Patriotic Paper Plate Ring Toss

Creative Wednesday This paper plate ring toss game is a fun way to keep the kids busy for the afternoon both painting and coloring and then practicing their tossing skills. Use patriotic colors for national holidays like Labor Day. If it is a rainy day it’s safe to play indoors. If you’re looking for an […]

Mondrian Sidewalk Chalk Art

Creative Wednesdays Known for his Modernism abstract paintings, Piet Mondrian used the simplest combination of straight lines and right angles, creating geometric shapes of bold primary colors. After showing the kids paintings by Mondrian and reading “Coppernickel Goes Mondrian” go outside to make similar art using sidewalk chalk. Of course on a rainy day you […]

Baking Soda and Cornstarch Play Dough

Creative Wednesdays Play dough is fun to make with kids at any age. Playing with this non-toxic dough is great for fine motor skills for toddlers. Playing with play dough helps strengthen the muscles in their hands through squishing, rolling, and shaping the dough, which will set them up well to eventually hold a pencil […]

Story Cubes

Creative Wednesdays Story cubes are similar to dice with various images on them. Their primary goal has been to help writers to come up with story ideas. But they can be used in various ways to build creativity, story-telling skills, and to role-play. My Nanny Kid and I used them to make up our own […]

Summer Learning: Phonics Flower

Creative Wednesdays I’m not sure when or where I first learned to make phonics flowers but I started making them for the kids in my care in 1993. The goal of phonics is to enable beginning readers to decode new written words by sounding them out. Phonemic awareness helps children hear, identify, and manipulate spelling […]

Inspiring Sea Shells

Creative Wednesdays Painted rocks with kind messages were all the rage this summer in our neighborhood. Although the kids had to keep their distance during the pandemic they left rocks with inspirational messages on them at their curb to inspire neighbors who passed by. If you are at the beach or by the shore take […]

Giant Bubbles

Summer Fun: Boredom Buster Nannies all across America keep asking me for fun activities to do with their nanny kids as summer camps have been cancelled due to coronavirus this summer. I highly recommend making Giant Bubbles with little and big kids. I simply bought WOWMAZING Giant Bubble Wands Kit and WOWMAZING Giant Bubble Refill […]

Craft Stick Patterns

Creative Play This is an inexpensive project to make for toddlers and preschoolers that just takes a few minutes to make. I start with making simple designs of triangles, squares, and rectangles for toddlers and make designs more complex as the children grow and develop their matching skills. Just google craft stick pattern ideas for […]

4th of July Paper Plate Hats

Creative Wednesday July 4th is Independence Day in the United States of America. Here is a very inexpensive, fun, and easy craft to make with your Nanny Kids to wear this weekend to help celebrate Independence Day. Although there are seven red stripes on the American flag to represent valor, six white stripes to symbolize […]

Patriotic Balloon Paper Plate Paddle Games

I’m always looking for new games to play with the kids in their backyard in the summertime. So I had the kids decorate paper plates to make paddles to play with balloons. Have children decorate the paper plate paddles in red, white, and blue for any patriotic holiday. Have the kids make up games such […]