Tag Archives: activity

Make Your Own Play Dough

Play dough is the perfect modeling material for children. Their small hands can pat, poke, pinch, roll and knead it into many shapes. Keep it in an airtight container to use another day, or let it air dry into favorite shapes.

8640007416_3170564961_m

Measure 2 cups of flour, one cup of salt and 4 teaspoons of cream of tartar into a bowl. Add 1/4 cup of oil to one cup of water in a separate bowl then add the mixture to the dry ingredients. For colored play dough, squeeze 10-20 drops of food coloring into the water before you add it to the mixture. Cook the dough at low heat in a wide pan, stirring constantly until it becomes rubbery. Remove the dough from the heat and knead it for a few minutes. When it cools the kids can play too!

Photo: Kevin Jarrett (Flickr)

Handling Expenses

Miscellaneous Expenses

There are different ways to handle the little day to day expenses that come up.  Things like when an au pair takes the kids out for ice cream or picks up a gallon of milk.  Some families keep a cookie jar fund, a little cash that they set aside weekly or monthly for this kind of expenses.  Here are some suggestions for avoiding problems with expenses.

Host Families

  • It’s important to be clear about how long this money should last and what types of expenses are approved.
  • Let the au pair know whether or not you expect receipts.

    • Au Pairs

  • Only spend the money on approved expenses.
  • If it is something you are not sure about, ask first.
  • Put your receipts in the cookie jar in place of the money to avoid any confusion.

    • Gas and Fare Cards

    Host families are responsible for the au pair’s transportation costs:

  • to and from classes and cluster meetings
  • driving the kids

    • It is a good idea to figure out how much gas an au pair will use for these trips and either put gas in the car or give a gas allowance.   If your au pair is riding to classes or cluster meetings with another au pair, you should offer to share the cost of gas.

    Au pairs are responsible for their own transportation at all other times.  You should replace the amount of gas used for personal use.

    Photo: Andrea Travillian

    2014 Au Pair in America DC Regional Cultural Fair

    Print

    Au Pair in America is hosting a DC Regional Cultural Fair

    Au pairs representing over 35 different countries will provide: children’s activities, performances, visual displays, face painting and a cultural parade. This event is open to the public. Anyone interested in learning about other cultures and the Au Pair in America program are invited.

    SBW03BruceDouglas

    Saturday, April 5, 2014
    1:00-3:00 PM
    Spanish Ballroom
    Glen Echo Park
    7300 MacArthur Boulevard
    Glen Echo, Maryland 20812


    For more information, please contact Christine Connally at cconnallyaupair @ gmail.com or 301-860-1314.

    Big Kids Need Interaction, Too

    Kids play LabyrinthX-2Just because a child is old enough to occupy themselves, doesn’t mean that they should be expected to do so the majority of the time.  Host families have a certain expectation of activity and involvement for their children. Get the kids engaged and active. You can be more fun than the TV or video game.

    Problem:
    But, my kids don’t want to do anything but watch TV or play video games.

    Solution:
    Instead of saying – “Would you like to (fill in the blank with any activity)?  The answer will often be, “No.”

    Try this – “Now we are going to (fill in the blank with any activity.) or “Would you rather do  ___ or ____?”  (Make sure both the choices are things you approve of.)
    Your chances of co-operation are greatly increased. Even kids who are reluctant to try new things will usually get in the spirit of things and have fun, if you pick a good activity.

    Problem:
    I don’t know what to do with school age kids?

    Solution:
    Here are a few easy ideas to start with.  Look for more on the internet and the library.  Google “activities school age kids” or “activities tweens”
    -Cooking
    -Making things (check craft stores like Michael’s for kits and models that are age appropriate)
    -Going fun places (check the Cluster Google Map for all kinds of great places in the local area including pottery making, jewelry making, farms, museums and more)
    -Sports (soccer, tennis, swimming, bicycling, roller skating, ice skating, and more)
    -Visit places in the area like the library, museums and attractions in DC, mini-golf and go-karts
    -Let them teach you to do something they enjoy.  Kids this age love being the expert.
    -Get outdoors and visit local parks.  You can even make a project of reviewing all the local parks (what kind of equipment they have, is there shade, water fountain?)  They can write this up and keep, so they remember which ones they want to go to again and which ones to skip in the future.
    -Let them help you search and plan some activities.
    -Check on the APIA Pinterest page and here on our cluster blog for ideas.
    -If your host children are in scouts, find out if there are things that they need to complete that you can work on with them.  Even if they are not in scouts, I suggest you check your local library for Cub Scout Handbooks (Tiger, Wolf, Bear & Webelos.)  They are full of activities appropriate for boys (and girls) from age 7-11.
    -If you have a GPS, try taking them geocaching. Here is a website with all the details.

    Note: Always get permission from your host parents before taking the kids places.

    Contest: The first au pair in my cluster to send me a message (email or Facebook) telling me their favorite activity to do with school age kids will win a prize!

    Make Your Own Play Dough

    Play dough is the perfect modeling material for children. Their small hands can pat, poke, pinch, roll and knead it into many shapes. Keep it in an airtight container to use another day, or let it air dry into favorite shapes.

    8640007416_3170564961_m

    Measure 2 cups of flour, one cup of salt and 4 teaspoons of cream of tartar into a bowl. Add 1/4 cup of oil to one cup of water in a separate bowl then add the mixture to the dry ingredients. For colored play dough, squeeze 10-20 drops of food coloring into the water before you add it to the mixture. Cook the dough at low heat in a wide pan, stirring constantly until it becomes rubbery. Remove the dough from the heat and knead it for a few minutes. When it cools the kids can play too!

    Photo: Kevin Jarrett (Flickr)

    Garland of Gratitude Craft

    Below are the directions from Spoonful for this fun and easy project.

    Garland of Gratitude

    garland-of-gratitude-thanksgiving-craft-step3-photo-150-FF1104CRAFTA03

    Simple enough for kids to create on their own, these beautiful, textured leaves make a wonderful holiday tradition. Invite each guest to write something he or she is grateful for on a leaf, and watch the garland grow each year.

    Materials
    • Colored construction paper
    • Pencil
    • Spray bottle (filled with water)
    • Scissors
    • Colored pencils
    • Twine or natural-colored string
    • Double-sided tape
    Instructions
    1. Draw leaf shapes on colored construction paper, or download leaf templates and then trace on to colored construction paper.Make at least 1 leaf per guest plus others for decoration.
    2. Lay the paper on a covered work surface, then spray water over both sides so the whole surface is damp. Crumple the paper into a loose ball, flatten it out, and let it dry completely (which takes a few hours).
    3. Next, cut out the leaves and hand them to your guests to write on.
    4. Finally, make a garland by folding the stems over a length of string and taping them in place. Drape them from a sideboard, along a mantel, or from the top of a doorway.

    Mini-Gingerbread Houses and Igloo

    A fun holiday activity to do with kids is making gingerbread houses.  You can buy kits with prebaked gingerbread and all the supplies or you can make your own using graham crackers.  Graham crackers are sold in the cookie/cracker aisle at the store.  The advantage to assembling your own supplies is that you can mix in some healthy decorations as opposed to all candy in the kits.  You can also let kids unleash their creativity.  There is no rule about how the houses must look, so they can build whatever they like.

    Graham Cracker Houses

    Here are the supplies to gather to make your own mini houses:

    • box of graham crackers
    • store bought whipped white frosting
    • wax paper or foil (to cover the surface you work on)
    • plastic knife (to spread the frosting)
    • decorations (candies, mini pretzels, cereal, the possibilities are endless)

    Set up a work space on the table for each child with their supplies

    gingerbread house 1 gingerbread house 2

    Mini Marshmallow Igloos

    Another super easy and fun option is to make an igloo.

    Here are the supplies you will need:

    gingerbread like igloo

    Mini Marshmallow Igloo

    Simply let the child cover the outside of the cup with white frosting and place marshmallows on the frosting.

    Create Your Own Summer Bucket List!

    The term “bucket list” was popularized in the 2007 Jack Nicholson/Morgan Freeman movie. The idea is to make a list of things you want to do before you “kick the bucket” (which is an idiom referring to death.) Even though that sounds kind of morbid, the idea has taken off as something much more positive and people create bucket lists to log the things they want to do at some point in their life.

    With that said, a Summer Bucket list is a list of things to do before this summer ends.

    Click here to print your own summer bucket list

    Click here to print your own summer bucket list

    Get lots of ideas to put on your list on our APIA Summer Fun Pinterest Board.