The au pairs in WA state gathered up for some swimming, singing and donating of shoes for the J-1 exchange day national celebrations. They played a water safety quiz and listened to their joint Spotify global jam mix. Summer fun!
ExchangeDayis coming soon on August 7, and APIA is excited to celebrate with a shoe drive. Held on the first Monday in August, ExchangeDay is a nationwide celebration of the power of international exchange. Program participants come together with their American hosts to share cultural experiences, give back to their communities, and have some fun. This day is also an opportunity to raise awareness of international exchange programs and spread the word about the power of cultural exchange.
APIA has historically celebrated ExchangeDay in August with shoe drives, AP get togethers, and more.
Next week’s Camp Au Pair theme is Backyard Safari These activities focus on animals you might find in the a variety of environments: jungles, savannahs, safari parks and zoos.
Field Trips can be an excellent way for kids to learn and have new experiences. 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. Search online to see if your area has any of the following:
Local Zoo
Animal Rescue Park
Drive Thru Safari
Webcams – You can do a Google search for websites with webcams that allow you to observe nature.
Explore.org has lots of nature webcams including African Safari
Books – Stop by your local library and look for books on animals you might find on a safari or in the zoo. You can also check YouTube for some books on this subject being read aloud.
Movies – There are lots of movies with animal themes.
Back to the Outback
Madagascar 1, 2 & 3
The Jungle Book
The Lion King
The Wild
Zootopia
Videos – Look for fun videos about animals on YouTube. Here are some to get you started.
Next 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
Factory Tour
Farm
Krispy Kreme Doughnuts*
Museum
Nature Center
Planetarium
Science Center
Zoo
*Some but not all locations have a viewing area where you can watch the machines used to make them.
Videos – On YouTube, you can find many great videos of 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.
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!
Crafts, recipes, activities, and games related to art can all be found here on the Camp Au Pair – Art Experiencespinboard.
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.
This week’s Camp Au Pair theme is Science (STEM). This includes science, technology, engineering, and math.
More than 100 crafts, recipes, activities, and experiments related to 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
Factory Tour
Farm
Krispy Kreme Doughnuts*
Museum
Nature Center
Planetarium
Science Center
Zoo
*Some but not all locations have a viewing area where you can watch the machines used to make them.
Videos – On YouTube, you can find many great videos of 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 entire series on Paramount Plus.
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, 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.
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!
Videos – Look for fun videos about African animals on YouTube.
Books – Stop by your local library and look for books on animals you might find on a safari or in the zoo. You can also check YouTube for some books on this subject being read aloud.
Crafts, recipes, activities, and games related to art can all be found here on the Camp Au Pair – Art Experiencespinboard.
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:
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 Olympicspinboard.
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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
