Tag Archives: fun

Time Capsule Fair Has Been Canceled

Due to the severe weather from Hurricane Irene that is anticipated on Saturday, the event will be be canceled.

If you created a time capsule to take part, please contact me (contact info. below) to arrange to receive your goody bag.

time capsule

In honor of the 25th Anniversary of Au Pair in America, we are sponsoring a time capsule fair. Families are invited to create a family time capsule and participate. Guests are also welcome to come see the time capsules on display, vote for their favorite and participate in the other family activities.

This will be a Fun Family Event featuring…

  • Time Capsule Fair
  • Story Times
  • Back to School Organization Tips for Parents
  • Temporary Tattoos
  • Coloring & Crafts
  • Door Prize Drawings

A Time Capsule is a container that includes items and information that share what it was like to live in a particular period of time. After the time capsule fair, you can seal up your capsule and mark it “Not to be opened until 2036.” It could be buried or just tucked away in your attic. It will be a lot of fun looking back at the items 25 years from now!

Download a Complete Time Capsule Activity Plan HERE

Time Capsule Fair Rules:

  • Register HERE online (preferred) or the day of the event.
  • You may use any container and include whatever items you choose.
  • You may work together as a family to create one family time capsule or each child may create and enter their own.
  • Each entry will have a 2’ x 2 1/2’ table space to display their time capsule and it’s contents.
  • Backboards are allowed, but not required.
  • Each family who enters the time capsule will receive a gift bag.
  • Time capsules should be checked in and set-up between 1:00 and 2:00 PM to be included.
  • Judging will take place at 2:30 PM.
  • Award presentations and prize drawings will be held at 2:45 PM.
  • If you want to take your time capsule home, it needs to be picked up by 3:30 PM.

For more information, please call Christine Connally at 301-860-1314 or email at cicaupair @ gmail.com (without the spaces.)

Paper Plate Sundial

From the National Wildlife Federation website:

Many years ago people had to use the sun to tell him. Learn how people told time before the invention of watches and clocks by making a sun clock.

Paper plate Sundial

What you need:

  • paper plate
  • plastic straw
  • sharpened pencil
  • crayons
  • ruler
  • pushpins

What you do:

  1. Start this project on a sunny day just before noon.
  2. Use the pencil to poke a hole through the very center of the paper plate. Write the number 12 on the edge of the plate with a crayon. Using the ruler as a guide, draw a straight line from the number 12 to the hole in the center of the plate.
  3. At noon, take the plate and the straw outside. Put the plate on the ground and poke the straw through the hole. Slant the straw toward the line you drew. Now carefully turn the plate so that the shadow of the straw falls along the line to the number 12.
  4. Fasten the plate to the ground with some pushpins. Have your child predict where he/she thinks that the shadow of the straw will be pointing in one hour.
  5. One hour later, at one o’clock, check the position of the shadow along the edge of the plate and write the number 1 on that spot. Continue each hour predicting the position and then checking and marking the actual position and time on the edge of the plate.
  6. At the end of the day you and your child will have a sun clock. On the next sunny afternoon you will be able to tell time by watching where the shadow of the straw falls on your clock.

Note: Observation, prediction and communication are all very important science skills. This activity helps to develop them. Be sure to have your child talk about why he/she thinks the shadow is moving.

Photo: NWF

Make Your Own Ice Cream

July 18th is National Ice Cream Day! Celebrate by enjoying a few scoops of your favorite flavor or by making your own ice cream at home. Here is a simple recipe. You can change it up by adding a little chocolate syrup, a few chocolate chips, or using a flavoring other than vanilla.

mixinbagIn a quart size zipper baggie, combine…
1 cup of whole milk or half and half
2 tablespoons of sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

In a gallon size zipper baggie…
Fill ½ way with ice cubes
Add 1/3 cup of rock salt (if you don’t have rock salt you can use table salt or kosher salt)

Seal the small baggie carefully and place the inside of the large bag. Seal the large bag and shake the bags until you can see the mixture thickening (about 5 minutes.) It will be cold to hold, so you may want to carefully pass it back and forth between yourself and a partner.  Remove the small baggie and wipe the top off (to remove salt water,) unzip and enjoy!

Outer Space Activity Fun

Here is another fun website with ideas to go along with this week’s Outer Space theme.

Get Crafty: Space Mobile

Make your own star mobile!

Space Mobile CraftWhat you need:
  • – Yellow construction paper
  • – String or yarn
  • – 2 plastic straws
  • – Hole puncher
  • – Scissors
  • – Pencil
  • – Eraser
  • – Stapler

Steps:

1. Draw 6-8 stars on the yellow construction paper. Each one should be a different shape or size.
2. When you’re finished, ask a parent to help you cut out the shapes. Cut around the outside of the lines and then use an eraser to remove the pencil marks.
3. Parent Alert: Using the hole puncher, pierce a hole at the top of each star.
4. Cut a piece of string for each of the stars and tie it around the hole. Tip: Vary the length of the string to help your mobile come to life.
5. Parent Alert: Pick up two straws and make the shape of the letter “X” with them. Staple the straws together where the two meet.
6. Cut and tie a long piece of string to where the staple is and then tie the rest of the strings to one of the four limbs of the X.
7. Hang your mobile by the long string in the middle and in your room from the ceiling or in a favorite corner somewhere around the house. Now, you can look at the stars anytime you want!

Craft from Funschool.com

Also: Printable Space Word Jumble & Shuttle Shuffle

Free Craft Activities at Bass Pro Shops

Looking for some cool summer fun indoors? Bass Pro Shops (located in Arundel Mills Mall) is offering a variety of free craft activities Tuesdays & Thursdays from 4-6 pm and Saturdays and Sundays from 2-5 pm, now through July 10.

Bass Pro

Click here to see the full list on the Bass Pro Shops website

Bass Pro Shops has a large indoor fish tank that my kids always enjoy checking out. For older kids, there is a rock climbing wall (for a charge.)

Additional activities are available. Check with your host parents before taking the kids to participate in these or any activities.

Arundel Mills also has a Lego Store, movie theater and Dave & Busters Game Arcade.  It’s not right around the corner (30 minutes from most parts of our cluster,) but worth the drive, if you plan to make a day of it with the kids.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

In the April kids activity kits, I included peat pots, potting soil and sunflower seeds. At the last coffee meeting, I received many reports of how well the sunflowers were growing and how excited the kids were to watch them grow. Tina was kind enough to send me some pictures she has taken to document the process of growing the sunflowers with her host child.

sunflower 1        sunflower 2

sunflower 3         sunflower 4

Have you ever heard the figure of speech “to have a green thumb?”  It means to have the ability to grow plants well. I personally do not have a green thumb, but it looks like some of our au pairs and host children do.

As these sunflowers get bigger, it will be time to move them to a larger pot or outside. It would be great if some of these survived the summer and you were able to harvest some sunflower seeds in the fall. If your sunflowers make it through the summer, please send me a picture!

Hand Flowers Craft

This is a step by step tutorial for making the hand flower project from the April craft kit. Even if you didn’t pick up your April craft kit, you probably have the supplies on hand to make this easy project.
finished project

Finished Project

 

Supplies:
construction paper (various colors)
pencil
scissors
stapler
clear tape
drinking straws or chenille stem (pipe cleaners)

 

 
 
Step by Step Instructions

Step by Step Instructions

Au Pair in America 25th Anniversary Cultural Fair is Today!

Click here to view full information about this spectacular event.In celebration of the 25th Anniversary of Au Pair in America and the beginning of legal au pair programs in America, we will be hosting a Regional Cultural Fair. 

When: April 9th, 2011, 1:00 to 3:00 pm

Where: Spanish Ballroom at Glen Echo Park 
               7300 MacArthur Boulevard, Glen Echo, MD 

Who’s Invited: This is a free family event and open to the public.

All of the clusters in the DC/MD/VA area will be participating. We expect to have au pairs representing over 35 different countries. Anyone interested in learning about other cultures and the Au Pair in America program are invited. For more information, email me at cicaupair @ aol.com

1/2 Price Deals for Washington, DC Area & Beyond

save-money1There are so many great events and things to see and do in the DC Metro area.  You can spend a lot of money experiencing it, unless you look for deals.  I have three websites that I am subscribed to that send local offers (for the areas of your choice) on a regular basis.

How does it work? All three of these websites allow you to register for free to receive emails with offers in the area(s) of your choice. Groupon and Living Social are daily and Goldstar has a variety of options. I am subscribed for a weekly Goldstar email. If you see an offer you like in the email, you go to their website and buy it. Read the restrictions carefully to make sure of important details such as: at which locations can it be used, the expiration date and special restrictions.

I am signed up for Washington, DC and Baltimore area deals on all of these sites. If I am planning a trip to an area in the future, I sign up for that area as well to look for deals on things I can do on my trip.

Groupon – Click HERE to register.
My fave deals – I bought a Segway Tour of Annapolis for $25 (regular price $50.)  I am planning to use this in the spring. I have gotten lots of other deals for things like salon services, Redbox rentals, places to take the kids and restaurants.

Living Social – Click HERE to register.
My fave deals –  I bought a $20 Amazon gift card for $10. I just got a great deal on movie tickets.

Goldstar – Click HERE to register.
My fave deal – On Goldstar, they have tickets for the Twilight Convention coming to VA in April for $10 (regular price $20) that are tempting me.  They have tickets to all kinds of events, including: theater, kid’s events, sports and more.

Summer Photo Contest

I asked au pairs in our cluster to share some photos from their summer travels. Please vote for your favorite by clicking HERE.  The winning au pair will receive a free ticket to the Maryland Renaissance Festival for our upcoming cluster meeting.

Vote as many times as you would like and share the link to this page with your friends via email, Facebook, Twitter and where ever else you can think of.  Voting will end on Thursday, September 23 at 12 noon.

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Please vote for your favorite by clicking HERE