Family Vacations!

From now until May 11th, Daily Getaways is offering great deals and promotions to tourists nationwide, including discounts on airfare, hotels, attractions and more! More than half of American families say they return from vacations feeling reconnected with their family, and that the anticipation of a getaway gives a boost to positive feelings about family, finances and health. Visit DailyGetaways.com for further information!

National Park Week

Coinciding with Earth Day on April 22nd, this week is also National Park Week! To celebrate, approximately 150 National Parks will offer free admission from April 21st-29th. Visit http://www.nps.gov/findapark/index.htm to find parks near you! And consider giving a donation while you’re there, even if it’s less than the usual charge for admittance.

Air Travel with Kids

Flying with kids is NOT easy. For the parents, the passengers around the children, or even the kids themselves. Did you know there is a website entirely dedicated to this topic with tips for packing, feeding, getting through security and even keeping your kids calm during take off and landing. Too many tips to list here, so we suggest visiting the website at http://www.flyingwithkids.com/.

Disney!

You can’t fight Disney. It’s a channel, a store, a Broadway producer, a theme park . . .  the list goes on. But WHY fight it? It’s pretty great. Check out http://disney.go.com/index for information on products, the parks, travel deals, programs on the tv channel, educational video games and more!

Water Balloon Catch!

This wet and wacky game is as refreshing as a dip in the pool. On a hot day, even if you drop the ball, you’re still cool.

What You Need

• Gallon-size milk jugs (one for each player)

• Tape

• Ribbons

• Water balloons

Instructions

1. Create the catchers by cutting the bottom off a gallon-size milk jug (one for each player), taping the cut edges, and decorating with ribbon, as shown.

2. Fill a bunch of water balloons to the size of a grapefruit.

3. See how many times you can toss the balloons without breaking them or how far you can catch and throw them.

To learn more about Artist Babysitting, please visit our website

www.artistbabysitting.com

Outdoor Art-ventures

Explore creativity in the great outdoors.

What you need:

• Paper
• Pencils
• Crayons
• Makers
• Watercolors
• Chalk
• Glue

What to do:
1. Rubbing collage: Start by peeling the paper off a bunch of crayons. Head outside with a few large sheets of drawing paper and crayons. Demonstrate how to use rubbings to create different textures on paper. Your child can rub over the bark of a tree, a brick wall, sidewalk, signs, or gratings. After you’ve collected a variety of textures on the sheet of paper, take a moment to compare and describe the textures you collected. Cut the different rubbings apart and place them in one pile. Practice sorting by arranging each texture rubbing into different piles. Finish the project by gluing all of the rubbings into one big collage.

2. Building facades: Explain that a facade is the outside of a building. Show your child a few pictures of buildings and ask him to describe what he sees. Encourage him to notice decorative patterns, geometric shapes, and the placement of doors and windows. Go outside to make a pencil drawing of the front of a building. You can use your home, the front of his school, or any interesting structure in your town. Before beginning, talk about what you see. Ask your child to notice the overall shape of the building, shapes of windows and doors, patterns of brick or siding, and columns.

Learning benefits:

• Builds observation skills
• Encourages creative expression
• Strengthens fine-motor skills

To learn more about Artist Babysitting, please visit out website

www.artistbabysitting.com

Bubble Recipe

1.	Combine water and detergent. Stir well, but do not shake.

2.	For stronger bubbles, add cup corn syrup or glycerin, or more detergent.

3.	Experiment with different brands of dishwashing detergent until you find one that works best for you.

HINT: Playing with bubbles can be messy and slippery! Try blowing bubbles outdoors, near the kitchen sink, or in the bathtub! Watch your step so you don´t fall on slippery spills.

To learn more about Artist Babysitting, please visit our website
www.artistbabysitting.com

Travel Scavenger Hunt

Give each child a list of items to watch for while driving. Check off each item when they find it.  The list can be made up ahead of time and adjusted for the scenery. For a younger child who can’t read, you might draw a little picture of each item next to the word so they will know what to look for.

Here are a few examples of items to hunt for:

City Scavenger Hunt: flashing red light bus signs in foreign languages dog food store railroad tracks billboard with a child on it cop license plate with “Q” person with tall boots person talking on a cell phone

Suburbs Scavenger Hunt: school flashing traffic light food store someone on a bike statue church playground flower garden or snowman pickup truck WalMart Person walking a dog

Rural Scavenger Hunt: silo cows railroad tracks pond or lake dirt road tractor gas station horses oil pump barn deer armadillo (even if it’s beside the road!)

Here is an example of a list for toddlers or preschool:

To learn more about Artist Babysitting, please visit our website
www.artistbabysitting.com