Looking for activities to do with your kids on summer break? Check out the Au Pair in America Summer Fun Pinboard
Photo: MissMessie (Flickr)
Tag Archives: fun
Spring Activity Ideas
Looking for fun things to do with your kids to welcome spring?
Check out the Au Pair in America Pinterest pin board SPRING HAS SPRUNG
Photo: Susanne Nilsson
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.
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)
Making Paper Snowflakes
Cutting paper snowflakes is a fun and simple indoor winter activity. Here is a great video showing you how to cut some of your own. For younger kids is is best to keep the designs simple to avoid frustration if they cut away too much and it tears.
If you want to make virtual snowflakes, check out this great website: Make-a-Flake Website
Fun Things to do with Your Kids
Looking for activity ideas for your host children? Au Pair in America has a variety of Pinterest boards with ideas.
Check out the Kid’s Stuff Pinboard.
Photo: Brisbane City Council
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
Get lots of ideas to put on your list on our APIA Summer Fun Pinterest Board.
Summer Fun Ideas
Looking for fun activity ideas to get the summer started off right with your host kids?
Check out our Au Pair in America Summer Fun Pinboard on Pinterest.
Planning is the key! Bored kids are more likely to get into mischief and fight with siblings. Have lots of ideas ready and avoid those problems as much as possible.
Photo: MissMessie (Flickr)
Spring Activity Ideas
Click here to view lots of Spring Activity Ideas on the Au Pair in America Pinterest Board
Looking for things to do with the kids? Check out our Spring Has Sprung Pinboard.
Photo: Richard Barrett-Small
St. Patrick's Day Activities & Recipes
St. Patrick’s Day is March 17.
Here are some great ideas of things to do with the kids to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day on our APIA Pinterest Board.
Photo: Anotherlunch.com
Big Kids Need Interaction, Too
Just 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!