You’ve Been Ghosted!

Anonymous Halloween Fun In preparation for Halloween, have the children help you play this fun game with their friends and neighbors. Fill a gift bag with Halloween treats or the Nutter Butter Ghost Cookies we made (see recipe below). Or, try these cute ghost cookies we made last year. You can add anything related to […]

Fishing for Rhymes

Creative Card Game Use index cards to create a deck of rhyming cards. The deck should be made up of at least 15 rhyming pairs (see our list below). Write one word per card. When the deck is complete, pass out four cards to each player. Explain that the object of the game is to […]

Compound Caterpillars

Creative Wednesdays It is fun making Compound Caterpillars with the kids. Explain that a compound word is two separate words that are combined to make one word. Take turns naming compound words. Write the words on a chart. Then create Compound Caterpillars as we did below. You Will Need: Construction Paper Markers Circle to Trace […]

Foam Beehive: Bubble Science

Creative Wednesdays All children love bubbles. They will all love this bubble science experiment. When bubbles connect to one another, they create a shape with minimal surface area. If three bubbles unite, they arrange themselves into a 120 degree angle from one another to create a perfect hexagonal shape — exactly like a beehive. Bees […]

Weaving Loop Bracelets, Headbands and Pot Holders

Creative Wednesdays One of the easiest bracelets for kids to make only requires fabric loops and fingers — no special tools. Once kids feel confident weaving bracelets and headbands on their fingers they can move to a weaving loom to make pot holders and more. Here’s what to do: Will Need: Fabric Loops Weaving Loom […]

Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree

Creative Wednesdays It’s spring and when you look out the window what do you see? It looks like popcorn is popping on the spring trees. So we made some spring trees indoors on a rainy day with real popcorn. Before, during, and after making the trees teach the kids the song, “Popcorn Popping on the […]

Lace a Mitten Filled with Animals and Read “The Mitten” by Jan Brett

Creative Children’s Book Project There are few books as loved by kids as The Mitten by Jan Brett. Winter is a great time to read this beloved children’s book and do this cute craft with the kids in your care. As you read the book the kids will love when a Ukaranian boy named Nikki loses […]

Pumpkin Pie Play Dough

Nothing is better than the smell of pumpkin in the Autumn. So, this week we made this easy homemade play dough recipe that is scented like pumpkin pie. While playing with play dough, children use the small muscles in their fingers and hands. They use hands, fingers, and tools to pound, push, poke, shape, flatten, roll, cut, […]

Paper Roll Binoculars

Creative Crafts for Kids My youngest charge loves birds. She’s too young to entrust with real binoculars when bird watching. So, it was easy to make these pretend binoculars and they have provided hours of creative fun this summer as we have taken them along on nature hikes to identify birds. If you do not […]

How to Encourage Learning at Home

Success In School Requires Support at Home Success in school requires support at home. As nannies we have a unique opportunity to teach children in important ways that cannot be taught in school. It is up to us to make learning experiences in everyday activities. We can even help children too young for school to develop […]