Did You Know? ~ Tots Love Juicing!!!

Last week, Jill shared a fabulous post with us all about the benefits of Green Juicing. I recently read her awesome book, Breaking Free ~ Truths for Healthy Living and was inspired to add daily vegetable juicing to our lives. What I didn't realize is the benefits it would have for my tot-Krash!


I began juicing for the health benefits, both for me and for my kiddos, but it has become SO much more. I am going to share the SO much more part with you (I'll leave the health stuff to Jill-she's really good at that part!!!!).

I include Krash (age 3) and my oldest son (age 7) in our daily juicing routine...yup, every day! It is more work to include them, but it is worth it. Here's what Krash is learning through this process:

• Krash now knows the names of all of the vegetables we juice (which changes daily as I add new ones to our routine each week). We name each one as he puts it in the juicer.
• We talk about colors as we put them in too, both as we put the veggies in and as the juice comes out! He loves to see the colors come out and name them!!!
• He is learning to take turns-a valuable lesson for tots!!! I split the pile of veggies (and an apple) up for him and Pac Man and they have to take turns putting the items in the juicer. This is a great lesson for both of them!!!
• He is learning cause and effect, as he sees the whole veggies go into the juicer and come out as juice!
  
• He is now eating vegetables (well, drinking them!!!). I think involving him has made him much more interested in consuming what we make!!! Krash will drink the straight juice along with me, although Pac Man prefers me to mix it in a smoothie. K will drink it either way. He is even eating raw veggies better now, and I wonder if it is because we are juicing and he now is more involved with veggies in general?
  

I wrote a whole post about juicing with my kids here on my Lil' Ladybug blog if you'd like to read more and see what we are juicing, a bit more about our routine, and which juicer we have!!! I also plan to share more about our juicing endeavors over there as we go along!