What are some of your favorite crafts, activities or recipes that you do with your charges?

[Anonymous]

A nanny here just looking for some ideas for my nanny binder.

What are your favorite things to do with your charges?
What crafts do they like the best?
Any yummy or really cool food recipes?
What science experiments have you done?

Also what do you keep in your nanny binder? Or on your phone?

Any Ideas appreciated!!

[Anonymous]

I have a Pinterest folder that contains cool crafts, recipes and activities that I'd like to try with my charges. When I'm having trouble coming up with something, we look through that.

[Anonymous]

I also have all my nanny stuff on pinterest. It's a great resource for finding great activities. Some of the best projects on there that I've found is how to make playdough, slime, bouncing bubbles and tons of handprint crafts for the parents for various holidays.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the ideas, I have thought about making a pinterest account but I really try to stay off my phone while at work so having everything printed or written out really helps.
I already have some playdough and bubble recipes.
I just need to find more cool/fun ideas

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the ideas, I have thought about making a pinterest account but I really try to stay off my phone while at work so having everything printed or written out really helps.
I already have some playdough and bubble recipes.
I just need to find more cool/fun ideas

Don't really know what to tell you. You can't use the phone for work-related things?

[Anonymous]

I swear by sensory bins - they occupy my charges for sometimes hours on end, especially the 2-3yo range.

When I nannied full-time we would 'do' a theme of sorts, based on what I noticed the kids were into, or what I liked, and we would do lots crafts and sort of learning on that theme a little bit every day.

My current charge is all about writing letters - we made a postbox out of a cereal box, use stickers or coloured little pictures for stamps, ink stamps as the post's stamp, we make envelopes out of A4 paper, she fills them with pictures and letters and 'sends' them to her parents and relatives. Some of the nicer ones she put a lot of effort in we actually mailed to the grandparents and made a day out of going to the post office, etc.

Dancing games where they have to follow your cues.

Playdough making and using all kinds of things as tools.

We also papered a portion of the wall in her room and add little or big pictures with pencils, stamps, crayons, stickers, what have you as the time goes by. It's our big artwork wall.

But my kid is almost 4 and she really, really loves arts and crafts - but you can definitely adjust most of it for the age of your charges.

[Anonymous]

Re pinterest, I have boards organised by a broader theme that I add to once I come across something I think my charge will like, so once we start a new theme I have a look through that board and have a few craft ideas to choose from. Most of the stuff is pretty self-explanatory so there's no need to print out instructions.