Brain Fitness + Healthy Food through Color + Creativity
How hard is it to get your kids to eat nutritious food? It’s a job in itself and not many of us were trained as psychologists or drill sergeants, let alone chefs and food stylists. It gets even harder when we’re on the road. You need to take the opportunity to turn those food issues upside down to your advantage while traveling. I’m going to give you and your kids some easy activities that can help develop brain fitness using creativity at the same time.
I have personally tested and used all these tips and tricks. They made my life easier, made my kids happier, brought creativity into their lives and joy into our travels.
First, a disclaimer–– I am an artist, I do think outside the box, I do see the world in a creative colorful way.
That said, I’m the first to tell everyone that
- you do not need to be an artist to live a creative life and
- everyone can learn something new, especially when it’s a survival technique and this, believe it or not my friend, is something that will help you survive the first 25 years of motherhood, especially while traveling with your brood… After that, they’re on their own!
SO! We need to stimulate the visual brain. Yours, and theirs. Let’s start with color.
How to Think About Food More Creatively
Stop thinking about food as food.
What color did you put in your mouth this morning? For example if you had blueberries and cream the answer would be blue and white. If you had strawberry yogurt and bananas, the answer would be pink, yellow and black or brown (for the seeds…extra points for noticing the details!). If you had toast and butter and a cup of coffee…Well you get the idea. So talk it over with your kids. Ask them what colors they put in their mouth each day for a few weeks until thinking this way becomes habit and automatic.
Change the way you “see” and you will change the way you think. I want you to think about the colors you buy in the supermarket, the colors you take home, clean, cut up and cook. I want you to think and begin to “see” colors where you once saw food. This type of thinking will stimulate the brain, strengthen existing neural pathways and build new ones.
This is homework for life my friend and believe me, I have created, practiced and taught these concepts and techniques in dozens of countries to thousands of people of all ages and abilities… and it works! My two kids survived me and all our local and world travel, and this is one of the ways I (and they) got through it…
My kids have gone on to become adventure world travelers themselves. My son the perfectionist and video game addict (yes, yes, I know he is 28!), flew to Bali for over a month on his own and told me he is considering “hopping over” to Australia and New Zealand before heading back to the States. My daughter traveled on her own for one month in Mexico when she was 24, and around China for a month at the age of 25 (and she is deaf by the way – that’s her in the photo).
When you show your children creative, fun ways to discover the world around them, you give them the keys that open up the universe and all its possibilities. I think this is one of the more valuable gifts we can give and share with our kids. Of all ages.
CHECK OUT our Adventure Traveling Mom,
Fran Capo…
When you start thinking about the world around you just in terms of color, it gets pretty exciting. Just try it!… Homeschool Traveling Mom, Shannon Entin had an interesting post relating to color. Read more about brain fitness color and creativity.
Alli Berman is a Brain Fitness thru Creativity expert, educator, author, therapeutic art product developer and an exhibiting interactive installation artist who has traveled to over 15 countries with her kids (one deaf daughter, one perfectionist son!) for more than 25 years. Join her and explore adventure travel in the US and exotic locations mixed with Brain Fitness fun! This is your online destination for the best creativity and brain fitness tips and tricks, useful fun hands-on ideas and activities, packing lists to develop a more creative kid, educational and fun ideas, helpful advice and more…anything to help you and your kids develop a creative eye in order to explore and enjoy the world in a more creative, colorful and fully integrated way. The end result?…Happier, more relaxed moms AND their single to double digit traveling brood before, during and after an adventure. Join her!