Tag Archives: activity

Make Your Own Play Dough

Play dough is the perfect modeling material for children. Their small hands can pat, poke, pinch, roll and knead it into many shapes. Keep it in an airtight container to use another day, or let it air dry into favorite shapes.

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Measure 2 cups of flour, one cup of salt and 4 teaspoons of cream of tartar into a bowl. Add 1/4 cup of oil to one cup of water in a separate bowl then add the mixture to the dry ingredients. For colored play dough, squeeze 10-20 drops of food coloring into the water before you add it to the mixture. Cook the dough at low heat in a wide pan, stirring constantly until it becomes rubbery. Remove the dough from the heat and knead it for a few minutes. When it cools the kids can play too!

Photo: Kevin Jarrett (Flickr)

The Advent Calendar

What a great way to count down til Christmas! Many of you are familiar with the Advent calendar but for those of you who are not,here is the Wikipedia definition:
An Advent calendar is a special calendar used to count or celebrate the days in anticipation of Christmas. The days usually overlap with the Christian season of Advent, which can be as early as November 27 and as late as December 3. Many take the form of a large rectangular card with “windows” of which there are usually 24: one for each day of December leading up to Christmas Day. The doors are opened starting with the first one. Consecutive doors are opened every day leading up to Christmas. The calendar windows open to reveal an image, poem, a portion of a story (such as the story of the Nativity of Jesus) or a small gift, such as a toy or a chocolate item. Some calendars are strictly religious, whereas others are secular in content.

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Why not make your own Advent Calendar with your kids and fill each window or pocket with an activity your host child/children would enjoy.You can find some ideas under Resources for Current Au Pairs

0530Memorial Day

Memorial Day started in 1868 after the Civil War ended. Dead soldiers from both the north and the south were honored as a way to try to heal the nation. Now all past soldiers are honored. It is also a day that is considered to be the start of the summer season. Many people celebrate with a cook-out or even a trip to the beach. Check out some of those local activities worth doing over the course of the long week-end:

National Memorial Day Concert
Sunday, May 29, 2011, 8 p.m. Gates open at 5 p.m.
PBS sponsors a FREE concert on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol. The concert features actors Joe Mantegna and Gary Sinise, and other guest artists along with the National Symphony Orchestra.

Rolling Thunder Motorcycle Rally
Sunday, May 29, 2011. Departure from the Pentagon at 12 p.m. Speaker Program and Musical Tribute 1:30 p.m. at the Reflecting Pool across from The Lincoln Memorial. Thousands of motorcycles ride through Washington in an annual demonstration seeking to improve veteran benefits and resolve POW/MIA issues.

National Memorial Day Parade
Monday, May 30, 2011, beginning at 2 p.m.
The parade of Marching Bands and Veterans units from all 50 states steps off at the corner of Constitution Avenue and 7th Streets, NW and proceeds along Constitution Avenue, past the White House, ending at 17th Street. The National Memorial Day Parade is sponsored by the World War II Veterans Committee and includes patriotic floats and helium-filled balloons.

Wolf Trap Farm Park
Sunday, May 29, 2011, 8:00 p.m. Summer Blast Off! “The President’s Own”. The park for performing arts kicks off the summer season with a free performance by the U.S. Marine Band followed by fireworks. The Filene Center gates open at 6:30 p.m. Arrive early because the park closes once capacity is reached.

Falls Church Memorial Day Parade
Monday May 30, 2011, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The City of Falls Church, Virginia celebrates Memorial Day with a festival featuring pony rides, arts and crafts booths, live entertainment, food and a community parade.

May Flowers

May is the perfect time to plant flowers.This is a great activity to do with your kids!

Start your own flowers indoors. Marigolds and Morning Glories grow quickly from seed and can be planted outdoors in the garden after they are a few inches tall. Use a flower pot or even an old yogurt container. Follow the directions on the seed packet, and don’t forget to water the pot! Read the fairy tale Jack and the Beanstalk to find out what happened when Jack planted his seeds.

Snacks for D.C Central Kitchen

On November 12, our cluster of Arlington and Falls Church got together in the parish hall of the Resurrection Evangelical Lutheran Church to prepare snacks for D.C Central Kitchen.

For a couple of hours,we mixed up a whole bunch of cherios,pretzels,M&Ms,chocolate chips,raisins ,marshmallows and peanuts and ended up with 512 individual servings of snack mix.We stopped as we run out of cherios and pretzels,so I bought a few more boxes and finished everything on Monday with the help of Fernanda, au pair from Chile,Amanda and Lilian ,aupairs from Brazil!

Everyone participating enjoyed the interaction and felt good about being able to GIVE!

A big thank you to our host families,host children,au pairs for participating and to Resurrection Evangelical Lutheran Church for providing us with the space.

Here are a few pictures:-1-2-3-4

MAY IS NATIONAL GOOD CAR CARE MONTH

imagesNational Good Car Care Month

Take this opportunity to clean out the inside of the car. If it’s a nice day, the school-age children might enjoy helping to wash the outside! Or get a large cardboard box and make a pretend car for younger children to play in. Cut out doors and windows and put chairs inside. Think of all the places you can travel to in your imagination. Mr. Gumpy’s Motor Car by John Burningham is a favorite book for preschoolers about a car ride.

APRIL FOOL’S DAY

imagesApril Fools’ Day or All Fools’ Day is a day celebrated in various countries on April 1. People will play practical jokes on each other,so watch out and don’t be too gullible.

In some countries, such as the UK, Australia, and South Africa the jokes only last until noon, and someone who plays a trick after noon is called an “April Fool”.

Elsewhere, such as in France, Ireland, Italy, South Korea, Japan, Russia, The Netherlands, Brazil, Canada, and the U.S., the jokes last all day.

Ideas for April Fool’s Day:

FAKE CAKE: http://crafts.kaboose.com/fake-cake.html

PRANK GIFT BOX:http://crafts.kaboose.com/prank-gift-box.html

Have fun making those activities with your host children and don’t be fooled yourself!