Upcoming Wildwood Workshops

Are you looking for an opportunity to learn about nutrition for children, mingle with your peers, and earn some continuing education hours?  The newest Wildwood workshop, "Scrumptious Snacks and Marvelous Meals" will be offered on Thursday, August 12 at the Denver County Association Meeting.  This meeting will be held at 7 pm at the Salem United Church of Christ at 5300 E. Florida Ave, Denver 80224.  Additionally, the workshop will be presented on Wednesday, September 22 at the Jefferson County Association Meeting at 8 pm. The address for that meeting is the Clement Community Center at 1580 Yarrow Street in Lakewood. 

This workshop is full of tips for serving healthy meals and snacks to the children in your care.  If you attend, you will also receive lots of recipes and menu ideas.  This workshop will be offered throughout the state during the next year.   If neither of these locations is close to you, keep watching for more dates, or call your program rep. to see when a workshop will be offered in your area!

Choking Prevention Poster

I just uploaded a new resource to the Wildwood website.  The "Prevent Childhood Choking" poster is now available in the "forms and documents" section of our website.  This poster was developed by the National SAFE KIDS Campaign and the International Food Information Council Foundation.  It is a colorful poster that would be great to post in your childcare home or even to pass out to the parents of children in your care.  I am continuously amazed at how many parents are unaware of foods that can be choking hazards for young children!

More Web Resources

If you are a Denver Post subscriber, you may have noticed that a nutritional website developed by a Boulder company is in the running for a prize from Michelle Obama's campaign to fight childhood obesity.  The website, ZisBoomBah.com, is the only entry from Colorado to make it into the finals in the "Apps for Healthy Kids" competition (which is part of the Let's Move! campaign started by Michelle Obama). 

ZisBoomBah is a free website that is aimed at kids ages 9-12.  Kids can design their own meals by dragging and dropping foods onto their plate.  Once they have filled up their plate, they can "Add It Up" and various meters rate the nutritional value of the foods chosen.  My kids liked this aspect because it allowed them to see the nutritional value of the choices that they made. The website also has nutrition videos, recipes, and kids can even email the meals they have created to their parents. 

If you want to check out some more of the nutrition websites that are in the running in the "Apps for Healthy Kids" competition click here.  There are some other contenders which also offer nutrition games for kids.  Additionally, this link will allow you to vote for your favorite one after July 14.