Tea Tasting & MYO Herbal Tea For Kids
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Kids love herbal teas. Tasty teas and kids go right along together like two peas in a pod. Herbal teas are a nourishing beverage option for children that are full of vitamins and minerals while offering health boosting properties such as easing digestion, strengthening against viral illness and relaxing the nervous system. Much better for little bodies than juice and soda pop.
To start off our make-your-own tea blend project we had a big tea tasting at preschool. I gave the kids a little bit of each tea to try, all the while talking with them about what gifts the tea offers to their body… anise seed to help with coughs; rose hips to give a vitamin C boost that is good for the immune system and peppermint for an upset tummy. We had a little pitcher to pour unwanted tea into.
Find fragrant, luscious herbs for blending your own tasty teas at Mountain Rose Herbs*! Click each herb below to purchase your favorites!
~ Herbs For A Children’s Tea Tasting ~
Spearmint and peppermint of course are tasty and very approachable for most kids because they often recognize the flavor. Generally spearmint and peppermint are both considered to have similar properties with spearmint being milder and a bit less "spicy" making it a favorite for children. Mints are antiseptic and carminative therefore are great for illnesses associated with digestive upset and will help relieve gas.
Activity for working with mint and kids: Fairy Crowns & Mint Magic Cookies
This super tasty lemony tea is a kid’s favorite. It is great for relaxing kids that are so overtired they can’t calm down. It’s antiviral properties are also helpful in healing colds and flu.
Activity for working with lemon balm and kids: Lemon Balm Pounding
Anise is another favorite tea for kids. The kids at preschool exclaimed,”Yummy! It’s sweet!” This herb makes a great tea to help relax irritable coughs and for alleviating intestinal gas.
With it’s fruity berry flavor, elderberry tea is so delicious! And elderberry is an amazingly helpful plant. It is specific for flu and upper respiratory issues, actually helping to protect the body against the flu virus!
Activity for working with elderberry and kids: Elderberry Day.
Another great herb for kids, chamomile is a wonderful, gentle nervine that eases restlessness and insomnia. Chamomile promotes rest and is useful for easing complaining and whining. It helps relieve pain and irritation in the belly, being particularly useful for flatulence and indigestion as well as stomach upset associated with nervousness and stress.
Activity for working with chamomile and kids: Chamomile Potatoes on Chamomile Day.
Rose hips, the fruit of a rose, are very high in Vitamin C. They make a tasty sweet-sour addition to tea and foods helping to prevent infection.
Did you know you drink a tea made from rose petals? It is beautiful tasting and is quite popular with children. All that deliciousness brings with it immune enhancing properties as well as soothing coolness for the urinary system, nervous system and heart. The petals ease cold and flu symptoms and lung congestion increasing lung strength and vitality. Emotionally, roses sooth broken hearts and aggravated nervous systems.
Activity for working with roses and kids: Flower ‘n’ Spice Play Doh Mandalas
Fennel is a wonderful tummy soother. It relaxes smooth muscle, eases inflammation and even acts as an expectorant all while tasting pretty yummy!
Activity for working with fennel and kids: Fennel Babies on Fennel Day.
Cinnamon is mucilaginous and along with it's warming carminative properties, helps to ease stomach upset. Cinnamon will warm up a cold body and ease chills during illness. The chips are so tasty the kids like to munch on the straight.
Activity for working with cinnamon and kids: Cinnamon Day.
Ginger is very warming, great for headaches, belly aches, colds and flu. Most of the kids thought the ginger tea made from dried ginger was too spicy. Though they loved it brewed from fresh ginger rhizome and sweetened with a tidge of honey.
Activity for working with ginger and kids: Ginger Day.
~ MYO Tea Blend ~
After our tea tasting each child made their own tea blend to take home. I had them choose up to four of their favorite herbs from the herbs I had brought in that day. To keep it simple we didn’t worry about measuring or anything just put a few big spoonfuls of each herb in a bowl and then the kids gave it a good stir. After blending, we put the herbs in a ziplock baggie. I also have made tea bags with the kids before using press and seal tea bags along some help from a kind parent. This time we kept it loose!
We also included a label for each child’s tea. I used a highlighter to mark the herbs in each child's blend. Here is an example of our label:
MYO Herbal Tea Blend
Today your child blended their own special tea and chose the following herbs for their tasty blend:
Rose Hips, Lemon Balm, Spearmint,
Peppermint, Elderberry, Anise Seed & Ginger
Instructions~ Steep 1 to 3 teaspoons of loose tea in 8 oz. of hot water for 5 to 10 minutes.
Strain the herbs out and drink! Add agave or honey to taste if you wish.
~ Kid-Made Favorite Tea Blend ~
As we made our teas, there was one particular combination that many kids chose.
Here is their tasty blend:
Lemon Balm
Elder Berry
Rose Hips
Anise
The kids love bringing tea home to share with their family, special tea that they blended up and made! One mom sent me a picture of her little one having a tea party with all of his favorite stuffed animal friends using his very own tea. Another dad told me that his child, "Loves that tea!"
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* Please note: Mountain Rose Herbs is an affiliate link for Mama Rosemary. Please visit my affiliate page for full disclosure. Thanks!
