Gustavo the Shy Ghost by Flavia Z. Drago

Gustavo, the Shy Ghost is the winning debut picture book from Mexican artist Flavia Z. Drago about finding the courage to make friends is perfect for the spooky season —- or anytime. In Gustavo, the Shy Ghost Gustavo is good at doing all sorts of ghostly things: walking through walls, making objects fly, and glowing […]

Spider Web Pancakes

Children love both pancakes and Halloween. This is such a fun and easy way to combine your Nanny Kid’s love of their favorite breakfast for Halloween. Homemade pancakes with fresh ingredients taste so much better than using a pancake mix, but the kids aren’t likely to care which recipe you use. Don’t forget to visit […]

Halloween Spider Web Craft

Creative Wednesdays While many people decorate the outside of their homes with stretched cotton to look like spider webs on their bushes I like making this easy spider web craft with my Nanny Kids to decorate the inside their house for Halloween. Let the children help with every step of making this easy project. Preschoolers […]

“The Good, the Bad, and the Spooky” by Jory John and Pete Oswald

The main character of “The Bad Seed Presents: The Good, the Bad, and the Spooky” is a sunflower seed in a cranky mood because he can’t seem to find the perfect Halloween costume. Despite trying to ruin the holiday for the whole field he ends up learning some positive lessons from a kindly neighbor and […]

Chicken Witches Fingers for Halloween

Some kids would eat homemade chicken fingers every day if I would make it for them. To add a Halloween vibe to baked chicken fingers I just added almond slices to the tips of chicken and told the children they are witches fingers. Allow the kiddos to dip their witches fingers into ramekins of blood […]

Hanging Bat

This is such a fun Halloween craft to make with your Nanny Kids I found at the buggy and buddy web site. Make many of these and hang them up by their feet as the bats hang upside down all over the children’s playroom and bedrooms. You can make them in other colors like orange […]

“The Leaf Thief ” by Alice Fleming and Nicola Slater

Be sure to make leaf rubbings after reading The Leaf Thief: (The Perfect Fall Book for Children and Toddlers) by Alice Fleming and Nicola Slater with the children in your care. The Leaf Thief is a funny picture book that teaches kids about autumn, adapting to change, and the seasons. The main character is Squirrel […]

Chicken and Leek Cream Stew

When I cooked for a family that moved to the United States from Europe I simply Googled a metric conversion chart to transform grams into ounces for the recipes they liked me to prepare for them. The family absolutely loved this comforting stew recipe found on the bbcgoodfood web site. Click here to here to […]

The Color Monster

Halloween has a lot of scary characters but the monster in The Color Monster by Anna Llenas is not scary at all. The Color Monster helps children identify emotions and feel more in control. One day, Color Monster wakes up feeling very confused. His emotions are all over the place; he feels angry, happy, calm, […]

Stir-Fried Udon

Cooking for Families This is such an easy and delicious dinner that tastes better than takeout stir-fried udon. I sound the recipe on epicurious. I used ground turkey instead of ground pork. But you can make this vegetarian by using shiitake or crimini mushrooms to replace the animal protein. I also used both red and […]