Disclaimer: If your child suffers from severe peanut allergy, then do not attempt the following activities!
Who doesn't love peanut butter? The peanut isn't really a nut at all, but a legume, like peas, beans, and lentils. Peanut butter is health-food: it is high in protein, fiber, and important micro-nutrients like vitamins E and B3, and minerals such as iron, magnesium, potassium, copper and calcium. With all the great health benefits from peanut butter, it's a shame that it is often designated as "kids food".
This month, teach your child about making healthy food choices, and unless he has an allergy to it, make sure peanut butter is near the top of the list. Warning: do NOT do these activities with any child who has a peanut allergy!
Make Your Own Peanut Butter
This can be so simple, you'll wonder why you've never made it before! You can make it more nutritious by using raw peanuts still in their skins, or more tasty by using roasted, unsalted peanuts. You'll add salt to taste, but salted peanuts are too salty for a good butter.
Put two cups of peanuts in a blender. Add a tablespoon of olive oil, and about a 1/4 teaspoon of salt, more or less. Blend until smooth and creamy. Store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator. (A good rule of thumb - if it doesn't spoil at room temperature, then it probably isn't good for you. Commercial peanut butters have been hydrogenated to increase their shelf-life, which can raise cholesterol levels.)
That's it! Home-made peanut butter! Try making "butters" with almonds, cashews, and macadamia nuts, as well. The method is the same.
You can get fancy and try adding melted chocolate or honey or cinnamon to your peanut butter. Use your imagination! Let your child suggest a few combinations as well, although spinach-peanut butter might not make the top ten list.
Grow a Peanut Plant
If you live where the growing season is at least 130 days, you may be able toplant peanuts in your garden. If not, try growing a few peanut seeds in a flower pot that you transfer to the patio when the weather warms. Lay a few peanut seeds in a wet paper towel, roll it up and store in a dark place for a few days. Then take it out and examine the tiny plant inside the seed. Pull a seed apart and examine with a magnifying glass.
Peanut Sensory Play
Dump several bags of peanuts in their shells into the sensory table. Let child play with them, bury small toys in them, crack the shells and eat the nuts inside, and leave the empty shells in the sensory table. As the empty shells begin to outnumber the filled ones, the play becomes more of a treasure hunt! You can add to the hunt experience by burying small, wrapped peanut butter cups in the peanuts.
Peanut Butter Snacks
- There are hundreds of ways to serve peanut butter; don't let your preschooler get stuck in the PB&J rut. Here are few, simple recipes to get you going.
- Ants on a log: Stuff celery with peanut butter, and arrange several raisins on top of the peanut butter.
- Peanut Butter Apples: Slice apples, set a dollop of peanut butter on the plate and arrange apple slices around the dollop like petals on a flower.
- Peanut Butter Crackers - vary the cracker. Try Ritz, Grahams, Saltines, or Animal Crackers.
- Peanut Butter Popcorn
- Peanut Butter Dip (for fruit slices): one tbsp peanut butter stirred into 5 oz of vanilla yogurt. Add a bit of honey or cinnamon to taste.
Edible Play Dough
There is a fun, simple play dough made by mixing equal parts of peanut butter, honey, and non-fat dry milk. If it's too sticky, add a bit more dry milk. If too dry, add more honey. Let your child play with this, with rolling pins, cookie cutters, or cleaned playdough toys. Safe to eat, as long as your child began with washed hands. Store any uneaten "play dough" in the refrigerator. You can use this recipe to make a yummy snack, as well. Roll the dough into one-inch balls, then roll in shredded coconut, or wheat germ, or powdered sugar. Chill and eat.
Peanut Toss Game
Collect five containers all the same - like small empty coffee cans. Tape the edge of the can, if it might be sharp. Decorate the cans, then number them from one to five. Glue one peanut on the outside of the "one" can, and two peanuts on the "two" can, to help your child learn the numbers. The object of the game is to toss only two peanuts into the two can, one peanut into the one can, and five peanuts into the five can, and so forth. This activity helps develop large muscles, coordination, counting, and sportsmanship. Enjoy it with your child, and know that playing isn't all fun and games. Play is a child's work.
Feed the Elephants
Does your zoo allow you to feed peanuts to the elephants? Some zoos do, although often only during the summer. But even if you can't feed the elephants, a trip to the zoo is a great activity for any preschooler. While there, help your child discover some of the healthy foods animals eat that people also eat. Gorillas and people like bananas, elephants and people like peanuts. Some animals eat food people cannot eat, though. Birds can eat berries that would make people sick.
Seeds Mosaic
Fill an empty egg carton with a variety of seeds, like shelled, raw peanuts, dry beans, rice, sunflower seeds, and more. Give him some glue and a piece of sturdy cardboard. Show him how to drizzle a bit of glue, then stick on seeds. Allow picture to dry flat. Talk with your child about the different sizes and shapes of seeds.
Sorting Peanuts
Add some peanuts in the shell to a bowl of mixed nuts. Have your child sort them. Sorting requires the child to notice "same" and "different" — two important skills for later reading. After all, there isn't much difference between a b, d, p, or q. Children need to notice the little things.
Read A Great Story
George Washington Carver, the Peanut Wizard, by Laura Driscoll
Peanut Butter and Jelly, by Nadine Bernard Westcott
Pee Wee Scouts: Peanut Butter Pilgrims, by Judy Delton
I'm Your Peanut-Butter Big Brother, by Selina Alko
Peanut Butter and Jelly Prayers by Julie B. Sevig
P is for Peanut, a Photographic ABC, by Lisa Gelber
All of these stories can be found at most online retailers or from their publishers' websites, if they are not in your library. All have received a five-star rating from parents who own them.
A note about peanut allergies:
Did you know that peanut allergies do not exist in countries that do not consume genetically altered foods, also known as GMOs (genetically modified organisms)? For more information, read "Genetically Modified Foods Pose Potential Health Risk".
Sources:
National Peanut Butter Lovers Day Accessed February 24, 2011.
Peanut Butter, Spreading America's Most Loved Spread Accessed February 24, 2011.
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