Tag Archives: child care tips

April Activities for the Kids

April is the month many people celebrate Easter. For many children that means the Easter Bunny is on his way. Out in the gardens, rabbits are springtime active – watch for them from your windows and enjoy some “Funny, bunny” reading, crafts and games throughout the month:

Head for the Library and find some “Bunny Books”
The Bionic Bunny by Marc Brown
Bunny Money by Rosemary Wells
The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter
Little Rabbit Foo Foo by Michael Rosen
Good Job, Oliver! by Laurel Molk
The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown
Dear Peter Rabbit by Alma Flor Ada

Bunny Crafts
“Rip a Rabbit”! Cut a sheet of paper in half – plain white or pastels work fine. Have the children tear an oval shape from one half and two ears from the other half. Glue the ears to the top of the oval; use crayons to color ears, eyes and nose. Poke 3 whisker holes on either side of the nose with a toothpick and thread dry spaghetti or straws from a broomstick through the holes for whiskers. Add a cotton ball for a tail – display your bunnies around the house.

Bunny Game
I Spy a Bunny – if you have a stuffed bunny at your house “Hide” it in a different place every morning, not too difficult to find, and challenge your children to find it. After a day or two they will really look forward to this morning puzzle!

“Here’s a Bunny” finger play
Here’s a bunny, with ears so funny (hand forms head with two fingers slightly bent for ears)
And here is a hole in the ground (form a hole with the other hand)
When a noise he hears,
He perks up his ears (wiggle ears)
And jumps in the hole that he found. (bunny dives into the hole)

For Older Children:

Many children love to be the center of attention so being on stage is natural for them. Choose 4 or five things that don’t go together and put them in a bag. Work with the children to make up a story to act out using the things in the bag. It can be very funny! Be sure to join in the fun with them, and give them a chance to choose objects for the bag for you. (Suitable for children 7 and up)

April is  National Garden Month
Read the children The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss or try simple gardening with them. If it is not warm enough to plant outside put some soil in a paper cup and start a few seeds indoors. Choose seeds that sprout quickly such as morning glories or marigolds. For more information about gardening with kids see our activity page (http://www.aupairinamerica.com/aupairs/activityideas.htm) or find ideas for growing flowers, vegetables and herbs at http://www.copper-tree.ca/garden/ .

Look Up at the Sky Day
Try to find shapes in the clouds or wait until dark and look at the stars. Can you see any planets in the sky? Visit this site for coloring pages of constellations http://www.earthsky.org/kids/activities_connect.php

April is also National Humor Month
Children love jokes and riddles. Find some new laughs at http://www.ahajokes.com/kids_jokes.html or look in the library for joke books.

August Child Care Focus – Reading Activities

Babies like to watch and listen, so narrate your day, talk to the baby all day long.  Make sure the baby can see  his surroundings; they also like to look at pictures, so read to them.

For preschool age children you can have a picnic or a tea party with stuffed animal friends. Suggested books to read: Best Friends for Frances by Russell Hoban and Frog and Toad are Friends by Arnold Lobel

Children Ages 4 and Up:  Create your own book of favorite jokes and riddles.
Gather the following: two pieces of thin cardboard at least 5.5 x 8.5 inches (14 x 22 cm), to match the size of the paper ,ribbon, string or a stapler, crayons or markers, or if you want, scissors, glue, white paper or colored construction paper.

Step 1: Cut the cardboard into the size you want for your cover. Cut two pieces: one for the front and one for the back. Make two holes along one of the long edges, in the same spot on both pieces. Your ribbon or string will go through here to hold your pages together. (You can also staple the pages together if you want to keep it simple.)
Step 2: Decorate the covers: draw or use magazine pictures and place them in a design on the cover.  Let dry.

Step 3: Write just one or two jokes on a piece of paper. If it’s a riddle, put the answer on the back of the page. Draw colorful pictures to go with the joke.
Step 4: Punch holes in the paper you’ve written the jokes on to match the holes in the cover.
Step 5: After the covers have dried, put the joke papers between the covers. Take your ribbon and thread it through the holes of the covers and the matching holes in the paper. Tie the ribbon into a knot or a bow.

Sea serpents are not a part of our everyday life and so they are fascinating to children. Have fun drawing your own ideas of fantastic sea serpents, remind the children that they can be friendly or scary but are never real. Two delightful books about sea serpents: Harry by the Sea by Gene Zion and The Mysterious Tadpole by Steven Kellogg.

August 28 is Dream Day.  Not everyone remembers their dreams but if the children are old enough to tell you about their dream it might be fun to create a dream log with words and or pictures. Children who have scary dreams may be helped by reading There’s a Nightmare in my Closet by Mercer Mayer, or The Berenstain Bears and the Bad Dream by Stan and Jan Berenstain.

August 30th – Westport Public Schools 1st day for students!

Child Care Focus

Getting children to help you:  Ask your host parents how much time they think it should take your host kids to complete a certain task that you and your host kids struggle with.  Then set the timer and have a race against the clock to get things done before the timer beeps.  There is no reward, just a high five and a challenge to do it faster the next day.   This makes it fun and exciting!  Once the behavior has changed and the struggle is over, you will not need the timer as the expectation has been set and met.  Use a timer for things like

  • getting dressed
  • room cleaning–set the timer for five or ten minutes and challenge your host kids to clean as much of the toys” room as possible before the timer beeps
  • playtime before doing homework or chores