Tag Archives: Au Pair in America

A Valentine’s Day activity for your family

File:Antique Valentine 1909 01.jpg

Have fun with these idioms. Which ones exist or don’t exist in your language?

List of “heart” idioms with definitions

to have a heart of gold – to care about other people
to have a big heart – to be giving, caring
to be cold-hearted -lacking in sympathy
to wear your heart on your sleeve- to let everyone know how you feel about someone
to cross your heart and hope to die -to promise
to cry your heart out – to cry a lot and feel really badly about something
to eat your heart out – to be jealous of someone
from the bottom of your heart – to really mean something
to have a change of heart -to change your mind
to have a heart – to be compassionate, to care about other people
to have your heart in your mouth- to be scared or nervous
to have your heart set on something – to really want something
to set your heart at rest – stop worrying about something
to be soft hearted – to be sympathetic
to take something to heart- to have your feelings hurt by something someone else says or does

Happy Birthday Brother Grimm!

Jacob Grimm was one of the Grimm brothers who collected and wrote fairy tales in Germany in the 1800s. These stories including Sleeping Beauty, Rumpelstiltskin, Hansel and Gretel, Snow White, Rapunzel and many other stories have been translated into 160 languages. Today would be a great day to read one of these stories. School age children might want to act out the story themselves or do a simple puppet show of the story. View some of their stories here. Grimm’s stories can be frightening to very young children – they are not happy tales!

It’s the last day of the year!

Happy New Year!!

The last day of the year is a good time to think about how to make the next year better. You and the children can choose simple “New Year Resolutions.” Or create a keepsake of the year that is ending by making a time capsule or a scrapbook of memories. Include what are cool, slang words, popular activities, clothes, games, names of popular songs or games, and a picture of the hottest toy. If you are making a time capsule, put a date on it and decide when they will open it – in a year, 5 or even 10. Don’t forget to include a photo of you and the children!

Tomorrow, the first day of the New Year, is a federal holiday. In some communities there are New Year celebrations and some families visit each other for New Year’s Day brunch.

Merry Christmas!

Every family and culture has their own Christmas traditions. Try some of these ideas with the children:

Art Activities

  • On a BIG piece of paper draw a fireplace and a mantle. Make a paper stocking (two halves stapled together) decorate with glue and glitter, write the children’s names on them and “hang” them on your fireplace mural. Use catalogs to cut out toys to put in the stockings.
  • Cut out a tree from green construction paper. Decorate your tree with colored ornaments, glue and glitter. Pieces of ribbon or wrapping paper.

Books to Read

  • Cranberry Christmas by Wende and Harry Devlin
  • It’s Really Christmas by Lillian Hoban
  • The Christmas Doll by Wendy Parker
  • ABC Christmas by Ida DeLage
  • Santa Claus Forever by Carolyn Haywood
  • A Forest Christmas by Mayling Mack Holm
  • The Christmas Party by Adrienne Adams

A Fingerplay for Fun

    Five Little Bells
    Five little bells hanging in a row
    (Hold up 5 fingers)
    The first one said, “Ring me slow.”
    (Move thumb slowly)
    The second one said, “Ring me fast.”
    (Wiggle index finger)
    The third one said, “Ring me last.”
    (Move middle finger)
    The fourth one said, “I’m like a chime.”
    (Move ring finger.)
    And the fifth one said, “Ring us all. It’s Christmastime!”
    (Wiggle all 5 fingers)

It’s international language week!

With two weeks or more of school vacation coming up, it’s a great time to teach your children a few words, or even a song in your native language! If the children can read you could write the words for objects around the house and post them (door, window, sink, closet, etc.). Children of any age can learn to respond or speak in other languages. Older children might have fun learning how to say “Hello” or “Happy Holidays” in lots of languages.

Check out the Kids Culture Corner for some language lessons. Children who are old enough to read and spell can make up their own “language” using code. Here’s an easy way to do it:

Paper plate code:

  • Use a small Paper Plate for the top wheel of your code maker. Along the edge of the plate, use scissors to cut out a small square.
  • On the back of the plate, draw an arrow pointing toward the cut-out hole. Decorate the arrow and the rest of the plate with markers or crayons if you wish.
  • Around the outside, back edge of a larger plate; write alphabet letters (and numerals if you like).
  • Use a brad to fasten the small plate face down onto the larger plate.
  • Point the arrow toward the A. In the box opening write another letter or symbol to stand for the A. You could use the alphabet in reverse (A means Z), or you could choose a different symbol or a picture for each letter. When every letter and numeral has a code, you’re ready to write secret messages! Make sure the person you send the message to has a code-breaker!

Need some ideas?

Looking for ideas for what to get your au pair for the holidays?

Check out the latest APIA Pinterest board:

http://pinterest.com/aupairinamerica/gift-ideas-for-au-pairs-from-host-families/

And here are some ideas for au pairs to get for their host families:

http://pinterest.com/aupairinamerica/gift-ideas-for-host-parents-from-au-pairs/

Dress warmly for winter weather!

In our area it will be cold most of the winter and there could be snow, any time from now through March.  If you have not already bought a coat, hat, gloves and boots, you will wish that you had.

It does snow in Virginia and the host parents do expect that you will be outside rolling in the white stuff with the kids. Because we don’t get as much snow as the Alps — we freak out a little here when it does snow. School will be canceled for only one inch of snow. The girls from Germany and Austria will laugh. The kids get soooo excited by this event they will want to stay outside and use every inch of snow in the yard to build a snowman. We also have a cluster snow tubing trip coming up in the new year, you want to be prepared to join in the fun and stay warm.

There are a lot of great sales going on, look for coats and cold weather accessories. Some cheap options are: Ross, TJ Maxx, Marshalls, Burlington Coat Factory, WalMart and Kohl’s.An even more affordable option would be to go to a thrift shop. There are many in the area and you can often find a very warm jacket for a small price compared to buying one new.

Dress in Layers – Consider buying sweaters, lightweight jackets and long underwear.  If you wear several layers, you can take off things to be comfortable.  For example when it might be too warm for a heavy jacket, but too cold for just a sweater, you can combine different pieces of clothing.

Set a Good Example – it is the expectation of  most host parents that you set the example for your kids and you wear a coat when it is cold outside. You should have a winter coat, hats, gloves, boots and scarves.  Your kids will fight wearing a coat if you don’t wear one. Think of yourself as a celebrity and everyone wants to look like you — especially your kids.

Check the “Emergency Change of Clothes” – With young children, we often keep an emergency change of clothes in the car, diaper bag or at their school. If you haven’t already switched out the shorts and t-shirt for something warmer, this would be a good idea.

Get yourself some warm winter clothes now. Prepare for the snow!