The Nair Newsline-March 2010

What's up
Startin' School- Aman Nair, 4 has just started his schooling. He goes to Gosnells Primary School Kindy. Wearing a bright yellow t-shirt and blue shorts, Aman happily works and plays with his teacher Ms Ciancio and his class. He goes to school on Tuesdays and Fridays, from 9.00 am to 3.00 pm. Aman is very shy, and had a tough start with making friends and playing, but now he plays and joins in with the rest. Hopefully he will soon talk lots, and make heaps of friends! More about this to come in future months.

Snack Stall- We once again give you, the Nashta News. The Dosa Shack has now had one weekend at Fremantle, one at the Chilli Festival, and one at Rockingham Mussel Festival. On the long weekend at Fremantle Markets, crowds didn't really pour in, and business was slow. However, the Chilli Festival at Fremantle just went brilliant and Vinod and Renu Nair were exhausted. The Rockingham Mussel Festival went fairly smoothly.

Fantastic Food
Our chefs....so far! You can join as a chef by submitting recipes to karunanair99@gmail.com.
Vinod Nair, a top baker
Renu Nair, makes great indian food
Karuna Nair, likes making up recipes
Rashmi Menon, likes trying out recipes

Wacky Milkshakes
We mentioned these last month, along with a Strawberry Sensation recipe. This month, check out the recipe for Wild Ice milkshakes.
Chuck the following in your blender for an easy dinner-
some sliced banana
some drinking chocolate powder
some ice-cream of any flavour (mango tastes great)
ice cubes
a bit of milk
and cream cheese
By Karuna Nair.


Roast chicken with herb butter
Everyone loves this all-time favourite poultry, and you'll love it even more with this great recipe. Ingredients
*4 small (about 300 g each) chicken marylands
*¼ cup fresh rosemary leaves
*1 tbs olive oil
*Salt & freshly ground black pepper
*1 (about 350g) swede, peeled, halved, cut into 1cm thick slices
*2 large (about 200g each) carrots, peeled, cut into 2cm thick batons
*4 yellow button squash, halved
*25g butter, at room temperature
*1 tbs finely chopped fresh chives
*1 tbs finely chopped fresh continental parsley
Method
1.Place an oven rack in the highest position in the oven. Preheat oven to 230°C. Place the chicken in a roasting pan. Sprinkle with rosemary and drizzle with half the oil. Season with salt and pepper. Bake on the top shelf of preheated oven for 25 minutes or until brown and cooked through.
2.Meanwhile, arrange swede, carrot and squash in a roasting pan. Drizzle with remaining oil, and season with salt and pepper. Bake in oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown and tender.
3.Combine the butter, chives and parsley in a small bowl. Place chicken on serving plates and top with a spoonful of the herb butter. Serve immediately with roast vegetables.
By Karuna Nair, found at http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/7037/roast+chicken+with+herb+butter

The World Of Imagination
Here is a poem by Karuna Nair-
Seasons
Summer is the time when
you go to the beach and soak up the sun
you sit in the backyard and shoo away the flies
you put the fans on high and eat some ice-cream
you look out at the dry land that was once a lake
Autumn is the time when
the sky is no longer light and clear
the air has a crisp feeling
you're cold but you're warm
crunchy dry leaves coat the edge of the curb
Winter is the time when
gray clouds cover up the beautiful blue
trees look bare and weak
rain trickles down almost every day
and a cold mist hangs over the sky
Spring is the time when
flower buds slowly open up
birds dart around protecting their dear little eggs
baby animals open up their eyes to the world
the sky simply shines, a pure blue so delicate, no words can describe it

Laugh a lot
This month we decided that the laugh-a-lot theme would be monster jokes.

What do you get if you cross Dracula with Al Capone?
A fangster.

What do you call a wizard who lies on the floor?
Matt.

What business is King-Kong in?
Monkey business.

Knock Knock.
Who's there?
Turner.
Turner who?
Turn around there's a monster breathing down your neck!

How does a yeti get to work?
By icicle?

What's a vampire's favourite animal?
A giraffe.

What do you get if King Kong sits on your piano?
A flat note.

What do you call a snake that is trying to become a bird?
A feather boa.

Art and Craft
Here are some ideas that you could either give to your kids or involve them with.

Juggling or Stress Ball
Materials- Rice, Bottle, balloon, Scissors
Fill up the bottle halfway with rice. Then put the balloon hole over the bottle and let the rice trickle into the balloon. This is a slow process but well worth it.
Cut the neck off the filled balloon. Cut the neck off a second balloon and place it over the filled balloon covering the open hole. Now you should have a completely covered ball with no rice popping out.
If you want them to be super strong add another solid balloon with the neck removed.
Take a balloon and cut some holes in it with the tips of your scissors. Remove the neck of the balloon then open it up and place it over the ball.
The colored balloon underneath should be showing through the holes and giving it a nice colorful pattern.
Repeat this with several layers of balloons and holes adding to the effect and also the strength.
Try to arrange it so the original rice hole is always covered by a firm piece of balloon and not a balloon hole.
For a Yo Yo stress ball add a piece of elastic by tying it around one of the holes. Then it can be bounced like a yo yo.

Safety Pin Bracelet
Materials-50-100 safety pins. (depending on how big you want it)
Beads, Sequins, bits of paper, any decorations with holes in them.
Two lengths of stretchy cord or elastic.
First put the decor on the safety pins, make sure the safety pin can still close and then close each pin.
Once you have put enough decor on all the safety pins, take one piece of the Elastic cord and string on the safety pins but alternate every other one. So one is right side up, and the next one is upside down.
Take your second piece of cord and string it thought the other side of the safety pins, so they will be attached to both strings, tie the ends together, and put on your wrist!
http://www.craftbits.com/

Kid Fun Time
Is your daughter or son constantly glued to the TV or DS? Or pestering you to go to school? Annoying you because they're bored? Well they won't be anymore when you try out these awesome ideas! Karuna N came up with these ideas, and the expert critic, Aman (who's 4 and experienced on such topics) has given comments.

1.Books- You may think that they will run away in the middle of the story, but that's not so! Just make a “reading time”daily for about 10 minutes and soon they will be begging for more! Buy or borrow some books about animals or imaginative stuff. If your child is 4 -5 and then get simple worded books with lots of pictures. Aman reccomends Where's Wally books.

2.Craft or Art- Do the projects mentioned earlier or try something simple.
*cut a straw in half, cut out a drawing done by your child from some paper, and glue it on the straw for a puppet
*on some coloured paper, help your child make a door sign
*or, use the coloured paper to draw labels for food (ie. write coffee and ask your child to draw a cup, then stick on your coffee powder jar)
*Aman likes to draw people and stick décor and googly eyes on them

3.Help your child make a show! You can take it in turns performing and watching. Make a puppet show, magic show, sing, or dance. You could even act out stories like The Little Red Riding Hood. Aman reckons it's a good idea to have a competition (with judge) for who can be the funniest.


4.Cooking- When you're making lunch, and they're crying to play with you, tell them you're there very special chef and you need their help. They will enjoy fetching, mixing, pressing buttons, and if they're careful, let them pour ingredients. The special chefs will especially enjoy tasting curries and licking cake icing! Aman enjoys rolling pasta, fetching milk, making milkshakes, and he loved it when he paired up with Karuna and made stuffed potatoes.

5.Make a special book together. Just decorate the cover of a new notebook or an old one with lots of free pages. Then help your child to write, draw, and glue stuff in their book. This one is especially good if you're busy, you can set them up near you and watch them. The expert, Aman, often writes or draws or even copies books into a specially made notebook with pictures of Sponge Bob and Aman glued on the cover.

6.Outdoor play- Outdoors, kids can run, play ball, and get messy. But they can also play with water or sand, paint and a heap more. Get your kids a bucket of water, some mugs, toys, funnels, or even a paintbrush for them to water paint the house. When they are done, cleaned and dried, ask them to draw a picture of them playing with water. This can be done likewise with sand or paint. They may even want to put in a picture of themselves running or playing catch! Aman goes out everyday. He practices soccer skills, jumping, skipping, and running, while also playing rescue and pirates.

Super Survey
This month, we interviewed Rashmi Menon on Global Warming and the Emissions Trading Scheme. (The Emissions Trading Scheme is where a country gets an emission limit, and companies may pay money to trade and get a bigger capacity. So if they want to emit more, they ask other people to trade them their limit in exchange for quid.) If you don't know what the greenhouse effect and global warming are, go to

Do you think it's a good idea?
I don't think it would serve it's purpose at all, and trading should have nothing to do with it.

Why do you think the government have decided on it?
Maybe because rich and more developed nations would take undue advantage of it.

What is your opinion of global warming?
Well, actually some people claim it's not happening, but I believe it's signs are quite obvious, especially the unexpected weather changes.

What else do you think the government could do towards this?
I think there should be 1 standard limit for every country irrespective of their money, etc. The government should regularly check emmisions and spread awareness.

Any small things you could do or already do at home to help?
Well, I'm not sure, but I think reducing power consumption will also make a difference in the future.



Your Space
Is empty because we do not get any ideas sent by you!!!!! (save for Rashmi Menon, thanks for answering the Super Survey!)
Here's what you can send to TNN. ( If you were unsure then you can send me an email at karunanair99@gmail.com OR put up a comment; email is preferrable)
News about you or your family
Recipes
Stories or Poems
Jokes
Interview Ideas, OR request to be interviewed
Art ideas
Feedback- What YOU want from TNN & also if you enjoy it, please tell us what you like and if you've tried out ideas
Letters
You can also ask our experts a question on kids ( WE ARE ESPECIALLY QUALIFIED AS WE ARE KIDS, AND ARE TRAINED TO ANSWER STRANGE QUERIES)