There are games we played as young children that still have value today.They are inexpensive and help to develop eye-hand coordination, manual dexterity, gross and fine motor skills, agility and patience. Jacks is one such game.

Games such as Jacks can be played alone or with a few others and then they become an opportunity to practice e good sportsmanship. Most of all…these games are just plain fun to play.

Jacks originated hundred of years ago when children had little to play with and made up games by using bits and pieces of things they found on the ground. To play Jacks you need to:

• Toss the 10 jacks gently out onto the playing surface

• Use your throwing hand to toss the ball into the air

• While the ball is in the air, pick up 1 jack using only your throwing hand.

• Catch the ball in your throwing hand before the ball hits the ground

Jacks helps young children learn to count as well as giving them the opportunity to develop their gross and fine motor skills. The rules for Jacks are simple and, with practice, children can develop ball handling skills such as throwing, bouncing and catching.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) the best way to prepare eggs for an egg hunt is as follows:

• Only use eggs that have been refrigerated, and discard eggs that are cracked or dirty.

• When cooking, place a single layer of eggs in a saucepan. Add water to at least one inch above the eggs. Cover the pan, bring the water to a boil, and carefully remove the pan from the heat. Let the eggs stand (18 minutes for extra large eggs, 15 minutes for large, 12 minutes for medium). Immediately run cold water over the eggs. When the eggs are cool enough to handle, place them in an uncovered container in the refrigerator where they can air-dry.

• When decorating, be sure to use food-grade dyes. It is safe to use commercial egg dyes, liquid food coloring, and fruit-drink powders. When handling eggs, be careful not to crack them. Otherwise, bacteria could enter the egg through the cracks in the shell.

• Keep hard-cooked Easter eggs chilled on a shelf inside the refrigerator, not in the refrigerator door.
• Hide the eggs in places that are protected from dirt, pets and other potential sources of bacteria.
• Remember the two hour rule, and make sure the “found” eggs are back in the refrigerator or consumed within two hours.

Remember that hard-boiled eggs are only safe to eat for one week after cooking.

 For parents who are new to picking a camp, I would like to share what I know about providing a safe, enjoyable summer camp experience.

I ran a community day camp for several years. In addition to knowing how your child will be spending his or her time at camp, the following list includes other things that you will want to consider when picking out a day camp.

• Transportation Personnel -Who are they? What is their background?  Our camp policy was to have a staff person ride in each of the vehicles for the first two weeks of camp to insure that the drivers were responsible and that they had patience with the children. Given the age of the children, we expected the transportation company to provide an attendant to ride in each bus.
• Water Personnel – Are swim instructors, life guards and counselors who accompany the children in water activities trained in water safety? Have they passed first aid training including resuscitation?
• Group Leaders -Are they teachers, recreation personnel or other  mature adults with specialties in arts and crafts, music or other specialties such as cooking,  sports, dance?
• Counselors – Are they trained in first aid including CPR? Do they have experience with young children?
• Does the camp do a background check on all personnel?
• Is their an orientation/training  for staff prior to the camp opening for the season? What is covered in this training?
• Is there a day when families can visit and see what the children are doing? Can the view a play or a skit or a music/dance demonstration?
• If children must bring their lunches, how are they kept cool? If the camp provides lunch and snacks, what do they provide?
• Are play areas, toys, jungle gyms, etc clean and in good condition?
• Is there a nurse on staff?
• What is the policy when a child is injured or gets sick?
• If the camp has outdoor space, is it fenced in?
• Is the ration of staff to children 1 to 4 or 5?
• Does the camp have a favorable listing with the American Camping Association or KidsCamps.com?

It is hard enough to send our little ones off on a camp bus for the first time. Parents need the peace of mind of knowing that the camp their child is going to is a safe, secure, clean place for summer fun.

Chef Ed Cotton, Executive Chef at Plein Sud,http://www.pleinsudnyc.com in NYC is a new contributor to Kid-healthy recipes for “Can Do” Street. Chef Cotton graduated from the Culinary School of America, has held executive chef positions at several upscale restaurants across the US  and was a final contestant in Season 7’s Bravo’s Top Chef in Washington D.C. in Sept of 2010.

The first recipe Chef Cotton shares is for a Chicago style dish deep pizza, made with all fresh, healthy ingredients.

It  is a perfect recipe for a mom or a dad who like to share the cooking “from scratch” experience with a young child who is interested in cooking. It  is a great opportunity a child to work with dough and see his or her creation turn into a favorite…pizza!

Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza

Dough Recipe

Approx. 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 pkg. fast rising yeast

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. sugar

1 cup of very warm water

Toppings

1 package Health Choice/ low fat brand shredded cheese

2 cans whole tomatoes

A generous handful of fresh basil leaves, chopped

Cracked black pepper, salt and oregano to taste

4 or 5 large cloves of fresh garlic, sliced thin

2 -10 oz. packages of frozen spinach, thawed

1 fresh ripe tomato, thinly sliced

2 teaspoon dried oregano

Directions – Crust

• Combine the yeast, salt, sugar, 1 cup of the flour and the cup of warm water
• Mix thoroughly
• Since you aren’t proofing the yeast first; the water needs to be a bit hotter than usual
• Add enough of the remaining 1 1/2 cups of flour to form a soft dough
• Knead it for a few minutes, then put it back in the bowl, cover and set aside to rise
• When the pizza dough has more or less doubled in bulk (usually in less than an hour) punch it down.
• Lightly spray a 10 inch spring form pan with cooking spray
• Press the dough into the pan and up the sides.

Toppings

• Squeeze the moisture out of the thawed spinach
• Break up the tomatoes slightly and set them in a sieve to drain.
• Spread the shredded cheese over the crust
• Top with the tomatoes which have been mixed with the basil leaves, season with salt, pepper, oregano.
• Sprinkle the sliced garlic over the tomatoes and top with the spinach and then arrange the sliced tomato decoratively on top.
• Bake at 425 in the middle of the oven for about 45 minutes or so.  Since it’s so thick, it takes quite awhile for the filling to heat all the way through.

Note: The pizza makes a great presentation when you remove the ring from the spring form pan.

To learn more about Chef Ed Cotton, go to Facebook and enter his name.

Recently, a reader wrote saying, “I think your blog needs a post about Floorball. It is the dominant school PE activity in northern Europe.” Michael

Thanks Michael and here it is:

Floorball is a form of floor hockey. It is a non-contact  team sport where the aim is to direct the ball into the opposing team’s goal using a composite-fiber stick fitted with a plastic blade.

The game is most popular in Sweden, Finland, and other European nations. It is part of the physical education program in schools in Northern Europe. There are competitive leagues  throughout Europe , Australia, Japan,Canada and the US.

The game is played with 5 players per team plus a goalie. The maximum amount of player per team is 22. This is for substitutions. The measurements of the playable field is between 36×18 and 44×22 meters. (118×60 and 144×72 feet) The court is surrounded by boards, so the ball can bounce. Games are played in 3  20-minute periods. No special equipment is needed for the players except the club and the ball. The exception is the goalie who wears a knee pad, a stomach protection plate and a facial mask. The description above is for professionals.

The strength of the game is that it is cheap, since you don’t need a lot of equipment and that the rules are quite easy; score by getting the ball in the other team’s goal. The plastic ball weighs is 25-30 grams (about 1 ounce), has a diameter of 72 mm( 2.8 inches ) and has 26 holes in it.

When you play for fun, all you need is a few people, clubs, a ball and something that can act as a goal. The game would be just as fun to play if you had 3 people on the team as it would be if you had 10. The game is intense and improves physical conditioning. The game is fast, you’re in constant movement and forced to make instant decisions. Here is a link to some league floorball in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1K7_s78Kl4