Babysitting is a very important job, but it is also one of the best jobs because you get to have fun! When you are babysitting a younger child, you may not have any idea of what activities you can do. Here are some great ideas for you to try the next time you are babysitting a young
child.

Coloring
Kids love to color! When you go to your babysitting job, bring along some crayons, colored pencils, markers, coloring books, and blank sheets of paper. The house you are going to may or may not have these items already. If they don’t, then you will be prepared. Either way, the parents will be impressed that you are arriving to their house prepared to entertain their child, and not just sit on the couch or talk on the phone.

Dress Up
Dress up is a great activity to play with a young child. Both boys and girls can have fun with this. If they have a chest of play clothes, then that is great! If not, just find some clothes that they can use to pretend to be someone or something. Let them use their imagination. You should play along too, although you will not be able to dress up unless you brought along some extra clothes. Be sure to put the clothes away neatly after you are done with them. You don’t want to leave a mess for when the parents come home.

Paint With Water
This is a fun and CLEAN activity to do with young children. You give them a piece of construction paper (the darker colors like red and blue work best) and put some water into a small bowl. Give the child a paintbrush and let them dip the brush into the water and then they can “paint” the paper. The water will make the paper look like it has been painted on, but without the mess of paint. You may want to put down some newspaper underneath of the construction paper for easier cleanup. The paper will dry after a bit and their painting will disappear. You can call this “disappearing paint” and it will mystify some children, and they will want to do the activity again. They can also try painting with water on the sidewalk outside with larger paintbrushes. Bring your own supplies if you need to.

The internet has opened up new worlds of information to us. Many of us shop online and enjoy connecting by email with family and friends. Seeing your child actively engaged at the computer often reassures us that our child is actively learning,
particularly when she tells us she is working on a school project. When our child tells us she is chatting online, this way of keeping in touch with friends seems acceptable. We certainly remember the hours we spent on the telephone talking to our girlfriends once we started junior high. Many of us feel that a computer is an essential tool and wonderful convenience for our homes. Our work situations often demand that we have internet access at home.

Many of our children have earned the trust of being allowed to stay by themselves until we return from work. The evening and weekend hours are always hectic. Seeing your child working diligently at the computer can give us a false sense of security.

Every one of us has used the television as a temporary babysitter when we needed a little time to get our act together at home. The internet is not just a different kind of television. Think of the internet like a telephone that allows your child to be in contact with strangers and, in fact, welcomes these strangers into your home. Just as you are preparing your child for the real world, you need to inform your child about the online world.

1. Limiting your child’s computer time is not enough. Establish guidelines and rules with clear consequences, if rules are broken.

2. Know as much as your children about their internet and computer use. Familiarize yourself with the programs your child is using. Consider internet filters or blocks.

3. Place the family’s computer in the location that will make it easiest for you to insure that family guidelines on internet use are respected. You would not permit your child to bring strangers into their bedrooms. Computers with internet access need constant parental supervision.

Avoid the Brown Bag Blues by Letting Your Child Decorate their Bags

A fun and healthy brown bag lunch can be easily achieved with just a little planning.

Kids love finger food, small pieces of yummy goodness they can easily toss into their mouth while talking about their favorite television show or video game will quickly get eaten up. There are lots of healthy foods that can be made into finger foods for your kids, vegetables are one of the best and most nutritious choices you can make, baby carrots are great because they are pretty much ready to go, just throw a few in a zip lock baggie, cherry tomatoes are also a good choice but I would cut them in half first to avoid the possibility of squirting tomato goop across the table. Celery is also good and you can stuff it with a low fat cream cheese or peanut butter, whatever veggies you choose make sure it is on the list of healthy foods your child will eat.

It’s not a fun brown bag lunch if your child doesn’t like it and it will either get traded for a cookie or just tossed in the trash.

Low fat cheese is also a great choice to help avoid the brown bag blues, kids usually love it and you can buy it either already cut into pieces or you can buy the block of cheese and cut it up yourself. Don’t forget about the fruits, blueberries have made the list of one of the healthiest foods you can eat so why not give them to your kids. Since blueberries are small already there is no need to cut them up, but if you are giving them melons or strawberries you should clean them and cut them up. Apples actually make a better after school or at home snack choice because if you cut them up they will turn brown and icky and most likely will fill up the trash can.

If you buy yogurt, try to buy the ones with the plastic lids, after eating the yogurt you can wash them out and reuse the cups to fill with fruits, dipping sauces or home made Jell-O.