Yearly Archives: 2021

A Night of Light and Gifts – December 2021

We were beyond thrilled to be together again in person and are finding our groove with joining clusters again.  The au pairs of the Eastside, Tacoma and Seattle areas gathered together to see the gorgeous lights on display at the Bellevue Botanical Gardens.  Before heading out, au pairs shared customs from their countries and traditional songs, recipes, weather, and the meaning for them behind the season. After our eyes danced with the garden displays, we exchanged secret santa gifts and many headed down the hill for the Snowflake Lane parade in Bellevue.  ’tis the season for sharing and here is more about how to best do that!

10 Tips for Sharing Global Holiday Traditions (and Making New Ones)

 

The Great Rebuild – What History Teaches Us about Resilience – Nov 2021

Seattle au pairs toured the old underground city in our first joint cluster event in nearly two years.  Jan 2019 marked the last time our APIA clusters were allowed to safely congregate, but this past Sunday, with the help of Beneath the Streets (https://www.beneath-the-streets.com) Covid protocols, we gathered again and it felt so good.  Four clusters came together to hear about the Seattle fire (set accidentally by a Swedish immigrant boiling glue) and how this disaster helped Seattle to rebuild the city above a safe sea level, brought in funds from around the country and ultimately set up our city for more success should it never have happened.  Silver linings!  As we learn from the past, we know we are again in a great rebuild moment and it is our job to remain hopeful given this knowledge in our darker moments.

Counselors noted that this same underground tour has now changed to include histories of those marginalized populations that had been less tracked  – histories of our first Seattle black-owned businesses that gave back to the community and inspired more black-owned businesses – our strong women (10% of the population in a mining town) coming to become our first graduates of the newly formed UW and those of the Seattle LGBTQ+ populations in those early days that had once enjoyed nightlife underground only.  History from this wide angle lens shows us that the more we include everyone in our community, the stronger we become and this progressive Seattle town learned many lessons  when the city was at a lower level (literally and figuratively.)  We are poised again to be learning many more as we again rebuild to be more inclusive and stronger together.

Fall Was Buckets of Fun – October 2021

The au pairs in Seattle/Tacoma know how to have a good time.  We started the month dancing for Latinx Heritage Month and ended it with a Halloween extravaganza and a challenge!  Mayra from Colombia opened her home and taught us all some dance moves, Nicol, also from Colombia and her host family won the Fall Bucket List Challenge and completed 16 of the items on the list, and the strong au pairs chose their favorite strong characters to be this Halloween.  Real life inspirations dressing up as make believe ones.

Viva la Vida! Latinx Heritage Month

Taking Tacoma by Storm – September 2021

The weather has turned this September here in WA, but this small but mighty group of au pairs took Tacoma by storm and bid Laura a fond farewell as she heads out to year 2 in another part of the US.  We walked the (rain-free) streets, sharing in the journey of exchange and just simply getting to know one another.  Back to simple. And to celebrate Peace Day took this shot.

Hiking for a Fall – Snoqualmie Falls

What a day!  Au pairs made the journey to bear witness themselves to this iconic WA site.  Snoqualmie Falls is gorgeous and powerful and these women fit right into that scenery.  In that moment in time, countrywomen representing Poland, Mexico, Colombia, Thailand, Panama and Argentina came together as one.

Camp Au Pair – Art Experiences

This week’s Camp Au Pair theme is Art Experiences.

Crafts, recipes, activities, and games related to art can all be found here on the Camp Au Pair – Art Experiences 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. Some museums are requiring advanced tickets or have reduced hours due to the pandemic.

  • Art Museums
  • Paint Your Own Pottery Studio
  • Clay and Ceramics Studio

Online Art Fun – Here is a great website with lots of art activities including ones for older kids.

Webcams – You can do a google search for art websites with webcams. Here are a few to get you started:

Pottery & Ceramics webcam
Glass Blowing webcam

Videos – Look for fun videos on YouTube about drawing and all kinds of art.

Books – Stop by your local library and look for books on famous artists and art.

Check YouTube for books on art being read aloud:

Image: teachkidsart.com

A Pool of Our Own – July 2021

Our second in-person cluster event was a night pool party – with the pool reserved just for APIA for safety.  We relaxed in water and got to know one another a little bit more from a distance, outside.  It’s been a long time coming and it was nice to gather young women from around the globe together in one place for a moonlight dip. .

Camp Au Pair – Summer Olympics

This week’s Camp Au Pair theme Summer Olympics. The 2021 Summer Olympics are taking place in Tokyo, Japan, July 23-Aug 8.

Crafts, recipes, activities, and games related to the Summer Olympics can be found here on the Camp Au Pair Summer Olympics pinboard.

Videos – On YouTube you can find many great videos of about the Olympics.

Books – Stop by your local library and look for books about the Olympics.

Some good ones include: Olympig!, G is for Gold Medal: An Olympic Alphabet, How to Train with a T-Rex and Win 8 Gold Medals, Wilma Unlimited, America’s Champion Swimmer: Gertrude Ederle, Way to Go Alex!, Touch the Sky, Pele: King of Soccer, A Picture Book of Jesse Owens & Babar’s Celestville Games.

You may also find some of these books read aloud on YouTube.

Fun Fact: The Olympic symbol consists of five interlaced rings of equal dimensions, used alone, in one or in five different colors, which are, from left to right, blue, yellow, black, green and red. The Olympic symbol (the Olympic rings) expresses the activity of the Olympic Movement and represents the union of the five continents and the meeting of athletes from throughout the world at the Olympic Games.

Image: Project Nursery

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 and be sure to take all social distancing precautions. Here are a few places to go, that fit this theme:

  • Nature Walk
  • Science Centers
  • Pick Your Own Farms
  • Nature Centers
  • Botanical Gardens or Garden Store
  • Television/Radio Museum
  • Into the City to See Skyscrapers
  • Building or Technology Museum

Virtual Field Trips

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

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.

Movies – The Lego Movie, Big Hero 6, Wall-E and Hidden Figures 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.

Image: sweetpaulmag.com

Camp Au Pair – Dinosaurs

This 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.

Here are a few places to go that fit this theme:

    • Children’s museum with dinosaur exhibit
    • Natural history museum
    • Nature center with fossils

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 – This NPS Paleontology Lab offers a webcam where you can watch paleontologists remove rock from around fossils. The cam is normally working 9 am-5 pm PST, so 12-8 pm our time.

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

Movies – The Good Dinosaur, Land Before Time, and Ice Age are all great family movies that fit with this theme. For older kids, consider movies like Journey to the Center of the Earth and Jurassic Park (which is rated PG-13).

Books – Check your kids’ bookshelf for books on dinosaurs.

Photo: krojotak.com