Au Pair Chatter

July 18th is National Ice Cream Day! Celebrate by enjoying a few scoops of your favorite flavor or by making your own ice cream at home. Here is a simple recipe. You can change it up by adding a little chocolate syrup, a few chocolate chips, or using a flavoring other than vanilla.

In a quart size zipper baggie, combine…
1 cup of whole milk or half and half
2 tablespoons of sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

In a gallon size zipper baggie…
Fill ½ way with ice cubes
Add 1/3 cup of rock salt (if you don’t have rock salt you can use table salt or kosher salt)

Seal the small baggie carefully and place the inside of the large bag. Seal the large bag and shake the bags until you can see the mixture thickening (about 5 minutes.) It will be cold to hold, so you may want to carefully pass it back and forth between yourself and a partner.  Remove the small baggie and wipe the top off (to remove salt water,) unzip and enjoy!

On this day in 1904, Dr. Seuss was born.  Today is a great day to share a favorite Dr. Seuss book with a child or let them share their favorite Dr. Seuss book with you.

Celebrate his birthday with reading and fun activities.

Check out the Seussville website for an endless selection of:

• online activities
• print and play games & activities
• list of events in your area

A is for Art – try drawing, painting or gluing
B is for Baking – bake a dessert together for dinner
C is for Clay – Use non-hardening clay or play dough to shape and mold
D is for Dance – put on a lively tape
E is for Exercise – be sure to get some everyday
F is for Friends – invite some over
G is for Greenhouse – find a local greenhouse to visit to enjoy the sights and smells
H is for House – make a playhouse from a large appliance box
I is for Ice skating – take the children to a local rink
J is for Jigsaw puzzle – be sure to pick one that isn’t too difficult
K is for Kitchen science – try a safe experiment
L is for Library – borrow some new books
M is for Movie – make one with a video camera, or watch one
N is for Necklace – make one out of cereal or macaroni
O is for Origami – learn to make simple paper creations
P is for Puppets – socks make easy and fun puppets – put on a show!
Q is for Quiet Time – everyone needs some of this
R is for Reading aloud – choose a good book and a comfortable place to sit
S is for Seeds and Suet – put out food for the birds and watch them eat
T is for Tent – make one from old blankets and chairs
U is for Unplugged – do a day with no TV
V is for Variety – try something new everyday
W is for Walk – take one in any weather (be sure to dress appropriately)
X is for Xylophone – make your own with glasses, water and a metal spoon
Y is for Year – make a calendar or scrapbook to remember the year
Z is for Zoo – visit the animals

Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, is one of the most joyous times of the Jewish year. The reason for the celebration is twofold (both dating back to c. 165 BC and the miraculous military victory of the small, ill-equipped Jewish army over the ruling Greek Syrians, who had banned the Jewish religion and desecrated the Temple and the miracle of the small cruse of consecrated oil, which burned for eight days in the Temple’s menorah instead of just one.

Hanukkah is often celebrated by:

• Lighting a menorah for eight nights with olive oil or wax candles; one on the first night and an additional one each succeeding night, so that the last night has eight lights
• Eating food fried in oil, especially potato pancakes and jelly doughnuts
• Playing with a dreidle, a four-sided top; the player wins or loses money depending on which side it lands on (each is marked with a different Hebrew letter)
• Celebrating with family and friends

Here are some websites with activities for the kids:

Hanukkah Coloring Pages

Crafts and Activities

Dreidel Hanukkah Cookies

When is Passover?

Passover in 2010 will start on Tuesday, the 30th of March and will continue for 7 days until Monday, the 5th of April.

Note that in the Jewish calander, a holiday begins on the sunset of the previous day, so observing Jews will celebrate Passover on the sunset of Monday, the 29th of March.

What is Passover?

Passover is the Jewish celebration lasting seven to eight days (seven in Israel, eight outside of it) that marks the freedom of the Jews from enslavement by the Egyptians. According to the Old Testament, the Jews, led by Moses, had requested freedom from the Pharaoh of Egypt, but were denied. To punish the Egyptians, God sent the 10 plagues to Egypt to convince the Pharaoh to release the Jews. The last of these plagues, and the most devastating, was to kill the firstborn male in each Egyptian household.

Here are some websites, with Passover activity ideas for kids.

Chabad

Kaboose

Torah Tots

Family Fun

There are some toys that kids usually play with on their own while you watch on the sidelines. However, you can make those toys feel like something new and fun, by suggesting different ways to play with them.  Another thing that will make it more fun is if you become actively involved rather than just watching.

Play Food/Dishes

• Teach your host children how to say the names of some of the food and dishes.
• Using English and/or your language play games where you are ordering food like in a restaurant. Take turns with who will be the waiter and who is the customer.
• Come up with silly food combinations.  For example: Who wants pickles on their slice of cake?
• Play a guessing game where the kids have to figure out what food you are talking about.  For example: I grow under the ground in the dirt.  People eat me fried, mashed and baked.  What am I? (a potato)
• Play a game with setting the table using your language to ask for the different items (plate, spoon, etc.)
• Ask the children to divide the foods up into the different food groups (vegetables, meat, dairy,  etc)

Block, Lego Blocks and Other Building Toys

• Divide all of the blocks up between the people playing by taking turns for each person to select block by block.
• Suggest specific things to build (robots, house, mountain) and build together.
• Challenge everyone to use all of their blocks.
• Sort the blocks by color or shape and make patterns with them (red, blue, red blue or square, triangle, rectangle.)  You can create a pattern and ask the child to fill in what comes next to continue the pattern.
• Make the tallest block tower you can and let them knock it down (over and over again, if like most kids they like destroying things.)

Mr. Potato Head

• Teach your host children the names of the different parts in your language.
• Play a game asking them to put on the body parts by naming them in your language.
• Play the same game above, but using Simon Says.  Simon Says is a game where the leader gives commands by saying “Simon Says” first. For example, “Simon Says, put on the nose.”  The players are only to follow the commands when the leader says Simon Says.  If the leader doesn’t say Simon Says first and just says, “put on the nose,”  and the player follows the command they are out of the game.  Repeat the game multiple times, so all kids get a turn to be the leader at least once.

I know the kids have been home for many snow days this winter.  Believe me I know, since I have 4 kids of my own at home.  The key to keeping things manageable and fun is planning ahead and being proactive.  Don’t wait until the kids are fighting and getting into trouble to find things for them to do. Get them engaged in activities to prevent the boredom and arguing that can happen when everyone is in the house for too long.

I am putting together some blog posts with activity ideas in the following categories:

1. New Ideas for the Same Old Toys
2. Indoor Physical Activities
3. Activities for Older kids
4. Cooking Activities

Looking for ideas to keep the kids busy on this snow day?

Here is a simple snow day game plan…

1. Play in the snow
2. Come inside and warm up with hot chocolate (don’t forget the marshmallows)
3. Do some Snowflake Crafts
4. Play in the snow again
5. Warm up inside taking turns on the Make a Snowflake Website
6. Get a jump start on making Valentine’s Cards

Have fun!

If you have some fun snow day ideas, please share them by posting a comment.