{"id":767,"date":"2010-02-10T11:58:15","date_gmt":"2010-02-10T16:58:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/mdf\/?p=767"},"modified":"2010-02-10T11:58:15","modified_gmt":"2010-02-10T16:58:15","slug":"new-ideas-for-the-same-of-toys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/mdf\/2010\/02\/10\/new-ideas-for-the-same-of-toys\/","title":{"rendered":"Snow Boredom Busters #1 &#8211; New Ideas for the Same Old Toys"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>There are some toys that kids usually play with on their own while you watch on the sidelines. However, you can make those toys feel like something new and fun, by suggesting different ways to play with them.\u00a0 Another thing that will make it more fun is if you become actively involved rather than just watching.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-769\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/mdf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2010\/02\/fullsizefoodbasket-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"fullsizefoodbasket\" width=\"180\" height=\"180\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/mdf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2010\/02\/fullsizefoodbasket-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/mdf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2010\/02\/fullsizefoodbasket-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/mdf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2010\/02\/fullsizefoodbasket.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 180px) 100vw, 180px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Play Food\/Dishes <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Teach your host children how to say the names of some of the food and dishes.<\/li>\n<li>Using English and\/or your language play games where you are ordering food like in a restaurant. Take turns with who will be the waiter and who is the customer.<\/li>\n<li>Come up with silly food combinations.\u00a0 For example: Who wants pickles on their slice of cake?<\/li>\n<li>Play a guessing game where the kids have to figure out what food you are talking about.\u00a0 For example: I grow under the ground in the dirt.\u00a0 People eat me fried, mashed and baked.\u00a0 What am I? (a potato)<\/li>\n<li>Play a game with setting the table using your language to ask for the different items (plate, spoon, etc.)<\/li>\n<li>Ask the children to divide the foods up into the different food groups (vegetables, meat, dairy,\u00a0 etc)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff\"><strong>Block, Lego Blocks and Other Building Toys <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-771\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/mdf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2010\/02\/legos-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"legos\" width=\"180\" height=\"180\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/mdf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2010\/02\/legos-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/mdf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2010\/02\/legos-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/mdf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2010\/02\/legos.jpg 356w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 180px) 100vw, 180px\" \/><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Divide all of the blocks up between the people playing by taking turns for each person to select block by block.<\/li>\n<li>Suggest specific things to build (robots, house, mountain) and build together.<\/li>\n<li>Challenge everyone to use all of their blocks.<\/li>\n<li>Sort the blocks by color or shape and make patterns with them (red, blue, red blue or square, triangle, rectangle.)\u00a0 You can create a pattern and ask the child to fill in what comes next to continue the pattern.<\/li>\n<li>Make the tallest block tower you can and let them knock it down (over and over again, if like most kids they like destroying things.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #800000\">Mr. Potato Head <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-772\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/mdf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2010\/02\/potato-head-300x248.jpg\" alt=\"potato-head\" width=\"180\" height=\"149\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/mdf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2010\/02\/potato-head-300x248.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/mdf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2010\/02\/potato-head.jpg 426w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 180px) 100vw, 180px\" \/><br \/>\n<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Teach your host children the names of the different parts in your language.<\/li>\n<li>Play a game asking them to put on the body parts by naming them in your language.<\/li>\n<li>Play the same game above, but using Simon Says.\u00a0 Simon Says is a game where the leader gives commands by saying &#8220;Simon Says&#8221; first. For example, &#8220;Simon Says, put on the nose.&#8221;\u00a0 The players are only to follow the commands when the leader says Simon Says.\u00a0 If the leader doesn&#8217;t say Simon Says first and just says, &#8220;put on the nose,&#8221;\u00a0 and the player follows the command they are out of the game.\u00a0 Repeat the game multiple times, so all kids get a turn to be the leader at least once.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There are some toys that kids usually play with on their own while you watch on the sidelines. However, you can make those toys feel like something new and fun, by suggesting different ways to play with them.\u00a0 Another thing that will make it more fun is if you become actively involved rather than just  <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/mdf\/2010\/02\/10\/new-ideas-for-the-same-of-toys\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[35,80,194,267,397,504,1041,541,545,823],"class_list":["post-767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kids","tag-activities","tag-au-pairs","tag-childcare","tag-day","tag-fun","tag-indoor","tag-kids","tag-language","tag-learning","tag-snow"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Snow Boredom Busters #1 - New Ideas for the Same Old Toys - Au Pair Chatter<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Snow Boredom Busters #1 - New Ideas for the Same Old Toys - Au Pair Chatter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There are some toys that kids usually play with on their own while you watch on the sidelines. 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