Sea Shell Hair Pins

Who doesn’t love summertime and days spent at the beach with the kids? Part of each day spent at the beach my charges scan the shore for sea shell treasures. These nautical hair pins are easy and inexpensive to make but don’t let little kids use the glue. Let your favorite mermaids pick out their favorite shells […]

Lemon Sugar Scrub

Mother’s Day Gift I just love the smell of lemons! That’s one of the reasons this is my absolute favorite, cheapest, and easiest homemade Mother’s Day gift to make and give. Let the kids help make this wonderfully clean smelling, non-toxic, moisturizing scrub for their Mother and Grandmothers. It’s so inexpensive. This lemony scrub makes an […]

“I Love You This Much” Hand Card

Mother’s Day Project For years I’ve been making this card with kids. With Mother’s Days approaching next week, it is an easy card to make with the children for their mother. Of course you can make this card for Father’s Day, Valentine’s Day, birthdays, or any special occasion too. It couldn’t be cuter and easier to make. […]

Recycled Rocking Robin Craft

Earth Day Project My youngest charge and I enjoy attending an environmental program for children at a local garden. Following a lesson about birds one day we made this rocking robin craft. Made out of old cardboard cereal boxes, these delightful birds rock back and forth when tapped. The robins look so cute. Be sure […]

“The Tiny Seed” by Eric Carle and What Direction Does a Seed Grow Project

Weekly Trip to the Library “The Tiny Seed” By Eric Carle is the perfect book to read in the Spring. The short board book follows the life of a seed. This mini-book includes a piece of detachable seed-embedded paper housed on the inside front cover. Readers can plant the entire piece of paper and watch as their […]

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, […]

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 […]

Caterpillar Pencil Topper

Creative Projects to Do With Kids The teen I care for made this pencil topper for his little sister using a hot glue gun. I don’t recommend young children using hot glue guns. But, you can easily and safely use white glue instead if you are making simple pencil toppers. Hot glue works better than […]

Puffy Paint

Getting Creative with Kids There is something magical about the three-dimensional appearance of Puffy Paint. Puffy paint is easy to make and you can simply find the ingredients already at home. Allow the kids to use the Puff Paint recipes as finger paint as well — although I don’t like adding color to the puffy […]

Art with Kids

Kandinsky Tree I love the subject of Art History and hope to inspire my Nanny Kids to appreciate art as well. I introduced my three-year-old charge to abstract art by showing her Kandinsky Trees. Wassily Kandisnsky was a famous Russian artist who had a gift called synaesthesia cognate which gives him the ability to hear […]