Au Pair in America

Day of the Dead

This is a Mexican holiday marked by celebrations, special foods, reunions and visits to cemeteries. For more information visit http://www.mexconnect.com/mex_/muertos.html.

Daylight Savings Time Begins

In most parts of the country, it is time to readjust the clock – set it back one hour.

American Indian Heritage Month

Learn about Native Americans and try some very easy crafts with the instructions on this page: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/indian/.

Check http://www.nativeweb.org/community/events/ for Native American events in your area that you can attend.

Election Day

Citizens of the United States will vote and elect a new President.  Would you like to know more about the American political system? Check out http://bensguide.gpo.gov/ for a simple presentation of information about the U.S. government, including elections. Talk to the children about what you learned and create an Election Day theme at home: decorate in red, white and blue (how about colored napkins on the table?). Put out an American flag and serve red, white and blue snacks, such as blue and white corn chips with red salsa, vanilla ice cream with strawberries and blueberries, or layers of colored Jell-o served with whipped cream.

Peanut Butter Lover’s Month

Peanut butter is a favorite food for many children in the U.S. Some children might like to eat it plain, but it is too sticky and can cause a child to choke. Always put the peanut butter on bread, a cracker, a piece of apple, a celery stick or some other fruit or vegetable.  ** Ask your Host Parents before serving peanut butter to the children.

Try this recipe with the children for a snack:

Ants on a Log

• Celery sticks, peanut butter and raisins.
• Wash the celery and cut it into pieces 10-15 centimeters long. Spread the peanut butter in the U–shaped part of the celery, from one end to the other. Press raisins into the peanut butter.

Tired of eating peanut butter? The kids can play with it too! This is one of the few times it is really okay to play with your food as the play-dough is edible, but only for children over the age of one year.

Peanut Butter Play-dough

• 3 1/2 cups peanut butter
• 4 cups confectioner's sugar
• 3 1/2 cups honey
• 4 cups dry milk powder

In a large bowl, cream together the peanut butter and confectioner's sugar. Then beat in the honey and fold in the milk powder. Divide the dough into small portions and refrigerate or freeze until you are ready to use it.

John Philip Sousa

John Philip Sousa was born in 1854 and is famous for composing over 100 marches – classic American patriotic music. Make a marching band with the children (you might need to invite some friends) and have a parade. Children love to make noise, so you don’t need fancy instruments. Try two pot lids as cymbals, a stick and an empty cardboard or plastic container as a drum. Sandpaper rubbed together makes a great noise too! Homemade flags or paper hats would dress up your parade even more.

Car Racing

In the United States there is a car race almost every week of the year between February and November. Now that the professionals are done, your children ages 4 and up can make some races of their own. You need a small toy car and a pencil for each racer and some string cut into equal lengths. Younger children should use short string; older children may have the patience for longer pieces. Tie one end of the string to the front of a car and the other end to the middle of the pencil. Pick a starting line at one end of your room and put the cars down. Now walk away as far as the string will let you. Move the cars toward you by rolling the string up on the pencil. How fast can the car go? The winner is the first racer who gets the car back to where he is standing.

Veteran’s Day

A day to honor American veterans of all wars, Veteran's Day is a federal holiday. You can find some suggestions of activities to do with children at http://www.va.gov/KIDS/.

Nadia Comaneci

Nadia, born in Romania in 1961, was the first gymnast to ever score a perfect 10 at the Olympics. She scored seven of them before the games were over in 1976! Read more about her at http://cbs.sportsline.com/u/kids/women/comaneci.htm. You might want to do a mini Olympics at your house. Create medals with ribbon and cardboard in advance so that you will be ready at the end of the “competition.” The children can help you make them. The competition can be simple races (running, jumping, hopping, or rolling – compete by time or by endurance) or games or throwing or lifting. Choose challenges that are right for your age group.

Claude Monet 

Monet, a famous French impressionist artist, was born in 1840. He would often paint the same scene in different lights for different effects. Look at some examples of this at http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/monet/haystacks/ and then download a coloring page of the same painting for the children to color here. Encourage them to color it their own way, not to copy Claude Monet.

Geography Awareness Week

This is the perfect week to take out a map or a globe and show the children where they live and where your home country is. If you want to do this online, this site offers very detailed maps as well as basic country information: http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/mapmachine/facts_fs.html. Some kids like to draw maps – it could be of an imaginary place, their neighborhood or even their room. You might want to try drawing a treasure map with clues for an afternoon of adventure with school age children.

Mickey Mouse’s Birthday

Mickey Mouse was created in 1928! Celebrate his birthday with Mickey Mouse pancakes:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup quick cooking oats
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Beat all ingredients in a bowl until smooth. Grease a griddle or frying pan. For each pancake pour batter into one large circle and two smaller circles at the top to make a Mickey Mouse. Cook until pancake is puffed and dry around the edges. Turn and cook the other side until golden brown. Use chocolate chips for eyes if you want.

National Game and Puzzle Week

Most children love to play games – ball games, card games, board games, word games, guessing games. Playing games is important because it helps children learn how to handle disappointment when they lose. It also helps them to learn to take turns and how to follow rules. Play their favorites or teach them a new game from your childhood. Older children might enjoy making up their own puzzles. This exciting site (http://puzzlemaker.school.discovery.com/) offers many ways to make different kinds of puzzles. There are even mazes to download. Have fun!

Musical Instruments

Make your own instruments with children 4-8 and then sing and march along.

Drum: You need a coffee can or a round carton like the kind oatmeal comes in. Poke holes for a string so that the child can wear it around his neck; find two sticks to beat the drum.

Stringed Instrument: Cut a hole in the cover of a shoebox and tape the cover to the box so it doesn’t fall off. Stretch rubber bands over the box and plunk away. Try different rubber bands – wide and narrow, tight and loose.

Scratch Pictures

This is a fun art project for children ages 7 and up. You need paper, crayons (make sure you have a black one), and a paper clip. Take one crayon and rub it over a section of the paper. Use the flat side of the crayon and rub hard. Take another color and do the same to another part of the paper. Cover the whole paper with different colors of crayon. Now, take the black crayon and color over all the other colors until the whole paper is black. With a paper clip or any other pointed but not sharp object, draw a picture by scratching through the black crayon. The other colors will show through where the drawing is scratched.

National Family Week

Families are so busy that they may need a reminder to spend time together. Work with your family to design a Family Night. See activity ideas here: http://www.lds.org/library/display/0,4945,31-1-15-1,00.html

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving dates back to the first European settlers in North America. After hardship, illness and hard work, the Pilgrims celebrated a successful harvest that they shared with their Native American friends. This national holiday is a day to feast and give thanks. Visit this site to compare Thanksgiving to other harvest festivals: http://www.familyculture.com/holidays/thanksgiving.htm.