Mattel Sponsored Mom and Me Game Day

Our momstown Mississauga mamas and kids were treated to a very special event this month at our Mattel Sponsored Game day. Kids 3 + and their moms were lucky enough to be able to try 5 new games. 

There was something for every child and their interest level. Games teach  pre-school kids life skills like how to take turns, sharing, waiting (patience) and how to have fun.    

Chipmunk Choppers was a fan favourite with all the kids. The chipmunk choppers themselves are so much fun to use, they had all the kids excited as they chomped letters off the tree to match with the word cards. Practicing skills like colour and letter recognition were natural in the quest to chomp more letters.  


Angry Birds Knock on Wood was another great game. Fitting together the pieces of wood to make structures for the piggies was just as exciting as launching the birds. 

The tractor with hay-bale launcher proved the highlight during Go Piggy Go! This game had some more complex elements introducing simple strategy perfect for teaching game play and focus skills to the older kids. 

Uno Moo inspired some pretty creative sounds as we encouraged the kids to use their imagination and voices to enhance the game play.  

Parrot Pile Up required the children to slow down and really focus on the best placement of the objects. It also required a steady hand and concentration to complete each turn. 

Our moms and kids loved the games from Mattel and we will definitely be making Game Day a regular event on our calendar using these great pre-school offerings. The moms were thrilled to be able to take home a copy of Uno as a gift. 

Join us for more events like this. momstown Mississauga has sponsored events every month from great local and national sponsors like Mattel.  Membership is only $45 per year for the whole family, purchase one for yourself or a friend today. 

September's Books for Babies: Giggle

momstown Mississauga's September bookclub for babies was sponsored by Scholastic Canada.  Giggle by Caroline Jayne Church was this month's selection. A great board book for babies with a built in giggle "button" that provides laughs the whole way through the book.

Books for Babies is a monthly event for our moms with babies aged 0-12 months. A circle time, story, finger plays, rhymes and a new monthly baby sign are all part of this monthly event.

Starting in October this event will be re-named as part of our consistent across Canada momstown.ca branding to a new title: Rhyme Rhythm and Read.  This month and next we are hosting at The Fun Side a south Mississauga Indoor Playground with a fantastic baby and toddler area.

 

 

 We have a weekly Baby Basics group held at Taima Zone where our moms and babies meet to do fun baby Picassos art projects, hear from speakers and gather to discuss hot topics such as transitioning to solids, breastfeeding, choosing a child care centre and more!

 

 

 

Consider joining us for one of our fun Baby Programs, meet some new friends and enjoy the membership perks like winning a book at one of our Scholastic Canada monthly sponsored events! In October the Mama Bookclub is being sponsored by Scholastic Canada - that's right free books for the moms too! Membership is only $45/family for the whole year! Purchase yours today.

September's Bookclub for Kids: Fox and Squirrel

momstown Mississauga moms and kids are lucky to have a monthly sponsor for our bookclub for kids. This month Scholastic Canada sent us an adorable selection Fox and Squirrel by Ruth Ohi.

Our kids loved the engaging story and the adorable artwork. Fox and Squirrel is a story about friends who as they compare and discover their differences, quickly realize that they are not so different after all.

 

With such a diverse community such as Mississauga this is a very relatable story with great messaging for our community. There are parents and kids from all over the world in our city.

Miss Deanna kept the kids entertained at our monthly Chapters story time with the monthly story plus songs and rhymes. After story time, our moms and kids had a great time making this fall themed craft.

We meet monthly for over 20 events all across Mississauga. Please consider joining us next time this event is open to the public and we post details on our Facebook Page. Our yearly membership is only $45/year for the whole family, purchase one today for yourself or as a gift for a friend!

What Families Can Learn at the Our Kids Private School Expos

Article by:  Erin McLaughlin for OurKids.net, Canada's trusted source for camps and schools.

Not sure where to begin searching for the right school for your child or are you interested in learning more about education options? Don’t miss the upcoming Our Kids Halton-Peel Private School Expo on October 20^th, 2013 and the Toronto Private School Expo on October 26^th, 2013.

At the Private School Expos families are able to speak exclusively with school staff and education experts, plus get answers to all of their questions. With a variety of the best private schools exhibiting from across Ontario, around Canada and internationally, these events are geared toward parents who value education and want the best for their kids.

This year’s Expos include information seminars on  “How to Choose a School” and “Financial Advice: How to Pay for Private School” and families can ask questions at the Q&A sessions, as well as meet with school representatives and current students to get an inside view of the schools.

What attending families say:

•       “I found the information sessions so valuable! They really answered my questions and relieved some of my stresses. And, the fact that I could directly and personally ask questions after the sessions was fantastic.” — Parent of prospective student

•       “I was surprised to meet with the Heads of the schools. They were so friendly and approachable; really knowledgeable too.” — Parent of prospective student

•       “I know what to do next. Making this choice is important to me and my family so I wanted to participate and I’m glad I did.” — Parent of prospective student

If you’re interested in learning more about alternate education options for your kids, check out the Our Kids Halton-Peel and Toronto Private School Expos, a quick and efficient way of learning about private education. Bring the whole family and explore your private school opportunities together!

EXCLUSIVE OFFER: Get FREE admission valid for a family of four compliments of Momstown Mississauga using the promocode “momstown” when you register here: http://www.ourkids.net/expo/register.php

Halton-Peel Private School Expo

Location: Oakville Conference Centre, 2515 Wyecroft Road, Oakville, ON L6L 6P8

Date: Sunday, October 20^th, 2013

Time: 12:00 to 4:00 pm

Contact: 1-877-272-1845 (toll free) or info@ourkids.net

Toronto Private School Expo

Location: Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe Street, Toronto, ON M5J 2J5

Date: Saturday, October 26^th, 2013

Time: 11:00 to 3:00 pm

Contact: 1-877-272-1845 (toll free) or info@ourkids.net

Halloween Haunt - Mississauga's Best Halloween Party for Moms, Kids and Babies!

momstown Mississauga is hosting our Halloween Haunt  - a not so scary Halloween Party for moms and tots on October 30th at Streetsville United Church.  With crafts, fun activities, Parachute play, a costume contest, sensory activities for babies and preschoolers and more it's going to be the place to be! 

momstown Mississauga's Halloween Haunt

Wednesday October 30th 10am - 12pm 

Streetsville United Church 

274 Queen Street East 

Mississauga ON 

Come dressed in your best - prizes will be awarded for Best Costume for Moms, Infants 12m and under and Ages, 2  and up

Visitors will enjoy party refreshments (bring your best potluck treat), crafts, silly science, and there will be fun activities to make everyone smile like pumpking bowling, pin the nose on the Jack O Lantern and more! The Little Gym Mississauga East will also be on hand with a fun kids area where they can try a hot-dog roll. 

The event is open to the public for a $2 donation benefitting Red Cross. Members may enjoy the party for free but donations to the charity are encouraged! 
Members must RSVP on our calendar. 

momstown Mississauga's Junior Chefs Create Lasagne with Chef Boyardee

momstown Mississauga's Junior Chefs cooked up some delicious recipes last week at our Chef Boyardee sponsored event. The moms and kids made take home lasagnas using Mini Ravioli's from Chef Boyardee as the base ingredient. 

Cooking & Eating the Chef's Recipes

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The easy open cans allowed the kids to scoop the mini raviolis out into our baking trays after a quick spray with Pam. By adding fresh vegetables, cheese and spices our Junior Chefs were able to create a whole different meal with the canned mini raviolis! Our moms all agreed the taste was surprising. Using the canned pasta as the base to a main meal was an inspiration!  

Quotes from our message board:  

I was pleasantly impressed!
Canned pasta is always kinda a stigma almost for me anyways! So I was curious to taste what you could make with it. To be honest, this is the first time I have ever had Chef Boyardee too and I enjoyed the dishes that were made.  I would totally make them again for my kids! 

I cannot believe how spoiled we were!  An apron for my daughter to take home, cans of food given to us, and we made dinner for that night, which btw both my husband and kids loved and I will be making again!  What a good idea to add spinich to make it healthier.  :)  We are for sure coming to the next junior chefs!!! 

I was impressed as well! I usually stay away from canned foods like this but it really is a quick meal for those busy nights and adding the vegetables and other ingredients it turned out pretty good! We heated up the meal the kids got to make at the event for dinner and dad loved it!

Yummy! 

Did you know that Chef Boyardee can help to make meal time enjoyable for the whole family by providing quick and easy meal ideas!? Yummy enriched pasta, cheese and meaty tomato sauce, Chef Boyardee is a hot and hearty meal or snack.  It’s kid approved pasta, and has no preservatives!

momstown Mississauga families sampled two recipes at our junior chef event, in addition to making the take home lasagnas. The Chef's Pizzaroni Skillet and the Chef's mini-ravioli lasagne. 

Mini Ravioli Lasagne  & Pizzaroni Skillet 

Ravioli Lasagna

Ingredients

• 2 cans (2 x 425 g) Chef Boyardee^® Mini Ravioli^®, Beef Ravioli or Lasagna
• 1 cup (250 mL) finely chopped spinach
• 2 cups (500 mL) grated Mozzarella cheese, separated into 1 cup (250 mL) portions
• 1 cup (250 mL) 2% cottage cheese or Ricotta cheese
• 1 teaspoon (5 mL) Italian seasoning

Directions

1. Spray 8" square or round baking pan with PAM^®.
2. Spread 1 can of pasta on the bottom of the baking pan. Place chopped spinach in a glass bowl and microwave for 10 seconds; drain. Spread spinach over pasta and top with cottage or Ricotta cheese, 1 cup (250 mL) Mozzarella cheese and ½ teaspoon (2.5 mL) Italian seasoning.
3. Layer second can of pasta. Top with remaining Mozzarella and Italian seasoning.
4. Bake at 400°F for 20-25 minutes or until heated through. Allow 10 minutes to stand before serving. 

Fisher Price Little People Playdate at Baby Basics

momstown Mississauga moms with babies 12 months and under meet weekly at the Taima Zone for our Baby Basics group. There are art projects, interesting speakers, and throughout the year we have fun sponsored events like our recent Fisher Price sponsored Little People® Playdate!

We had Four Different Little People Toys for our Kids to test. The Little People Fun Sounds Farm®, The Little People Happy Sounds Home®, The Little People Wheelies Loops 'n Swoops Amusement Park® and the Little People Disney Princess Klip Klop Stable®.

Boys and girls both loved the The Little People Wheelies Loops 'n Swoops Amusement Park®.  The variety of cars, bright colours and fun action kept them intrigued from baby to 5 yr old! 

The kids had so much fun playing with the animals and listening to the sounds of the The Little People Fun Sounds Farm®.  Our doll lovers were engaged with the The Little People Happy Sounds Home® as the doorbell rings, the bathtub bubbles and the washing machine swishes.  

Over at the  Little People Disney Princess Klip Klop Stable® our princess fans were enthralled with the horses (and Aurora & Rapunzel ) two Royal princesses who with a klippity clop rode their horses down and around the ramp. 

Join momstown Mississauga for other fun events like these at our weekly Baby Basics group. Start having fun, meeting other new moms and getting you & your baby out to meet new people. Visit our website for more membership information or join our Facebook Page to keep up to date with our upcoming Events.