Category Archives: Blog

Camp Au Pair – Cars & Trucks

Next week’s Camp Au Pair theme will be Cars & Trucks.

Crafts, recipes, activities, and games related to all kinds of vehicles can all be found here on the Camp Au Pair – Cars & Trucks pinboard.

Field Trips can be an excellent way for kids to learn and have new experiences. Get permission from your host parents before any outings. Here are a few field trips that go with this theme:

  • Go Kart Raceway in Crofton has double karts where an adult can drive a child (age 2 & up). To drive their own kart, kids must be age 8 and 54 inches or taller.  (Even if they aren’t old enough to drive, watching the cars is fun.)
  • Smithsonian Musuem of American History has an exhibit with cars and trucks from a variety of different time periods.
  • Port Discovery in Baltimore has a fun gas station exhibit where kids can pretend they are driving a car and filling it up at the gas station.
  • Look for construction areas where the kids can observe big machines in action. Kids should observe from the car or a safe area.
  • Keep an eye out for the trash truck and let them watch the truck in action.
  • Go to a drive-through car wash or let the kids make their own car wash at home.

Virtual Field Trips

  • Watch vehicles being assembled with virtual auto plant tours from Toyota & BMW.

Videos – Mighty Machines & Amazing Big Trucks are kid-friendly video channels showing machinery and big trucks in action. Look for fun videos on YouTube about cars and trucks.

Movies – Here are some movies that fit the cars and trucks theme.

  • Bumble Bee
  • Bob the Builder Mega Machines
  • Cars, Cars 2 & 3
  • Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
  • Go Karts
  • Speed Racer
  • The Love Bug
  • Turbo 

Books – Check your kids’ bookshelf for books on cars & trucks. You can also find many read aloud book videos on YouTube. Cool Cars , Little Blue Truck, The Garbage Trucks Are Coming Today, and With Any Luck, I’ll Drive a Truck  are a few fun ones to get you started.

Image: funlearningforkids.com

Camp Au Pair – Bugs & Butterflies

Next week’s Camp Au Pair theme will be Bugs & Butterflies.

More than 100 crafts, recipes, and activities related to all kinds of bugs, insects, butterflies, and spiders can be found here on the Camp Au Pair – Bugs & Butterflies  pinboard.

Field Trips can be an excellent way for kids to learn and have new experiences. Get permission from your host parents before any outings. Check the websites before you go to be sure you understand the hours, costs, and whether advance tickets/reservations are required.

Games – There are more bug and butterfly-themed games than you might expect.

Outdoors – Kids today do not spend enough time outdoors. Take the kids in the backyard or another nature area (approved by your host parents) and do some activities related to this theme:

  • Allow them to search for bugs and butterflies.
  • Observe lightning bugs (also known as fireflies) in the evening. Here is a map showing what people call these little guys in different parts of the country.
  • After it rains, look for earthworms. Not bugs or butterflies, but very interesting creatures you can find in your own backyard.

NOTE: If you are outdoors with the children, be sure to check for ticks when you come back inside. Here is a blog post explaining the health risk ticks can pose and how to find and remove them safely.

Webcams – You can do a Google search for websites with webcams that allow you to observe bugs. Here are some to get you started.

Books – Make a trip to the library and/or check your kids’ bookshelf for books on bugs and butterflies. You may find some classics like The Very Hungry Caterpillar or The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle. You can also find books being read aloud on YouTube videos like this one.

Movies – There are lots of movies with insect themes.

  • The Ant Bully
  • Antz
  • A Bugs Life
  • The Bee Movie
  • Charlotte’s Web
  • James & the Giant Peach
  • Maya the Bee 
  • Miniscule: Valley of the Lost Ants
  • Wings of Life (documentary)

Videos – You can find many great videos of butterflies and insects on YouTube. Check out these videos for kids about bees and ants. All about Insects covers lots of tiny creatures who crawl and fly. Here are a few videos to get you started.

 

Image: minieco.co.uk

Camp Au Pair – Science (STEM)

Next week’s Camp Au Pair theme is Science (STEM). This includes science, technology, engineering, and math.

Crafts, recipes, activities, and games related to all things science, technology, engineering, and math can be found here on the Camp Au Pair – Science (STEM) pinboard.

Field Trips can be a great way for kids to learn and have new experiences. Get permission from your host parents before any outings. Here are a few places to go, that fit this theme:

Virtual Field Trips

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Videos – On YouTube, you can find many great videos of science experiments to do with kids.

The Magic School Bus is a cartoon series with episodes on lots of great science topics. You can find some episodes on YouTube and the full series on Paramount Plus.

Bill Nye the Science Guy is science TV series for kids. There is an episode guide on his website with clips and explanations on a wide variety of science topics.

Movies – The Lego Movie, Big Hero 6, Wall-E, Hidden Figures, Robots, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Flubber, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, and Meet the Robinsons all fit the STEM theme.

Webcams – You can do a Google search for science websites with webcams. Here is a collection of 22 science webcams from around the world.

Books – Stop by your local library and look for books on science, technology, engineering, and math. You can also find many read aloud book videos on YouTube. Here are a few to get you started.

 

Remember… Science is learning about how things work through observation and experimentation. Every day is full of opportunities to encourage children’s natural curiosity about the world!

Image: sweetpaulmag.com

Camp Au Pair – Nature Exploration

Our next Camp Au Pair theme is Nature Exploration.

Crafts, recipes, activities, and games can all be found here on the Camp Au Pair – Nature Exploration pinboard.

Field Trips can be a great way for kids to learn and have new experiences. You can start observing nature at any local park or in your own backyard. If you want to take it a step further,  Below is a list of other local places to go explore nature. Get permission from your host parents before any outings and check websites before you go for hours and information.

Safety note: When coming inside after you have been outside exploring nature, it’s always a good idea to check the children and yourself for ticks. For more information, take a look at this post.

Virtual Field Trips:

Webcams – You can do a Google search for websites with webcams that allow you to observe nature.

Videos – Look for fun videos on YouTube about nature.

 
 
 
 

Books – Check your bookshelves and/or stop by your local library and look for books on nature.  You can also find many read aloud book videos on YouTube. Here are a few to get you started.

 

Image: toddleratplay.com

Camp Au Pair – Under the Sea

Next week’s Camp Au Pair theme is Under the Sea.

Crafts, recipes, activities, and games related to creatures who live under the sea can all be found here on the Camp Au Pair – Under the Sea pinboard.

Field Trips can be a great way for kids to learn and have new experiences. Get permission from your host parents before any outings. Check the websites before you go to be sure you understand the hours, costs, and whether advance tickets/reservations are required. Search online to see if your area has any of the following:

  • Pet or outdoor store (Bass Pro Shop) with fish tanks
  • Aquarium
  • Zoo
  • Nature Center

National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) – NOAA has a lot of fun, interactive and educational activities on their website. They focus on whales, sharks, sea turtles, sea lions and more.

  • Virtual Underwater Dive
  • Online Games
  • Puzzle, Activity & Coloring Sheets

Webcams – You can do a google search for aquariums and zoos across the country (and the world) with webcams that allow you to observe sea creatures. Here are a few to get you started.

Videos – Look for fun videos on YouTube about sea creatures. There’s more to see than Baby Shark. Movies like Finding Nemo, Dolphin Tale, and The Little Mermaid also go well with this theme.

Books – Stop by your local library and look for books on sea creatures. The Rainbow Fish is a classic children’s book, your kids may already own. If not, you can find videos like this of it being read aloud.

Movies – There are lots of movies with under the sea themes.

  • A Dolphin Tale 
  • Finding Dory
  • Finding Nemo
  • Little Mermaid
  • Moana
  • Moana 2
  • Shark Tale 
  • Song of the Sea

Television – There are some episodes of children’s television shows that talk about life under the sea.

The Magic School Bus is a television series that follows Ms. Frizzle and her class as they set off on field trips. Most episodes can be found on YouTube. Here are some episodes that fit this week’s theme.

Bill Nye the Science Guy has episodes on Fish, Marine Animals and more on YouTube.

The Discovery Channel has an annual Shark Week coming up on July 20. Check out 15 JAW-some Activities for Shark Week with lots of fun ideas for kids in grades 5 and up, but a few for younger kids too.

Photo: mimisdollhouse.com

Happy 40th Birthday APIA Cluster Meeting

In celebration of Au Pair in America’s 40th birthday in 2026, our April cluster meeting was a festive birthday-themed gathering. We marked the occasion with fun activities, including bingo and a team game where participants competed to name as many U.S. states as possible. Everyone enjoyed cupcakes as part of the celebration.

In addition to the festivities, we also completed a meaningful service project. Each participant brought supplies to assemble birthday bags for donation to a local food pantry. The bags included cake mix, frosting, candles, and other party essentials—helping ensure that families in the community can celebrate special moments together.

Scam Alert: Fake Texts

You may receive texts, emails and phone calls from scammers posing as government agencies putting pressure on you to take action by sending them money. It is NOT NORMAL for government agencies to contact you by text for the purpose of collecting money you owe. Never click a link and take action on one of these messages without first showing the message to your host parents. 99.9% of the time when you get something like this it is a scam.

Below are two screenshots of some texts I received recently. I have highlighted some of the red flags that help you realize it’s a scam. If you do have a pending traffic ticket or charge from a video toll you may be nervous receiving this, but it is just a coincidence.

If you click a scam link, in addition to losing your money, you may be compromising the security of your banking information, and personal data on your device. 

Red Flags in these Text Messages

  1. Maryland has a Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA) not a Deptartment of Motor Vehicles (DMV).
  2. Sense of urgency: Telling you that you must act immediately.
  3. Scare tactics: Listing serious consequences to make you afraid.
  4. Fake Link: Most government websites will end in .gov. The actual Maryland MVA website is https://mva.maryland.gov/. You can always look at trusted sources (like our driver’s license resource page) to see if the website matches the official website.
  5. A foreign phone number: A U.S. government agency will not be sending text messages from a phone number that is outside of the U.S. One of these messages has a U.S. phone number, so this is a good example of how the same scam can have different variations, so it’s good to know different red flags to look out for.
  6. Final notice: If you had an actual ticket, you would receive the citation in the mail and if you didn’t pay that, you would receive multiple late notices by mail. You would not be hearing about this for the first time in a text message that is labeled as final notice.
  7. This is a fake code they added to make this look more official. Even if it was the actual code, anyone can reference that, so don’t be fooled. In this case, I looked up this code and it has to do with the care of and riding of a horse!

If you are ever in doubt, ask your host family or community counselor.

 

Thanksgiving is November 27

Thanksgiving is a public holiday celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November every year in the United States. It started as a harvest festival and has been celebrated nationally on and off since 1789.  The most important part of Thanksgiving for American families is to spend family time together.

Here are some fun facts about this special holiday:

  • The first Thanksgiving was held in the autumn of 1621 and included 50 Pilgrims and 90 Wampanoag Indians and lasted three days.
  • The first Thanksgiving was eaten with spoons and knives — but no forks! Forks weren’t even introduced to the Pilgrims until 10 years later and weren’t a popular utensil until the 18th century.
  • Thanksgiving is the reason for TV dinners! In 1953, Swanson had so much extra turkey (260 tons) that a salesman told them they should package it onto aluminum trays with other sides like sweet potatoes — and the first TV dinner was invented.
  • Presidential pardon of a turkey: Each year, the president pardons a turkey and spares it from being eaten for Thanksgiving dinner. The first turkey pardon ceremony started with President Truman in 1947. President Obama pardoned a 45-pound turkey named Courage, who has flown to Disneyland and served as Grand Marshal of the park’s Thanksgiving Day parade!
  • Why is Thanksgiving the fourth Thursday in November? President Abe Lincoln said Thanksgiving would be the fourth Thursday in November, but in 1939 President Roosevelt moved it up a week hoping it would help the shopping season during the Depression era. It never caught on and it was changed back two years later.
  • How did the tradition of watching football on Thanksgiving start? The NFL started the Thanksgiving Classic games in 1920 and since then the Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys have hosted games on Turkey Day. In 2006, a third game was added with different teams hosting.
  • About 90 % of Americans eat turkey on Thanksgiving Day
  • The ‘wishbone’ of the turkey is used in a good luck ritual on Thanksgiving Day.

Photo: Tim Sackton

Hints for Success – Homesickness/Culture Shock

Almost everyone experiences culture shock and homesickness when they come to a completely new environment. Everything is different: the language, the food, and the people.

Here are my Top 5 Tips for
Dealing with Homesickness

1. Make friends – Don’t wait for other au pairs to reach out to you, reach out to them. There are other new au pairs who are feeling the same way you are right now. Set a goal to reach out to a few of them each day. Some will respond and some will not. Don’t let that discourage you. No one will ever be mad at you for sending them a message to say hello or ask if they want to do something together. Make friends from various countries and you will also get a chance to practice your English skills together.

2. Stay in touch with your home country, but not too much. Skyping or talking on the phone every day with your family and/or friends back home normally makes homesickness worse. Try texting instead and reduce the Skype and phone calls to once a week, until you feel stronger. It’s much harder seeing the faces and hearing the voices of those you miss.

3. Get out of the house (or your room specifically) – Go to cluster meetings, have coffee, go to the park, and/or go places with other au pairs. If someone invites you out, say “yes” whenever possible. Also, don’t be afraid to do the inviting. If your host family invites you to do things with them, say “yes.” This will help you get to know each other and contribute to your overall happiness.

4. Share your culture with your host family – If you are missing some favorite foods from home, find ways that you can make them here and share them with your host family. There are many international markets in our area, you should be able to find most of the ingredients you need. If you are not really a cook, search online for restaurants and bakeries that have a taste of home. Your host family is probably just as excited to learn about your culture as you are to learn about America.

5. Make plans – Create your own Au Pair Bucket List (places you want to go, new foods to try, new things to experience during your year in the U.S.) and start doing them now. Post on our cluster WhatsApp group to find others who may want to join you on your adventures.

Realize that it definitely gets easier with time.

All au pairs experience homesickness to some extent and nearly all of them stay and have a successful year (some stay for two years.) So, it must get better, right? Once you get past the initial homesickness, most au pairs report how quickly the year goes by.

Photo by:  Shimelle Laine (Flickr)

Where to Get Your Flu Shot

Many au pairs and host families are looking for places to get flu shots this time of year. Your au pair medical insurance is a type of travel insurance and it does NOT cover preventive care like vaccines. But there are lots of places to get flu shots for free or a small fee.

If a host family is urging their au pair to get the seasonal flu shot and she agrees to get it, the host family would be responsible for the expense.

If you are planning to get the seasonal flu vaccine, it is recommended that you get it as early as possible. Below are some links to help you decide where to go for a flu shot.

County and State Health Departments

Some host families have told me that they have taken their au pair with them to Kaiser Permanente and the au pair has received the flu shot even though they don’t have Kaiser Permanent themselves.

Local Pharmacies

Flu shots are also available for a fee at local pharmacies. Go to GoodRX and pick a local pharmacy discount offer to get the flu shot for $30 and up.

Because your medical insurance plan doesn’t cover vaccines, you should not present your insurance card. The claim will be denied and you will receive a bill in the mail.

Costco offers flu shots for $21.99 and up.