Create-A-Game

So, tonight I had a couple of peanuts that love to play anything that involves sports! So, tonight we invented our own game of Tennis/Baseball!


You need:

- Baseball gloves
- Tennis Rackets
- Tennis balls (Yes, more than one, you never know when you'll lose it!)
- A wild imagination!

Rules:
1. All players must agree to the rules
2. There must be a batter, a pitcher and a catcher (optional)
3. The batter must swing a tennis racket
4. The pitcher must throw the tennis ball
5. When the pitcher throws the ball, all playing must come to an agreement if the pitch was a ball, or a strike. At three strikes, that player is out and the game resumes. When there is only three people playing, the batter will play as multiple players on his 'team.' If he hits the ball and it is 'good', the player runs to first, second, third or home as he sees fit.
6. When the batter reaches the designated base, all players agree that he is 'there' and he returns home to hit the next thrown ball.
7. When the batter has reached either three outs with his own body, or with ghost players; or three points, the batter and the pitcher switch places.
8. The player who reaches 18 points first, wins the game!

So, either you try our game (hopefully its not as confusing as it really seems) or you try your own! Either way the kids will ask for you by name and you'll be back in their house and the best babysitter ever!

Banana Split!

Like, OMG who can imagine a better dessert?
You don't need much, just some ice cream and a lot of imagination!

You Need:

• One to Three kinds of Ice Cream (Recommended: Chocolate Ice Cream, Vanilla Ice Cream, Strawberry Ice Cream)
• One to Three kinds of Dessert Sauces (Recommended: Pineapple Sauce, Strawberries, Chocolate Sauce)
• One Banana 
• Whipped Cream 
• Sprinkles or Chopped Nuts 
• Cherries 

Directions:

1. Place three scoops of your ice cream in a line in your deep dish. 
2. Cut the banana in half and squish against the scoops of ice cream. 
3. Dribble on the different sauces to your liking 
4. Whipped topping the whole thing.
5. Sprinkle on the sprinkles or the nuts. 
6. Add a cherry & spoon... 
7. And enjoy!

Telephone

Anyone remember the game telephone as a kid? Really, it didn't take much!

 

There are a few different ways to play this game, one, with the tin cans and string, and the other, having everyone sit in a circle and by whispering the message into the next persons ear you send off a silly message. Well, today, I'd like to talk about BOTH.

 

The first one requires:

 

2 Tin Cans (clean and no labels)

1 Nail

1 Hammer

3 feet of string (anything fairly thick will do)

Duct Tape (use as needed)

 

To make a 'telephone' first you must take the nail and punch ONE hole into the bottom of the can using the hammer. It must be big enough to pass the string through.

Well, now you've guessed it, send the string through! However, start by sending the string through one can so that it is facing the open end. When you can pull it through enough, tie a knot. This is your anchor. For the second string, pass it through the end of the can, and send enough through so that when it reaches the opening, you can tie a second knot, or anchor. Be sure to have these knots strong enough so that they won't slip through when playing!

Now, you're ready to play telephone!

Have player one sit on the floor with one of the tin cans pressed firmly against his or her ear. Parents, if you want to take extra precaution, use duct tape to seal off the edge of the can.

Player two will speak clearly into thier can a silly message and hopefully player one can hear it!

Try this too going from room to room, you never know how far your message will carry!

 

 The second game of telephone is alot like starting a rumor. 
What you need to do is have everyone thats playing sit in a circle. A designated player will think of a simple, yet very silly phrase and whisper it into the person sitting next to them's ear.  If the message is not clear, the second person will say OPERATOR and the message will be repeated again. Operator can only be used once per person per round! If you don't understand the message the second time, then you just try your best and continue on!
The message should be delivered around the circle until it arrives back at the starter person. By this time the message should be fairly scrambled and very silly!
The next person in the circle comes up with the next phrase and the system continues again!
I've played this game a few times and there is always at least one smart-alek. If you can figure out who this person is in the beginning, give the smart-alek no chance of escape and have the phrase be about them!

Cup & Ball

 

 

Someone sent me this picture and I thought it was too cute not to share, so here you are!

 

Also, today is my birthday, so I thought I would share a little something special!

 

 

 

SO Imagine a day on the job with a few kids that are just a bit coo - coo BUT you can't let them out of the house. It's rainding, snowing, hailing, something is going on outside and you just can't let them leave.... and your boss will kill you too if they got a cold. Oh boy.

 

Here is a fun little game that you can create in about ten minutes and still have hours of fun!

 

You Need:

2-3 Paper Cups

1 Pair of strong Scissors

3 pieces of 1 foot long strings

Foil Paper

 

Directions:

1. Punch a hole in the bottom of the cup.

2. String the string through the hole and tie a knot

3. Take the other string and tie another knot. Around this knot wrap foil paper tightly and into the shape of a ball.

4. Toss the foiled ball into the air and by using the cup try to make a 'basket!'

 

See if you can beat your kids record... it's harder than it looks!

 

 

SLIME!!!

Slime is easy to make. It only takes a few ingredients and a few minutes to make a batch. Follow these step-by-step written instructions or watch the video to see how to make slime. To get started, gather the following materials:

• water
• white glue (like Elmer's™)
• borax
• food coloring (unless you want uncolored white slime) 

If you're making it with a small crowd, this is a good recipe. Good luck!

1. Mix 1 tsp of borax in 1c of water. Stir until the borax is completely dissolved. (May take a few minutes)
2. In another container, or another person, mix 1/2 c of white glue with 1/2 cup of water. Here you can add the food coloring!
3. When everything is mixed completely in the separate containers, mix the two liquids. It's already going to look weird, goopy and fun to play with! I would say mix this in a plastic zip lock bag, it makes it more fun to squish it with your hands and watch it mix!
4. Mix mix mix mix! When you start to see water/food coloring, take out the mixture and add it to another zip lock bag. Keep squishing!
5. When it is in the separate bag, leave it out on the counter for about half an hour. You can squish it every so often. After, take it out and play with it! Have fun!

It takes a Village to Raise a Child....

You have probably heard some variation of this quote either when being with a child or discussing a child.
Nuclear Family
There are many people in one child's life, and it's not just limited to the child's parents. The child has his or her parents, of course, but then also siblings, younger or older, half or step, or non-existent, there is that feeling of having a connection in the family that is not the parents. If there is a pet in the family, maybe this is a substitute for a sibling (I'd never know, the closest pet I had was a rodent that constantly tried to bite me and fish that loved to die really fast).
Outside Family
These people include but are not limited to grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, great-grandparents, great-aunt's uncles, and other people that may be involved in your family. Members of your family that are related through marriage, children, divorce (sometimes), wedlock and other types of relationships count as outside family members. These people help in the child's life because they have a special part. Perhaps the uncle teaches the child how to skate, the great-grandmother teaches the child how to knit and the step-uncle teaches the kid how to make their own bow and arrow.
Teachers
When every child is taught something, the person that did their teaching is called their teacher. This goes beyond the child's in school educator and such. In school children learn something, it may not be street smarts like their Uncle Chuck can teach them, or how to cook like how Mom does, but they do learn. Possibly how to read, tell time, variations in colors, how to do math and other life-lessons that sometimes are taught at home, but are improved in the classroom. These people become a part of the child's life as well.
Religious Figures
Some families have religious figures in their homes, and follow different religious customs. Sometimes the child may agree with them, other times they may not and just follow along in the book, which-ever book it may be. The poeple that guide the child through their religious life become a part of the 'village' that is created to raise the child.
Health Personel
Every child comes into the world somehow, with some medical hand to help. From day one there is care coming from someone who knows how to take care of the child, and is able to help the mother through any medical help she may need. When the child is older, there is someone medically knowledgable to help with sickness, checkups and with major or minor bumps and brusises that the child may go through.

These people and many more make up a child's lifestyle and assist the child in anyway that they can. One person cannot help the child 'grow,' It takes many many different people from many different backgrounds, education and experiences. It is not just you who makes a difference in a child's life, it is the health personal, teachers, outside family and the nuclear family. Be aware of who is in your child's life, sometimes the people that are there are harmful, other times they are there to lend a helping hand.

Messy Sitter

I'm not sure if you have heard of this neat trick, but it is a sure fire way to get the children to like you right off the bat. A colleague of mine passed this trick on to me, after she tested it out on her group of children first. She mentioned this in passing, and a few quick hints as well.

You need:

1. White Shaving Cream
     * If you use the blue shaving cream, the paint will already have a strong smell
2. Elmer's Glue
3*. Add in smelly flavors such as peppermint, mint, or anything that smells nice for the holidays

Directions:

1. Mix the Shaving Cream and the Elmer's Glue 50/50 until it becomes a paint

2*. If you want the paint to be 'puffier' add in more Shaving Cream

3. Mix in the flavors, if you so wish.

4. Use a paint brush and lather the paint onto colored paper and voila!

When I get pictures I'll post them for you, but for now this is what I have. ☺

Halloween

Valentines Day

                                                                          For Summer!

Apples to Apples

I had a mother come up to me once when I was babysitting her dear child, whom I will name "Godzilla" after his favorite character, Godzilla, and mentioned to me who she wished she was 'smaller', and how she ate for two when she was pregnant.  That's what you're supposed to do right? (I wouldn't know!) After the funny stories I came back the next day and for a snack for my little Godzilla I prepared apples and peanut butter. Want to know the funny part? Godzilla loved it! He asked for more! His mother was just as surprised, she didn't think he would actually like the combination, which was a healthy alternative to the chicken nuggets that he really liked to eat. (I did too, they were in dinosaur shapes! Yum!) A few weeks after I had left the mother mentioned to me that he kept asking for the apples and peanut butter! I was shocked, I didn't realize that he would have liked it that much! And so I shall pass this on to you, since it was such a great success in Godzilla's home!

You need:

1 apple
1 knife
1 jar of peanut butter
extra: Raisins, peanuts, Cinnamon, toothpicks

1. Cut your apple into slices, as big as you want. I particularly like my apples cut in small quarters, big enough to hold and small enough to fit in your mouth without too much trouble. 
2. Spread peanut butter onto the apple slice and add on the raisins, peanuts or sprinkle on cinnamon. Instead of adding peanut butter to the apples you can also just add cinnamon and you get a yummy flavor altogether! P.S. in this step is where you get to experiment!
3. Stab a toothpick through the apple slice and serve!

Here are some ideas,

Just apples & peanut butter....

 Apples and cinnamon on a piece of bread with peanut butter and....

Apples and cinnamon!

I hope you enjoy as much as Godzilla did!



Lesson #10

Sorry for the horrid picture, but this was an idea that we came up with after camp last week. My little man is allergic to a few things, hence the odd looking bread. His parent made his bread before I arrived and left it in a little baggy for me (TIP: DON'T FORGET TO ASK IF YOUR CHILD IS ALLERGIC TO ANYTHING!!) and I was asked to work around that for snacks and such.

We used the extra bread, peanut butter (fortunately he wasn't allergic to peanut butter!) plus half a banana. He already ate half of the banana for lunch... so what to do with the rest of the banana?

Spider Sandwiches!

My little guy is four years old and LOVES bugs. To honor him here is his new sandwich, Spider Sandwich. We named it so because the little seeds in the inside of the banana looks like a squished spider, upon closer inspection it really does, trust me. He loved the idea of Squids (Hot dogs and spaggetti) and so I thought, why not give Spider Sandwiches a try?

Recipe: Peanut Butter, 1/2 a Banana and a Bagal.

1. Spread the peanut butter over the bagal, or anykind of bread that you have available.

2. Stick bite sized pieces of the banana in round pieces around the bagal.

3. Serve on a Spider man plate and enjoy! (Actually the plate was picked out of random!)

Enjoy! And keep your inner four year old self happy!

Lesson #9

If you want hugs, then let them run the house for a few hours. Yes, let them, one at a time, run the house. Plus if you have sick kids, remember that laughter is the best medicine, not ignoring them while they sleep away the day. They still need to be active! I don't really like it when the kids are sitting on the couch not doing anything but today was a bit of a must. And so with one kid off at camp and the other sick at home, we had to do something without losing our minds!

I decided to make breakfast (even though, as she said, I "... burn alot of things.") and so we had Pancakes! Blueberry! Marshmellow! Plain Pancakes! And the little one (over 7) had the great idea to make a picnic breakfast indoors! And this is what she came up with, the clever girl!

So we had pancakes, syrup, and juice. The clever one wanted a candle light breakfast (unfortunatly, it was her Mom's good candle, so we had nothing of it!) And the she set up the whole breakfast table her self! I was quite proud, she's learning something from me!

And you know how many hugs I got out of the deal because I let her mix, crack the eggs, 'clean' the house and set up the breakfast table? Six! Six in one day! So, go get some love yourself!


Recipe:

1 C Bisquick Pancake Mix              Chocolate chips
1 Egg                                               Marshmellows
1/2 Cup Milk

1. Stir all ingrediants in a bowl, with a whisk or a spoon.
2. Ladle the mixture onto a pan, doesn't matter the size.
3. Cook until the undersides edges are golden brown, add decorations (chocolate chips, marshmellows etc.)
4. The second side often cooks faster then the first side, keep an eye on the underside and flip again.
5. When the pancakes are cooked to your favorite color, serve and enjoy! Just a word of warning, the marshmellows tend to stick to the pan so make sure that you clean the pan as soon as you can.

Hint: If the mixture is too 'thick' add a little bit more milk.

Lesson #8

Always know what is in the house! Be it three children in stead of four, a rabid dog or a live-in grandparent, Always. Know. What. Is. In. The. House.

Case 1: If you are allergic to any animals, ask the parents if there are any such creatures in the house. This way the random allergy attack would not be coming from no where and you can be prepared with a box of tissue or allergy medication.
Real Life: Allergy to felines... anything. Wretched creatures.

Case 2: Inquire if there is an live-in relative. It's not the best situation when the live-in relative randomly shows up in the kitchen some afternoon and declares he's making lunch. Instead of a live-in relative try also tenants, they parents may trust him or her in the house with the kids (just not alone mind you) but it may be nice to actually know that persons name.

Case 3: Double check as to what kind of flora is in the home too, it doesn't hurt. Down the road you may find out that that is what has been making you sneeze all this time.

Lesson #7

With four year old children you need to watch what you are saying or doing, or else they end up repeating the same words or phrases. Such as with the cartoons that children watch, often they want to watch the 'big kid channels' where there are phrases that are not appropriate for children.
As often as I can I have my little monster watch the channel that is aimed more toward his age level or have him watch cartoons such as Scooby Doo where there is comedy and the 'bad guys' are apprehended in the end. This way he doesn't have to listen to every word (which I don't believe he does) and he also sees that the bad guy always gets in trouble because he is bad.
So, as a lesson for today, please keep an eye on what your children are watching, if you can, change the channel during a commercial break and inform the child that the show was 'over' and it was time for a better one. If they complain you can always use the trick that the TV is tired and needs to be turned off for a while. Don't be afraid to turn it off, studies show that children should not be glued to the TV. Have them exercise off their endless energy with activities outdoors or activities in doors, such as dancing to music or hide and go seek.

Today to burn off some extra energy, and built on an idea from the previous day, we made our own musical instruments! My little monster has a trampoline that sings when he bounces on it, and he likes to sing his own silly songs. To accompany his silly songs we crafted a guitar out of recycled bits and he was able to sing and dance to as many songs as he wished. To build a recycled guitar use:

• 1 small box (think small like ziti box)
• 3 rubber bands
• 3 paper clips
• 1 paper towel roll (just the cardboard, not the actual paper)
• Crayons
• Tape
• Glue
• scissors

1. Turn the cardboard box inside out so the outside is facing outward. Seal the box closed again with the tape or glue but leave one short end open with a slit big enough to hold the paper towel.
2. Cut six short holes into the box on one of the larger sides, this is where the makeshift strings will be. Please refer to the following pictures for where to place the holes. At this time you may have the child color the guitar with crayons and various other pieces of decoration. Stickers work as well. I had written my little monsters name on the side to make it more personalized.

3. Lace the rubber bands through the holes and secure inside the box using the paperclips. They should hold steady and should not break.
4. Place the paper towel role into the hole made on the top of the guitar, secure with tape or glue.
5. Strum and enjoy!

** Hint: In preparation for his moving up next year, we used this activity to work on shapes. Hence, the box is a 'rectangle,' the paper towel roll is a 'circle' and so on. We also counted the number of strings and drew a number of shapes on the different sides.

Lesson #6

Lesson #8 is centered on always being prepared for rainy days. You never know when a beautiful day like any summer day should be like. Thus you should be prepared and have another idea up your sleeve.

It was a rainy,
             no good,
             rotton,
             chilly day outside so instead of having a picnic ouside like I planned we instead stayed inside and had an indoor picnic. We had peanut butter sandwiches, popcorn, orange and peaches slices, milk and rice crispies.
            It was a wonderful picnic indoors! Everyone brought a friend and it was a lovely little luncheon. At least I thought so, until niether of them wanted to finish thier sandwiches. At least I got all the popcorn. Hehe!

Lesson #5

Always be prepared to make something fun and exciting for lunch, or your kids will expect nothing but boring mush from you day after day.

And thus, with a little help from a friend, this idea came into play! As you may not know, my little monster is allergic to a few things, and thus cannot eat a few surprises that I could cook up but can't anymore. Today we looked in the cupboard and found hot dogs and long rice and had SQUIDS for lunch!

SQUIDS? Yes Squids.

The first thing we did was put the squid together. First we stuck in five or six long pieces of rice (long spaghetti works too, but that package wasn't open yet and I think there is wheat in the ones that were in the house). There is an image found below that shows off what it should look like. Don't put them in too far, or else the squid won't look that great. Keep in mind that if the 'tenticals' of the squid are stuck in too far as well, they may not cook as well as they should.

I made a second hot dog in case if the monster decided that he didn't like the squid, but he did watch me make the squid the entire time so he knew what he was getting into. After the squid had cooked I showed him the similarities it had between the rice he could eat and the hot dog that I was going to eat but he ended up stealing...

Our finished SQUID looked like this (image found below). One slight problem, the tentacles got a little muddled together when they came out of the pot, but they still looked pretty good to eat! I cut up the squid to his request and he realized that the SQUID was actually just his favorite food: Hot dog! And my favorite part was when he ate the whole squid up, tentacles and all!

If this works for you please let me know! Have a yummy lunch!

Lesson #4

A little spooky, no? 

Well, to follow with our monster theme we had MONSTER SANDWICHES for lunch.

My little monster however is allergic to wheat, glutton, egg white and anything that I make for him. So instead we tried something a little different. I wish I took a picture of it before we destroyed it/ate it but hopefully I will get an improvised version of it up here!

My monsters mother makes bread for him to use so we had our head an bottom lip. In between the two bread slices we placed a little bit of mustard (not too much, he's only 4), a slice of cheese and a rolled piece of baloney. Similar to the monster on the left shown above. For eyes we improvised and used two baby tomatoes on toothpicks stuck through the bread. He is a picky eater so when the MONSTER came out, out came the toothpicks, undone comes the sandwich and he ate mostly just the cheese, baloney and bread that didn't have musterd on it.

Oh well, all that work to be torn to bits in about thirty seconds. Live and Learn.

We borrowed the idea from http://familyfun.go.com/back-to-school/back-to-school-lunches-snacks/back-to-school-sandwiches/silly-face-sandwich-683238/ All credit goes to Family Fun Magazine!

Lesson #3

Monster Week!

The first day of Monster Week involved making Monsters! You need:

- Paper bags (little ones for the little hands)
- Markers/Crayons/Something to color with
- Glue
- Cut outs from magazines
- Anything else you'd like really

What we did first was flip the closed bag over so the bottom flap was facing up. This is where the eyes and top lip is located. Draw here however silly you want the eyes to be, as well as a big fat top lip.
Then flip the bottom flap up and draw in a giant O, this is the inside of the mouth. Think of it like when a lion is yawning, all you see is a giant O with rows of teeth and a tounge.
Speaking of tounge, close the flap again and draw either a bottom lip or a long tounge to resemble a face.
Now when you slip your hand into the paper bag it should look like a mock puppet.

Here are some examples of paper bag puppets, I mean monsters, down below.

Guess which one the sick teenager did. (And that person wasn't me!)

Have fun!

Lesson #2

Every babysitter wants to be the best babysitter ever, unless if you're only in it for the money, in which case, go find something else to read.

In my case, I'm training to be a teacher. Copyrighted that!

So today we needed something to do besides watch cheap cartoons all day, well not all of them were cheap, I caught up on my old Scooby Doos'!

Today we decided to make squiggly worms. (EWWW!!) Hehe, not really, they were actually lots of fun!
We ended up making three and then when his mother came home we decided to make more another day. We made an aligater, a caterpillar and a butterfly. These Uncomplex Creased Animals are quite fun to make, and if you follow the animal hopefully you will be as successful as I am!

If you are interested this is the cover of the book, it is available on Amazon.com and other book sites. The kids enjoyed making them and creating phenomenal stories about them for hours!

Lesson #1

Always check to see if the children have previous injuries in case of something happens.

1. If a child has a blister and it pops while you're babysitting... DON'T FREAK OUT. Usually they are from a. touching something hot
        b. a too small shoe rubbing up against the ankle/tendon or
        c. starting out on a new sport and callouses are forming on the hands/feet

 Step 1: Treat the wound
 Step 2: If the wound is untreatable (too big or just a flap of skin) wrap it as best you can and let the child play. No harm will come from it.
 Step 3: Call the parents and notify them of the injury, sometimes they will explain that the blister was there before hand and they had been waiting for it to pop.

Case I: Child J had touched the top of a lamp that was on and burned her palm entirely. Fortunetly it was a light burn and turned only into a blister quickly. The parents had not informed thier sitter and during the visit the blister had popped. The child did not scream or panic since the blister was bound to pop any ways. The parents were called and informed the sitter of what had happened. The sitter learned after the incident to
a. Always know where the first aid kit is
b. Always be aware of previous injuries

Case II: Child A swallowed a nickel but was not choking. The parents were called and informed of the situation. The sitter was informed that there had been another incident where the same child had swallowed a nickel. The parents brought the child to the hospital where it was learned that the nickel had made it to the stomach with some discomfort to the child. Four days later it left the childs system and was never seen again. The sitter learned:
a. Never let anything smaller than a tube of toilet paper go near the child's mouth when one is not paying close enough attention and
b. To be caught up on CPR because the situation could have been 10x worse.