Mary Manz Simon's Blog, page 35

K is for Kindness

Kindness is catching.

At least that’s the premise of the latest multimedia campaign from Sesame Workshop.

Becoming more tolerant and understanding is at the heart of the K is for Kindness campaign.

In the children’s space, we often talk about trends that downage, but perhaps this “kindness” theme can up-age.

Babies and books

Young and very young children lead the good news in Scholastic’s sixth edition of their Kids & Family Reading Report.

More than three-quarters of parents read aloud to their child before the age of one; nearly half begin with three-month olds.

Data breaks out for African-American and Hispanic families. An interesting read. Click link:

http://www.scholastic.com/readingreport/

Milk alternatives

White milk, chocolate milk and water are still the primary drinks in school cafeterias, but that might be changing.

Now that coconut water has started an entire new product category, more plant waters are sure to follow.

It’s interesting to consider that the next generation of school children might grow up guzzling aloe water and maple water.

Clean soup

Each time I see the Campbell’s “Well Yes!” on the shelf with the “clean” label, I feel guilty that I’ve been eating dirty food (including those classic red labeled Campbell’s soups) all my life.

Toy Fair takeaways

People are always interested to hear the latest from Toy Fair, the big annual show that showcases the newest playthings and previews upcoming product releases. The convention is held annually in New York City.

This year, one of my takeaways was the affordability of some really neat tech toys. Drones are becoming affordable. Now we need to decide who should have them and how they should be used in public places. And a really neat 3-D printer will have a suggested retail price of $59.99. That’s a wow!

Another trend was the downaging of coding. As an early childhood educator, I wonder how young is too young. Coding for three year olds? You heard it here…but also hear my underlying question…

Pulses push on

The International Year of Pulses is over, but soup season means dried beans, lentils and peas continue to be front and center on winter menus.

Dips continue to be the most popular way to get kids to eat nutrient-packed pulses. Even now that lunches are getting “tired” after so many school days, it’s still smart to let kids control what they dip and how much “stuff” they put on a chip or veggie.

Fake news spillover

The flap over fake news have spilled over into classrooms.

What was previously a challenge goal to “help students become responsible consumers” is no longer an an optional objective.

Because creating fake news is easy in the digital world, teaching students to examine content for bias, consider information sources and filter out anything suspicious has become a higher priority for social studies teachers.

Topped with sweetness

This winter, it’s not only cupcakes that are piled high with gooey goodness.

The trendiest liquid dream is hot chocolate topped with mounds of whipped cream and marshmallows before being sprinkled with more yummy calories.

Instagram-friendly white chocolate dyed pink and topped with edible glitter dust and images of other colorful concoctions have peaked on the coldest days.

Sweet, but I’m ready for spring.

“Social eating”

One offshoot of the “Foodie” trend is watching videos of people eating, or “social eating.”

Because kids are among the most frequent viewers of cooking shows, it’s not surprising that social eating is also popular among children.

Now if they’d only be as excited about doing the dishes…

Toy Fair

This weekend, I’m eager to check out some of the newest ideas in children’s books and playthings at the International Toy Fair.

Each year, I find some of the most intriguing products aren’t from headline brands, but from smaller companies around the edges of the Javits Center exhibit floor. We’ll see if that’s true this year, since pricey VR, AR and coding are sure to be trending.