Recipe
March Break is coming up for the kids. Make them this old fashioned, comforting treat when they come in from the outdoors.

Creamy Hot Cocoa
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 pinch salt
• 1/3 cup boiling water
• 3 1/2 cups milk
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup half-and-half cream

Combine the cocoa, sugar and pinch of salt in a saucepan. Blend in the boiling water. Bring this mixture to an easy boil while you stir. Simmer and stir for about 2 minutes. Watch that it doesn’t scorch. Stir in 3 1/2 cups of milk and heat until very hot, but do not boil! Remove from heat and add vanilla. Divide between 4 mugs. Add the cream to the mugs of cocoa to cool it to drinking temperature.

Kids Korner
A craft the kids will enjoy making to celebrate upcoming St. Patrick’s Day.

Styrofoam Cup Leprechaun Hat
• 1 Styrofoam Cup
• Green paint, or any colour you wish
• Small Foam Brush or Paint Brush
• Craft glue
• Craft foam (black and yellow)
• scissors
• Old Cookie Sheet

There should be close adult supervision while working with children around any heat source. Turn the oven on to 250 degrees. Place Styrofoam cup, bottom side up on an old cookie sheet and place it in the oven. Open a window (there may be some fumes) and carefully watch the Styrofoam cup melt. It will take about 2 minutes to get the cup to look like a little hat. Immediately remove the cookie sheet from the oven and use a butter knife to gently pry up the edges of the cup from the cookie sheet if necessary. Let cool. This should only take a few minutes. Once it has cooled, paint the hat green or any colour you would like. Let the paint dry completely, which can take awhile on Styrofoam. While waiting, cut a strip of black craft foam 7” x ¾ “. Glue onto the hat, making sure the two ends meet on whatever side you decide is the back. Using the yellow craft foam, cut out a 1” square. Cut a small square out of the center so it looks like a little buckle. Glue the buckle onto the hat band and let the glue dry. You now have a cute little leprechaun hat.

Special Note from Mother May I
Buying and placing an alcohol based hand sanitizer in your child’s packsack and giving them instructions on how to properly use it is a great idea at this time of year. It is very effective at preventing the spread of the seasonal flu, colds and the H1N1 virus. To be effective, hand sanitizers should contain at least 60% alcohol. Parents and teachers should monitor small children, although poisoning is a very low risk.

Instructions on how to properly use hand sanitizer
1.) Squirt the hand sanitizer into palm of your writing hand. It should be about the size of a quarter.
2.) Start rubbing your hands together. Be sure to get every single spot and not miss any part.
3.) Sing the “Happy Birthday” song twice (or count approximately 25-30 seconds) to yourself to time yourself. Do not finish until the song is done for the second time.
4.) Finish up. Don’t dry your hands on a towel, it will be better to let them air dry.