Monthly Archives: November 2011

Childcare Safety and Fun:

Driving – Keeping children happy in the car can be challenging. One helpful approach is to engage them in car games in the safety of their car seat or seat belt.  Sing songs, such as the “”Wheel on the Bus””,  tell stories or play “”I Spy””, a color game.  Children take turns stating “”I spy something red”” and the other people in the car need to guess what the child sees that is red.

Alphabet Game- ages 3 and up

Children who can identify letters and can easily see out the window of the car can play this game. One child starts with A and has to find a word on a sign visible from the car with the letter A. The next child has to identify the B, and so on.

November 18 – Mickey Mouse’s birthday – Mickey Mouse was created in 1928! Celebrate his birthday with Mickey Mouse pancakes:  Follow the directions for mixing on the package.  Heat a griddle or frying pan.  For each pancake pour batter into pan in a large circle with two smaller circles at the top to make the ears.  Cook until pancake is puffy and bubbles.  Flip and cook the other side until golden brown.  Use chocolate chips for the eyes.

Then go to the library and read some Mickey Mouse books or take home a video or two to watch after bath time.

Scratch Pictures – This is a fun art project for children ages 7 and up. You need paper, crayons (make sure you have a black one), and a paper clip. Take one crayon and rub it over the paper. Use the flat side of the crayon and rub hard. Take another color and do the same to another part of the paper. Cover the whole paper with different colors of crayon. Now, take the black crayon and color over all the other colors until the whole paper is black. With a paper clip or coin, draw a picture by scratching through the black crayon. The other colors will show through where the drawing is scratched.

Yale University Tour 2011

It was great to see so many of our au pairs at our annual multi- cluster tour of Yale University in New Haven, CT.  It was a great, sunny but cold Fall morning .  Hope the afternoonIMG_0003IMG_0004IMG_0005IMG_0008IMG_0009IMG_0010IMG_0011IMG_0012IMG_0002 Yale vs. Brown University football game was fun!

November Calendar

November 6 – Daylight Savings Time Ends-In most parts of the country you’ll get an extra hour of sleep – set your clock back one hour.

November 8 – Election Day for local elections in Westport

November 11 – Veteran’s Day
A day to honor American veterans of all wars, Veterans Day is a federal holiday.

November 24 Thanksgiving – Thanksgiving dates back to the first European settlers in North America. After hardship, illness and hard work the Pilgrims celebrated a successful harvest that they shared with their Native American friends. This national holiday is a day to feast and give thanks.

November 25- Black Friday is the Friday after Thanksgiving and is the beginning of the traditional Christmas shopping season. Black Friday is not an official holiday, but many employees have the day off, which increases the number of potential shoppers. Merchants and the media use the term Black Friday to refer to the beginning of the period in which retailers are in the black i.e., turning a profit for the year.  Sales are everywhere–set your alarm and hit the stores before the sun comes up to get an authentic experience this unique day!