arguments.  I don't believe that they have addressed all of the reasons  given that encourage coloring as educational, beneficial and worth staying within the lines!  
    The final reason to color together with your kids is that coloring pictures of your favorite characters or beautiful designs can be fun and stress free!  So, for Fun Friday, take some time with your kids and do some coloring!  It will be rewarding for all! 

If you want more than my word for it, here are some other sources that encourage coloring that you may want to check out! 

Journal Art Therapy Journal of the American Art Therapy Association

 The OT Toolbox https://www.theottoolbox.com/benefits-of-coloring-with-crayons-fine-motor-visual-perception/
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https://www.childrenscenterforgrowth.com/2014/11/02/the-benefits-of-coloring/

https://www.beaumont.org/health-wellness/blogs/health-benefits-of-coloring-for-adults

If your kids are really young and you worry about your walls, here are some really good alternatives! 

This post contains affiliate links. I will be compensated for purchased made through those links at no additional cost to you. All views expressed are my own. Thank you for your support!

,    The Banana Split was created back in the early 1900's by a soda fountain worker in a Pharmacy in Pennsylvania.  I'll be that young worker had no idea that it would still be a thing that people associate with decadent ice cream treats even today, in the 21st century. Nor could he have known that there would be an actual day to celebrate this delicious concoction! Thank you David Stickler for your creativity! 
     A banana split seems like a perfect way to have some fun this weekend, especially in the boiling hot weather that we have been having here in Phoenix.  Originally, since I was have a few of my grandchildren over, I thought I would try to find some banana split bowls.  You know, the oblong shaped ones that will accommodate the long banana.  But, I had no luck with the stores that I went to.  Then, I found this overly large one at Dollar Tree, and I thought to myself that sharing a big banana split would be even more fun!  Besides, since my grandchildren are very small, I figured it was better to get them small, cute cups for ice cream and my husband and I could share the big banana split together!  It worked out perfectly.  As a matter of fact, you could have more than 2 people sharing out of this bowl! 

    Today it seems like people might put any flavor or ice cream and toppings on top of a banana and call it a banana split.  But, there really is a traditionally "correct" way to build one.  Watch the slide show as I show you how we built ours! Don't forget that a really good ice cream scoop is a wonder to use.  I love mine from Pampered Chef.

    Even if the kids don't want an entire banana split, (mine didn't), they loved choosing their ice cream and toppings!  Maybe you would rather go less traditional and come up with your own version of this classic treat.  What flavors do you love putting together?  There are sure a lot more choices than there were when the banana split was invented!  How ever you do it, enjoy banana split day this weekend! 

Look!  I found these cute banana split bowls on Amazon! 

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    I have a fondness for fondue dinners.  It all started back when my husband was stationed in Germany and we went to a church party at a Major's home, who was a member or our congregation.  They had a really nice quarters, and they hosted this fondue party.  It was so much fun.  There were several kinds of fondue, a large assortment of things to dip, plus other appetizers.  We all walked around the table multiple times just talking and eating as we stood for a while, and then filling our plates and talking and enjoying ourselves even more.  That party was the perfect mix of food and people.  I have tried to replicate it, but haven't really come close.  But, my love of fondue, partly because of my memory of that party, has not waned.  
    Now that school is back in for many, a special fun dinner is just the ticket for a family to de-stress and just enjoy some time together. Maybe you can create a long lasting memory of your own.  Fondue is fun with a lot of people enjoying it, and also just for 2 or 3!  Maddy is vegan, so she won't be eating the cheese and chocolate fondues with my husband and I tonight, but she can join in with many of the dippers and use some vegan dressings as a dip.  There are always options. 
     For a family get together, a great idea is to have a larger variety of fondues and assign lots of things to dip.  I like to give everyone a little cup to hold their fondue in on their plate, instead of them doing multiple dippings back into the pot.  That protects everyone from double dippers! If you don't have enough fondue forks, you can use skewers or just regular forks.  

    I know that the word "fondue" might sound intimidating, but it means "melted" and virtually everything goes! You can use many different kinds of cheese, hot oil for cooking thin cuts of meat right in the pot, savory sauces, like a marinara.  For dessert, chocolate is always a favorite, but you can do caramel or marshmallow and for dippers you are only limited by your imagination. 

    I am sharing 2 recipes with you today.  One is a main course or even an appetizer. The other is a dessert.  
     First, a goat cheese fondue that you will love! 

Goat Cheese Fondue

    For dipping I simply used things I already had on hand, pan grilled chicken chunks, zucchini, carrots, french bread.  You could also use crackers, peppers and any veggies you would like. 

    For dessert, Chocolate Fondue! This recipe whips up in no time. 

​Simple And Delicious Chocolate Fondue

    If you don't already have a fondue pot, I am sharing some links to some here.  Do you have any fondue memories?  How about recipes or favorite things to dip?  Share with us in the comments!