Author Archives: Jennifer Harriss

Camp Au Pair – Under the Sea

Next week’s Camp Au Pair theme is Under the Sea.

 

Camp Au Pair – Under the Sea Week!

Shark Week is just around the corner! If you have kids who are fascinated by everything ocean-related, you can find crafts, recipes, activities, and games related to creatures who live under the sea  here on the Camp Au Pair – Under the Sea pinboard.

Local Field Trips – We might be far from an ocean, but there are plenty of local attractions where you and the kids can get up close to sharks, sea turtles, polar bears, and other denizens of the deep. As always, get permission from your host parents before any outings. Check the websites before you go to be sure you understand the hours, costs, and whether advance tickets/reservations are required. 

  • Pet or outdoor store Sheels (Eden Prairie) Aqualand (Minneapolis, Cannon Falls)
  • Sea Life (Mall of America)
  • Como Zoo (St. Paul) or Minnesota Zoo (Eagan)
  • Make a bathyscope and take it to a local lake. Kids can stand in water and clearly see what’s going on below the surface. (Pro tip – use cheap generic plastic wrap, it’s stronger than the fancy stuff.)

National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) – NOAA has a lot of fun, interactive and educational activities on their website. They focus on whales, sharks, sea turtles, sea lions and more.

  • Virtual Underwater Dive
  • Online Games
  • Puzzle, Activity & Coloring Sheets

Webcams – You can do a google search for aquariums and zoos across the country (and the world) with webcams that allow you to observe sea creatures. Here are a few to get you started.

Videos – Look for fun videos on YouTube about sea creatures. There’s more to see than Baby Shark. Movies like Finding Nemo, Dolphin Tale, and The Little Mermaid also go well with this theme.

Books – Stop by your local library and look for books on sea creatures. The Rainbow Fish is a classic children’s book, your kids may already own. If not, you can find videos like this of it being read aloud.

Movies – There are lots of movies with under the sea themes.

  • A Dolphin Tale 
  • Finding Dory
  • Finding Nemo
  • Little Mermaid
  • Moana
  • Moana 2
  • Shark Tale 
  • Song of the Sea

Television – There are some episodes of children’s television shows that talk about life under the sea.

The Magic School Bus is a television series that follows Ms. Frizzle and her class as they set off on field trips. Most episodes can be found on YouTube. Here are some episodes that fit this week’s theme.

Bill Nye the Science Guy has episodes on Fish, Marine Animals and more on YouTube.

The Discovery Channel has an annual Shark Week coming up on July 26. Check out 15 JAW-some Activities for Shark Week with lots of fun ideas for kids in grades 5 and up, but a few for younger kids too.

Photo: violetartsensory

Camp Au Pair – Science (STEM)

This week’s Camp Au Pair theme is Science (STEM). This includes science, technology, engineering, and math.

Crafts, recipes, activities, and games related to all things science, technology, engineering, and math can be found here on the Camp Au Pair – Science (STEM) pinboard.

Field Trips can be a great way for kids to learn and have new experiences. Get permission from your host parents before any outings. Here are a few places to go, that fit this theme:

  • Airport Observation Area
  • Aquarium – both zoos have great aquarium exhibits, and there’s also Sea Life at Mall of America!
  • Factory Tour – there are several local factories, so call a few and see if they offer tours.
  • Farm – try Gibbs Farm museum
  • Museum – Science Museum of Minnesota, The Bakken, the Bell Museum, and more!
  • Nature Center – The MN Arboretum, Woodlake, Westwood Hills, and a bunch more – just Google “nature center near me”
  • Planetarium – The Bell Museum has one. Check their website for schedules. The Science Museum also has an Omnitheater – not a planetarium, but always has science- related movies on a gigantic screen
  • Zoo – MN Zoo or Como Zoo

Virtual Field Trips

Videos – On YouTube, you can find many great videos of science experiments to do with kids.

https://youtu.be/K0PJ4LiWl8w?si=LQRBBMy4C95_oMBl

The Magic School Bus is a cartoon series with episodes on lots of great science topics. You can find some episodes on YouTube and the full series on Paramount Plus.

https://youtu.be/zC8aXa9s7bo?si=rkMDy-9yhQRisUMi

Bill Nye the Science Guy is science TV series for kids. There is an episode guide on his website with clips and explanations on a wide variety of science topics.

Movies – The Lego Movie, Big Hero 6, Wall-E, Hidden Figures, Robots, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Flubber, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, and Meet the Robinsons all fit the STEM theme.

Webcams – You can do a Google search for science websites with webcams. Here is a collection of 22 science webcams from around the world.

Books – Stop by your local library and look for books on science, technology, engineering, and math.

Remember… Science is learning about how things work through observation and experimentation. Every day is full of opportunities to encourage children’s natural curiosity about the world!

Image: sweetpaulmag.com

Camp Au Pair – Explore the World!

This week we are exploring the world! The nice things about this is that most things can be done indoors, where it’s air conditioned.

Kids are naturally curious about how people live around the world. Here are dozens of ideas to teach them about cultures. 

Field trips include lovely, climate-controlled places like Asia Mall, MIA, Midtown Clobal Marketplace, the Swedish Institute, the German-American Institute, etc. Recipes include things like Agua Fresca and Brigadeiros. Activities have kids pretending to be African animals doing yoga, or making a Carnivale mask. Tons of fun and no sunscreen involved (well, maybe a little.)

Share some pictures of you and your host kids learning about other countries!

Camp Au Pair – Cars and Trucks Week

This is Cars and Trucks Week! I think all kids enjoy playing with their toy cars and trucks, and this will give you lots of ideas to expand on that! From making art by rolling cars through paint, to going to a laser-show car wash, to riding on a restored streetcar, there is something for everyone!

Pinterest Board

You will find a ton of activities here. There is also a section with ideas for car and truck field trips – car washes, auto museums, etc.

Field Trips

  • car washes
  • fire stations – call your closest fire station and ask if there’s a good time to bring kids. 
  • auto museums
  • streetcar rides
  • ‘Touch a Truck” activities
  • car-themed playgrounds
  • car and truck rides at Nickelodeon Universe, Valleyfaire, and Como Town

Virtual Field Trips

Virtual Field Trips

  • Watch vehicles being assembled with virtual auto plant tours from Toyota & BMW.

Videos 

Mighty Machines & Amazing Big Trucks are kid-friendly video channels showing machinery and big trucks in action. Look for fun videos on YouTube about cars and trucks.

Garbage Trucks: On Route, In Action!

School Bus Car Wash | Toy Car Wash | Games for Kids & Toddlers

Blippi Go Karts | Learn about Vehicles for Kids

Books

Movies 

Here are some movies that fit the cars and trucks theme.

  • Bumble Bee
  • Bob the Builder Mega Machines
  • Cars, Cars 2 & 3
  • Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
  • Go Karts
  • Speed Racer
  • The Love Bug
  • Turbo 

 

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Camp Au Pair – Music Explorations

Research has found that learning music facilitates learning other subjects and enhances skills that children inevitably use in other areas. “A music-rich experience for children of singing, listening and moving is really bringing a very serious benefit to children as they progress into more formal learning,” says Mary Luehrisen, executive director of the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Foundation, a not-for-profit association that promotes the benefits of making music. (from pbs.org)

Our Pinterest Board this week has ideas for making instruments, making music, enjoying music, and learning about music of different cultures.

Field Trips

  • Minneapolis Parks have music and movies in the parks every night and  Tuesday afternoons. You can find the whole schedule here.
  • Centennial Park in Bloomington has concerts for kids every week. Check website for upcoming events.
  • There are so many different free music events that I’m not going to list them all! Here’s a resource through Family Fun (which is a terrific resource anyway.)

Online music experiences

  • Carnegie Hall has a whole series of lessons about music around the world. designed for teachers but you can certainly use them! Share your own country’s musical traditions with your host kids.
  • Lincoln Center’s Concerts for Kids
  • PBS has an amazing amount of activity ideas and lessons. Here’s an interactive activity where kids can have fun while learning about music.

Books about music – read alouds

Spend this week making music with your kiddos! There’s so much music in the world – all you have to do is listen.

Camp Au Pair – Dinosaurs

Next week’s Camp Au Pair theme is Dinosaurs.

Crafts, recipes, activities, and games related to dinosaurs can all be found here on the Camp Au Pair – Dinosaurs pinboard.

Field Trips can be a great way for kids to learn and have new experiences. Get permission from your host parents before any outings and be sure to take all social distancing precautions.

Field Trip Ideas:

  • Children’s museum
  • Natural history museum
  • Parks with fossil hunting programs
  • Play spaces with dinosaur areas
  • Science centers

Virtual Field Trips:

Toys – Many kids have dinosaur toys already. See what your kids have and think of fun, new ways you can play with these toys with them. Imagine taking a plastic dinosaur and making footprints in play dough to form your own fossils.

Webcam – The Calvert Marine Museum in Maryland offers a webcam where you can watch paleontologists remove rock from around fossils.

Videos – Look for fun videos on YouTube about dinosaurs and fossils. Here are a few to get you started.

Movies – Here are some movies that fit the dinosaur theme.

  • Dinosaur
  • Dinosaur Island
  • Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
  • Land Before Time
  • Lego Jurassic World
  • The Good Dinosaur
  • Walking with Dinosaurs
  • We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s Story

For older kids:

  • Journey to the Center of the Earth
  • Jurassic Park (which is rated PG-13)

Books – Check your kids’ bookshelf for books on dinosaurs. You can also find many read aloud book videos on YouTube.

Photo: krojotak.com

Camp Au Pair – Art Experiences Week!

Art Experiences can mean a lot of different things, from quietly sketching in museums to running from sculpture to sculpture in a big outdoor garden, to making messy art with rubber bands, to painting bread with stripes before eating the whole creation. Our Pinterest board has all of these ideas and a ton more, as well as local art Field Trips.

You can find tons of great ideas at our Pinterest board.

Local art field trips include Walker Art Center and Sculpture Garden, MIA, the Weisman Museum on the U Of M campus, the museum of Russian Art, Caponi Art Park in Eagan, Western Art Park in St. Paul, Franconia Art Park near Taylor’s Falls, Harrison Scultpure Garden in Chaska, and more. While you’re there, spend just enough time talking about what they see without overwhelming them with fancy details. You can bring a sketchbook and pencils to most museums so kids can make a lasting record of the visit.

If you’re not sure your kiddos are ready for a visit to a real museum, you can do a virtual visit to any museum in the world – are there any you visit in your hometown?

Seeking inspiration? Here are museums you can visit virtually. (list courtesy of the Minnetonka Center for the Arts)

But remember, parents love to have some kid art for the fridge, or for the office, or to wear as jewelry. No matter how old your kids are, you can create truly meaningful memories just splashing paint around on a piece of poster board in the back yard. Have fun! (and try to control the mess!)

Camp Au Pair – World Cup 2026

The World Cup is a major Soccer (or Football, as the rest of the world calls it) tournament held once every 4 years. The men’s world cup is taking place in North America this summer, which is a great reason to have a week where kids and au pairs can focus on soccer – skills and games, crafts, recipes, field trips, and watch parties. We have several local teams where kids can watch real games.

My Pinterest board for this week has a TON of fun things to do with your kids this week.

In Minneapolis, the official hub for tournament watch parties is the massive Minnesota United Soccer Celebration at Peavey Plaza and Nicollet Mall. Running from June 11 to June 27, this family-friendly event features jumbo outdoor screens, local food trucks, live DJs, and special guest appearances. Go to https://www.mnufc.com/soccercelebration/ to get free tickets (which are required for admission.)

There are also going to be watch parties at the North Loop Green. These are outdoors and no tickets are required. Go to https://northloopgreen.com/events/soccer-gameday-at-the-green-2026/ for info about events there.

MN Aurora is a professional women’s soccer team which plays in Eagan.

Minneapolis City SC is a minor league soccer club that plays at Augsburg College in Minneapolis.

Minnesota United FC is our professional major league soccer team.

Many parks have soccer leagues where you can go to watch people play soccer. Call your local park to see if they have any games coming up.

Soccer Story Read-Alouds

It’s an exciting summer to be a soccer fan in the US! Enjoy this week’s Camp theme and teach your host kids about soccer!

Camp Au Pair – Nature Exploration

This week’s Camp Au Pair theme is Nature Exploration.

For our first Camp Au Pair of 2026, we are doing Nature Exploration. Get the kids out into the fresh air and set the tone for the whole summer! We are so lucky to live in the Twin Cities with so much beautiful nature right around the corner.

Crafts, recipes, activities, and games can all be found here on the Camp Au Pair – Nature Exploration pinboard.

Field Trips can be a great way for kids to learn and have new experiences. You can start observing nature at any local park or in your own backyard. If you want to take it a step further, below is a list of other local places to go explore nature. Get permission from your host parents before any outings and check websites before you go for hours and information.

Information about all of the local field trip suggestions can be found in the Local Field Trip section of the Pinterest board.

Safety note: When coming inside after you have been outside exploring nature, it’s always a good idea to check the children and yourself for ticks. For more information, take a look at this post.

  • Aviaries such as the one near the Rose Garden in Minneapolis
  • Farms – try Gibbs Farm, Brooklyn Center Historic Farm, or Lyndale Farmstead
  • Nature Preserves like the Arboretum in Chaska or Woodlake in Richfield
  • Parks – there are so many parks around and they have so many opportunities! Three Rivers Park board, Minneapolis Park and Rec, etc.

Virtual Field Trips:

Webcams – You can do a Google search for websites with webcams that allow you to observe nature.

Videos – Look for fun videos on YouTube about nature.

Books – Check your bookshelves and/or stop by your local library and look for books on nature.  You can also find many read aloud book videos on YouTube. Here are a few to get you started.

Image: toddleratplay.com

Camp Au Pair!

Each week this summer we will share a different Camp Au Pair theme. We have a series of Pinteret boards with activities that follow a weekly theme. These boards are designed to give you ideas to keep your host kids occupied and engaged all summer long. They will also be learning. (But shhhh, don’t tell them that part.) Check back each Friday, for the next week’s theme. This gives you a chance to make plans and gather materials for the next week. For each theme there will be crafts, games, snacks and activities for kids of all ages. You can just use these ideas or add your own and customize the themes to fit the ages and interests of your host children.

Here are the themes you can look forward to:

  • Nature Exploration
  • World Cup Fun!
  • Art Experiences
  • Under the Sea
  • Science (STEM)
  • Bugs & Butterflies
  • Cars and Trucks
  • Backyard Safari
  • Dinosaurs
  • Explore the World
  • Outer Space
  • Cooking with Kids
  • Pirate Adventures
  • Renaissance Festival

Check out Summer Fun & Summer Holidays pin boards for even more ideas.

If you get some great pictures doing these activities with your host kids, please send those to your community counselor. We love to share your accomplishments and inspire other au pairs!

Let’s make this an amazing summer!

#au pair #au pair in America #summer #summer activities #kids at play