Our cultural fair and APIA Family Day was a great success with over 100 people in attendance! Au pairs hosted an amazing cultural fair, greeting the touring kids as they traveled the virtual world with their fake passports, getting stickers from the countries as they went. We had representatives from Argentina, Austria, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Spain and Thailand. We ate donut holes, made flyers, did scavenger hunts and tossed some wet water balloons. Fun times with an amazingly supportive global community. We are all feeling grateful.
Next week’s Camp Au Pair theme is Paris Summer Olympics. The 2024 Summer Olympics are taking place in Paris, France, July 26-August 11.
Crafts, recipes, activities, and games related to the Summer Olympics can be found here on the Camp Au Pair Summer Olympicspinboard.
Culture Sharing – The Olympics bring so many opportunities for learning about other countries. Here are a few ideas to get you started.
Show your kids photos of your country’s Olympic team and tell them about any athletes you are aware of.
Host an international playdate with au pairs with kids of similar ages (with host parent’s permission), so you can each teach the kids a little about each of your countries.
Help your kids look up countries they see competing in the games on a map or globe.
Print out a blank world map and help your kids mark the countries they see represented in the Olympics.
If you are French or have any au pair friends from France, talk with your kids about what Paris is like and things children their age like to do in France.
Videos – On YouTube you can find many videos for kids 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 can also check on YouTube for videos of books being read aloud.
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.
When kids are out of school for the summer, it doesn’t take long for them to become bored and sometimes that leads to sibling squabbles and mischief. Even though they don’t realize it, they are usually missing routine and predictability in their daily schedule. One solution is to make fun plans to keep them busy!
Each week this summer we will share a different Camp Au Pair theme. These weekly themes 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. You can just use these ideas or add your own and customize the themes to fit the ages and interests of your host children.
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!
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.
We’ve got gamers, hikers and readers. Au pairs will be finding their special interest groups for 2024. The things they love will be more fun with friends this year!
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!
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…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.
Crafts, recipes, activities, and games related to dinosaurs can all be found here on the Camp Au Pair – Dinosaurspinboard.
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.
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.
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.).
