The Momavist

Celebrate Spring With a DIY Wreath! It has been a tough few weeks celebrating Norooz (Persian New Year) in quarantine, and with Easter and Mother's Day coming up, many might be in the same boat.  Thanks to Sarina's Persian school at Bahar Kids , we were able to put up a special and sentimental craft representing our holiday and spring. It is a wreath with mini versions of what we put on our Haftsin (7 S's) spread: colored eggs, Sombol (hyacinth) Sib (apple), Sabzeh (wheatgrass), Sekkeh (gold coins), Sir (garlic), Serkeh (vinegar), Samanu (wheat germ pudding), Somagh (sumaq).  I did not get to create the memory of making this special wreath with herm but we are going to keep it up on our wall for the entire season and then make a summer one with items that represent summer including Sarina's birthday! You can create one too for Easter, a wedding anniversary, Mother's day, a birthday or just for fun! There are plenty of options on Amazon and even

Easy & Delicious Vegan Donuts You Can Make With Kids! This super easy recipe from Tasty was to die for! Delicious and FUN! Kids LOVE playing with dough and getting creative with their own toppings! Just make sure hands are thoroughly washed and that you will have some time for cleanup as it can get a little messy.   Teaching Opportunities Mixing dough and creating the donut shapes is a great sensory activity. You can discuss the shape and consistency and develop their food prep skills i.e. if it's too sticky, it may not hold it's form well so you need to add a little flour.  Why do donuts have holes in them? Ask your child and see what they say! There are several theories but the most probable one is that since you fry them, the hole is needed to cook evenly. Otherwise, you'll have a cooked edge and partially cooked middle. Why Vegan?   My daughter and I are not vegan but my husband (her dad) has recently adopted a plant-based diet so we want

Teaching Kids About the Coronavirus: There is a middle ground between oversharing with children and completely sheltering them. Chances are that this pandemic and quarantined lifestyle has been an adjustment and many questions and possible meltdowns have already happened! There are great age appropriate resources out there to help kids understand what is going on. Pick what you know would work best for your child and adjust accordingly. I have shared my two favorite resources. Educators Naomi O'Brien of  @readlikearockstar  and LaNesha Tabb of  @Apron_Education  have put together a fantastic  e-book  explaining the virus with three activities you can do: Create a poster, Share your feelings and Write out a 20-second hand washing song. The poster my daughter created is above and the song we sing is "Do You Know the Muffin Man." Ways Sarina is staying safe: hand washing, eating healthy, taking vitamins, reading, and exercising at home Mind Heart has shar

What is Diffusion?  Diffusion is the passive movement of molecules (solutes) so that they spread evenly into the available space. Solutes move from high concentration to low concentration (this is called moving down the concentration gradient).  Why is diffusion important? This is how substances, like oxygen, cross cell membranes. Diffusion is awesome! Try it! Place Skittles on a plate in a circle. Pour warm water over them. Wait. Age Group: pre-k to 8th grade. How Does Water Get From the Soil to the Leaves of a Plant? Transpiration! Root pressure pulls water up through the xylem (this type of movement in response to pressure is called a bulk flow. It is much faster than diffusion!) all the way to the leaves. Water is lost at the leaves and replaced by more water from the roots.  To see the process of transpiration in action you'll need: 1 celery stalk with leaves Glass of water Food coloring of your choice Cut the end off the cel

I am Iranian-American and fluently speak, read and write Persian and it is very important that my daughter know my language and culture. When she was a baby I would begin every morning showing her Dino Lingo flashcards and saying the word out loud. I would use the same categories every day for a few days. As  she has gotten older and is more surrounded by English, it has become more difficult to get her to speak it back to me. I have heard similar stories from other bilingual parents about their children understanding the language but responding in English. Here is a game Sarina has really gotten excited about called, "Is there a ______ in Sarina's (or Mommy's, Daddy's etc.) bag?" We wrote it out  phonetically in English so she could "teach" her dad who is not a Persian speaker and listed out the articles of clothing. That extra teaching element made her more excited to practice and master her speaking skills. The best part about this is that

"Marshmallow Math" is a game we created using some leftover and rather stale, extra large marshmallows that I felt my daughter would find exciting but not want to eat. It's been a hit and she has requested to play it everyday since. You can use anything your child would enjoy that won't create a health concern. Grapes are also a fave, just be careful if you have a dog! We work on addition and subtraction to find who ate more marshmallows. She has her stack of 10 and I have mine. I let her pick how many she "wants to eat" and we go back and forth like that until we see who has fewer left. "Who Ate More Marshmallows?" Example Sarina has 10 marshmallows and she eats 4 how many does she have left? 10 - 4 = 6. Mommy has 10 and eats 3. 10 - 3 = 7. Sarina now has 6 and eats 2. 6 - 2 = 4. Mommy now has 7 and eats 2. 7 - 2 = 5. Sarina now has 4 and eats 1 more. 4 - 1 = 3. Mommy now has 5 and has a tummy ache and is done. 5 - 0 = 5. Sa