Tag Archives: kids

UW Huskies – Strong Women Abound

The community of Au Pairs in Washington gathered up to watch another group of strong women – the UW women’s basketball team. Basketball, like cultural exchange, is full of lessons in teamwork, pivoting, communicating, and adapting. A fun day was had by all with close to 100 Au pairs joining the fun.

Pottery Painting with Global Pals – November 2023

A group of our best and brightest artists painted their hearts out in our first ever pottery painting cluster meeting at the University Village shop, Paint The Town.  It was cathartic and relaxing.  And the au pairs got some beautiful keep sakes or gifts for the holidays.  Talent abounds in this crew!

APIA Global Community Day in Seattle – September 2023

Nearly 100 people, including host parents, host siblings and au pairs from around the globe joined their Seattle area Au Pair In America community to celebrate!

The au pairs brought down the house with a culture fair that had posters, food, dancing, language and all the smiles.  We had representative from Zimbabwe, Peru, Panama, France, Colombia, Brazil, China, South Africa, and Germany showing their colors and sharing themselves.  We enjoyed treats specially made from Colombia and Brazil and kids got to “travel the world” with their passports collecting country stickers. Host parents shared their stories about their friendships with au pairs and best practices informally with one another.  We had a nice (but small this year) water balloon toss game (so many families with babies and nap times made this a bit smaller this year).  The bigger kids colored, did word searches, a bingo diversity scavenger hunt, and got tattoos for kids of all ages.  After the event, they headed down to meet our new lady troll in West Seattle.  And the weather couldn’t have been better.  All in all, it was a lovely day for the world.

As American as Baseball – August 2023

As American as baseball…the remarkable APIA family of au pairs from all WA clusters gathered to watch the Mariners beat Kansas City in a sunshine filled stadium. We got to know one another a bit more in seventh inning stretch and won some big league chew. A gorgeous day of global, peace-seeking, adventure-driven community at the ball park.

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

Seattle Touring in our own Town – May 2023

A small but mighty group went touring in our own town.  We tried a new tour company and hit the streets to hear about what we didn’t yet know.  They told us great stories of Seattle octopus, revealed the real “first Starbucks” location, talked through the Seattle fire and the newly built city and told tales of a man named Ivar and his eccentric ways (leading him to start the first fish and chips chain in the city.).

Play Ball! – June 2022

Well, we are sure playing ball now, metaphorically speaking.  Watching a Mariners v Red Sox baseball game with over 110 APIA au pairs was a great kick-off to our first multi-cluster event in over 2 years.  We are coming back stronger than ever in our community of interculturalist community counselors, globally-minded host families and adventurous au pairs.  We had a seventh-inning stretch with a childcare safety quiz tossed in the mix, since we know full well how to play hard and work hard.  A lovely day at the ball park had by all

Here’s to summer and more fun in person together!  Go APIA!

 

 

Cougar Mountain Hike – April 2022

Au pairs talked about anxiety with their “counselor” who has a MA, not in counseling, but in International Relations.  New friends were made from South Africa, Peru, Colombia, Germany, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Brazil and forest bathing happened.  Casual and calm on a Saturday as we get back to in-person community bonding.

Sculpture Park Strolling and IWM Celebrating – March 2022

Au pairs met up for a conversation about child safety, a get to know you, a conversation about what it means to be a woman across cultures for International Women’s Month and a stroll through the sculpture park in downtown Seattle.

https://www.globalawareness.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/4ugc2kFTU.mp4