July 24 is Amelia Earhart Day
Amelia Earhart became the first person, man or woman, to fly solo across the pacific. Another famous flight was her nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic in 1932, the first for a woman.
College Park Aviation Museum is a great place to take the kids for hands-on learning about aviation. Visit their website for hours and upcoming events.
Dehydration The little ones, especially, forget to drink or to tell you that they need to drink. If you find the children not looking well and/or getting cranky toward the afternoon, it might be because they’re tired, or it might be because they’re dehydrated. Remember: By the time a person feels thirsty, he’s already partly dehydrated, so drink to prevent thirst, not to quench it. Common symptoms of dehydration are crankiness, headaches, aches in the joints and weariness. And don’t allow your child to fill up on juice or soft drinks; these are dehydrators. Water or child-appropriate hydrating drinks are best.
However, if you or your child has severe dehydration (dry mouth, sunken eyes, reluctant to drink, unable to pee or cry, high fever, lethargy), call for emergency help and have your child sip an electrolyte-replacement fluid (such as Pedialyte).
Hot Cars: Don’t EVER leave children alone in the car — not even for a moment. Besides the danger of abduction, the temperature in a car can skyrocket in minutes. And, if you see an unattended young child in a vehicle, please call 911, the police or other emergency personnel. Your call could save the child’s life.
Drowning: Always actively supervise children in and around water. Infants and children can drown in bathtubs, swimming pools, ponds or almost any other water. Toddlers aren’t strong enough to lift themselves back out of a toilet, bucket, container or wading pool.
Sun Protection: Children’s skin and eyes are more sensitive to ultraviolet rays. Babies should be protected from direct sun entirely. Toddlers, preschoolers and older children should be covered well in sunscreen (SPF 30 or higher) at least one half hour before going out in the sun. Sunscreen should be reapplied every hour or so, and it should be reapplied after the child has been in water. Don’t forget ears, hands, feet, lips and under the eyes. Also, make sure your child wears a hat and sunglasses when out in the sun for any length of time.
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.
In 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!
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!
What you need: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
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.
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.
Our cluster is one of the select number of communities offering EduCare in America. Au Pair in America is the only agency offering the EduCare program.
Sarah from Germany ~ 19 years old
What is EduCare in America? – This cost-effective program is the choice for families with full-time school-age children who require care primarily during the early morning and after school hours, with some weekend and evening hours. 30 hours of child care for approximately $271 per family, per week.
EduCare Summer 2011* Arrival Dates
July 5 July 25 August 1 August 15
We still have a large pool of EduCare applicants looking for placement this summer.
*There is also one winter EduCare arrival date for 2011 – December 5.
Photo #4 entered by Sandra from Spain.
Congratulations, Sandra!
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
It’s not too late to register the kids for Summer Reading Programs at your local library. Many offer programs with incentives for kids who keep track of their summer reading. There are also story times, puppet shows and other events held at the libraries over the summer. Another great place to stay cool in the hot weather.
Check out your county’s library website for details:
Montgomery County Public Library
The Folklife Festival will take place June 24-28 and July 1-5. The Annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival is an international exhibition of living cultural heritage. Attracting more than one million visitors yearly, the two-week long celebration is the largest annual cultural event in the United States. This year’s festival will feature the traditions of Mexico and Asian Pacific Americans.
The Festival is held outdoors on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., between the Smithsonian museums. There is no admission charge. Visitors should dress for hot and humid weather. Parking around the Mall is extremely limited, so visitors are advised to use Metrorail. The Smithsonian station (Mall exit) is at the Festival site. Federal Triangle and National Archives stations are close by. For general Smithsonian visitor information, call 202.633.1000.
Festival hours are 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., with special events taking place most evenings.
I highly recommend that you visit their website to plan your visit http://www.festival.si.edu/
