Craft - Happy Thanksgiving!

I posted about one of my favorite crafts being Crayola Model Magic Clay.  It's a great non-greasy craft that allows kids to be creative.  While doing this craft with the family for the last year I've realized the creativity with this clay is endless.

Here is a picture to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!!

Thanksgiving Baskets & Turkey

Crafts - Bookmarks

Another easy craft would be making bookmarks.  It's an easy way to promote reading and using materials you will already have or extremely low in cost.

Supplies:
Foam or Paper Bookmarks - Dollar Tree
     I believe it was 10 Bookmarks for $1!
Flat (regular stickers) - Michaels
      Books of 200+ stickers for $1

I love to find activities that are gender neutral and can work for both girls and boys but this can be harder than you think.  Surprisingly, pirates is a GREAT concept to go with this idea - both boys and girls seem to love pirates.  Last summer Michaels had sticker books (600+ stickers for $1) and they were pirate themed.  These are great finds because they last for multiple jobs and most kids usually LOVE stickers!

Super Hero, Pirates, Fairy Princess

Kids can decorate their bookmarks using these stickers and it's a great activity to promote reading as well.  It could be paired with a great outing to the local library!

This activity would be less that 25 cents per child.  It's a nice low cost activity for nannies to include!

Nanny 101 - Planning Activities

When it comes to planning activities for various families there are many factors to consider.

• Do You Need to be Outside?

I've had jobs before where I was a Mom's Helper.  During this job it was important for me to keep the children outside while the mom could make dinner, take care of a new baby, and do the laundry.  When I would work this job I began to bring bubbles with me, have easy "outside crafts" like sidewalk chalk, or riding bikes. 

• Ages of the Children

The age range for children I have watched has been from about 5 months to 12 years old.  The activities for different ages vary very much.  Infants enjoy peek-a-boo and for development it's good to have tummy time around 5/6 months.  Also, one family had Baby Einstein videos which it seemed the baby enjoyed from the colors and objects.  Beginning activities I like are crafts, Play-doh, Memory or Go Fish.  Older children might like more involved activities like Crayola Model Magic clay or games like Disney's Scrabble Jr, Monopoly, or Life.

• Genders of the Children

I'll admit that for certain ages I do bring certain activities.  When I have jobs for girls ages 3-8 I usually bring my Princess and Hello Kitty activities and games.

Girl Activities and Games!

When planning activities for boys I like to bring Toy Story books and games.  Boys also like super heros and Transformers.  I have found a lot of luck with large sticker books from Michaels or finding coloring books from either the Dollar Store, or 99 Cent store.

Boys Activities and Games

While in college, I had a child development class and we discussed gender neutral activities.  I thought this made sense to have activities that could work for girls and boys.  While working for a family I found Pirates, Harry Potter, and Star Wars to be pretty gender neutral.  Stay tuned for information to come on my Pirate days!

Bookmans

Bookmans is a local Arizona chain which follows a Buy-Sell-Trade model in their stores.  They allow customers to trade media they are no longer using for store trade.  I have been able to trade magazines after I've already read them for store credit and build up my credit to buy more games and books for nannying.  Periodically, I will search around the house for more things Bookmans might like to build up my trade even more. 

Three books from Disney's Wonderful World of Reading "The Little Mermaid," "Peter Pan," and "Toy Story."  I found these three soundtrack CD's "Disney's Greatest Hits," "Tarzan," and "Aladdin."

On a recent job I discovered that my Ipod Touch can play music without headphones or speakers.  It's not very loud but worked to have some music playing while I colored with two children.  Since that job I began looking at Bookman's for Disney CD's like their greatests hits mixes or Tarzan.  I love the music in the Disney movie Tarzan.  I had one family where I would sing Phil Collin's "You'll Be In My Heart" and it would just melt my heart to sing the kids to sleep.  Now, I will be honest I'm not a singer but the thought is there!

Crafts - Crayola Model Magic Clay

Another of my favorite craft activities is to use Crayola Model Magic Clay to create creations with kids.  This pack from Michaels costs about $14, but I like to use the weekly coupon for 40% off one item.  That makes this pack about $7. 

 Each of these boxes contain 14 pouches of clay in various colors.  Inside the boxes, it even lists a cheat sheet for what colors to mix when you get low on a certain color.  Often, with the kids I use this for it becomes a game of what colors I have left and what we can make. 



Packets I currently have left!

Here are some examples of what we have made!



Aliens and Outer Space!



Firetruck, Submarine, Mummy, Volcanoe!



Happy Halloween!



Dragon!



Nanny 101 - Variety of Jobs

While working as a nanny there are a variety of things to consider with the jobs you accept.  You need to keep in mind the different responsibilities you may have while working as a nanny.  Communication is one of the most important qualities to have as it's important to talk about with parents of their expectations and make sure they match with your comfortability level.

• Mom's Helper - Taking a mom's helper job means that you may work while the parents are home.  I've done these jobs where the mom works from home and there is a child recovering from being sick with a small temperature.  The mom needs to focus on work but needs her child to stay home from school for another day.  Also, new moms might need help around the house to watch over their older children while they care for the newborn baby. 
• Does the family have pets? - I can be very allergic in some homes and then not experience any symptoms in other homes that have dogs and cats!  It's important to ask the questions and make sure allergies don't attack you!  I've also had to clean up many times after dogs, it has to be done!
• Does the family expect certain chores done? - Often families might expect a variety of things to be done before they return home.  They might expect dishes and laundry to be done, children to have baths, and activities to be put away.
• Does the job require you to drive children? - If a job requires you to drive children it's important to think ahead to the potential problems.  It wouldn't be wise to drive other children with liability insurance alone!  This was brought to my attention and if you talk to your insurance agent it's possible to add more medical coverage and it doesn't change your bill that much in the end.
• Will the children need baths while you are there? - Giving children baths can be worth mentioning just because it is a safety issue.  My tips are pretty obvious but worth mentioning just on the off hand people need to know!  You shouldn't worry about phone calls or text messages while giving a child a bath.  Don't let yourself become destracted for any reason!
• Does the family have any activities planned? - I have had some jobs where it's expected I can go swimming with the children.  Also, I have had a job at a horse ranch resort where I worked with the children during their horseback riding lessons.

Clear communication and asking questions is the best way to make sure parents and nannies are on the same page for what should be done and when it should be completed.

Card Games - Go Fish

The most basic game for all kids to learn is Go Fish!  I always love teaching this game to kids as they get excited when they start doing well.  I'm sure readers will know the basics of how to play but I change one thing.  Instead of having cards stacked in the middle, I make a "Go Fish Pond" where kids can pick any card they want.  It's just a small change but I think makes it a little bit more fun.

Also, how many times have you tried to play games with little ones and they just don't have the ability to hold their cards?  While on a job, I saw a family have a solution to this so I made a note to remember it.  I never found this "solution" in store so when my brother developed his hobby of wood-working I asked for his help.  I asked him to make me some "card-holders" for playing cards with kids.  Here's a couple pictures of the finished product.





Here are the card holders for you to see!





Here's how it looks when playing another person!
It's nice to just play and not see the other person's cards!