Tag Archives: children’s activities and crafts

This Weekend

Saturday, June 30 – Great Duck Race

$10,000 raffle supporting local charities. 3,000 rubber ducks launched into Saugatuck River, and the first 10 ducks across finish line win a prize. Fun includes bouncy castle, games, music, arts and crafts, food and drink, magician.
Where: Saugatuck River at Parker Harding Plaza, Westport
When: 10:30 AM – 2:00 PM
Who: Sponsored by the Westport Sunrise Rotary
How: $20 Raffle tickets available at Fairfield County Bank, TD Bank, Black Duck, and The Russell Agency
Cost: free admission
For more info: visit www.thegreatduckrace.org

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.

April Calender

April 1  April Fool’s Day The day is generally observed by tricking someone. Think of a silly and harmless trick to play. Work with the children to write a silly story to read to the parents. Try serving breakfast food for dinner or some other harmless way to trick the children.

April 2  International Children’s Book Day The perfect day to read the children a story from your own country or a book about cross-cultural experiences. link  to KCC http://www.aupairinamerica.com/resources/kids/culture_corner/

April 7-13 Passover Passover, also known as Pesach or Pesah, is a Holy Day, observed by several religions, beginning on the evening of the 14th day of Nisan and lasting seven days (in Israel and among some liberal Diaspora Jews, and eight days among other Diaspora Jews) that commemorates the exodus and freedom of the Israelites from Egypt; it is also observed by some Christians to commemorate the deliverance from sin by the sacrifice of Jesus.

April  7 World Health Day This is a good day for children to learn about how their body works, and to discuss good health habits. Remind them about the importance of covering their mouth when they cough or sneeze and to always wash their hands before they eat. For school age children to learn more about their body with a wonderful on-line tour of the body, visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/kids/.

April 8 Easter Day Easter is an annual festival commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is celebrated on a Sunday. Connected with the observance of Easter is the 40-day penitential season of Lent, beginning on Ash Wednesday and concluding at midnight on Holy Saturday, the day before Easter Sunday. Find fun Easter activities to do with children at http://www.billybear4kids.com/holidays/easter/fun.htm

March Activities:

Windy Days – March is known for its windy days. It would be a great day to fly a kite

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Sidewalk Chalk– Take advantage of a mild day and head outside to draw on the sidewalk with chalk. Kids love to have their whole body outlined and then fill in the drawing with clothes and a face. If it is a rainy day,  try white or colored chalk inside on construction paper or brown wrapping paper. The drawings can be made permanent, so they won’t rub off, by spraying with aerosol hair spray (best to spray outside, and certainly away from the children).

March Calendar

March 1 – Dr. Seuss’s Birthday
Born in Massachusetts in 1904, Dr. Seuss wrote The Cat in the Hat and more than fifty other books. These books are fun to read aloud and children love them!  Visit the Westport Library and read some of his books to your host children.

March 11 Daylight Saving Time Be sure to set the clocks forward one hour!  Don’t be late for work!

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March 17 – St. Patrick’s Day – St. Patrick is said to have given a sermon from a hilltop that drove all the snakes from Ireland.  St. Patrick’s Day has been celebrated in the US since 1737.  Traditional icons of the day are the shamrock, leprechaun, the color green and the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. In Chicago, they city celebrates with a parade and the Chicago River is dyed green! New York City will have a big parade

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March 20 – Today is the first day of spring!  Take a walk outside and look for signs of spring – swelling buds on the trees, flowers poking up from the ground, more birds back in the trees.  Take a hike with your host children through Earthplace, Westport’s Nature Center.

March 30 Van Gogh’s Birthday
Vincent Van Gogh was a famous Dutch painter. Using washable paints show your host children how mixing primary colors (red, yellow and blue) can make new colors.

March 31 Westport Weston Nursery School Touch a Truck fundraiser.  Come and help face paint or bring your host children and have some fun.  9:30 a.m-1:30 p.m. at the Coleytown Elementary School

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!

Children’s Activity:

Dream Catchers – Native Americans used dream catchers to keep bad dreams away and let good dreams come in.  Simple to make for 5 year olds and older, this is a fun craft activity that can then be hung in the child’s room. Take an ordinary paper plate and cut the center out of it leaving just the rim of the plate. Color the rim the child’s favorite color. Next, punch holes with a hole punch every inch or two all the way around the plate. Then, string the yarn back and forth from one side of the rim to the other forming a web like design inside of the paper ring. Decide which is the top and which is the bottom of their dream catcher. At the bottom of the dream catcher attach small feathers.