Sea Life

This past week I made custom fish bowls with the same boys(6 and 2). I went to Dollar Tree(You will find that I go here a lot for crafts!) and I got two medium sized glass bowls that looked like fish bowls to me. I also got a pack of sea creatures that when placed in water will grow, I had to go to target to get the markers that write on glass. First I had the boys decorate their bowls (the 6 year old wanted to leave his bowl plain, but enjoyed helping decorate his brothers bowl). The two year old got a kick out of 1. being able to use a marker, and 2. being able to color on something other than paper. After the bowls were decorated the 6 year old filled both bowls about halfway with water, and they each picked their own sea creature to grow. It takes about 24 hours for the sea creature to grow, so I am not actually sure how big they got. Maybe they will still be around next week when I babysit again.

Winter fun all year long

I am going to start with the most recent activity I have done. I was watching two boys(6 and 2) and both of them loved playing with this "snow". I went to Dollar Tree and got a package of Make your own snow for a dollar(I highly recommend this stuff!). The package comes with what seems like a little bit of white powder, and all you need is water. Simple Cheap and Fun!

I had the older boy pour the powder into a medium sized plastic mixing bowl. He said that this wouldn't be enough for him to play with, and he was amazed at how much "snow" the powder turned into when he started to slowly pour water into the bowl.  







Once we "made" the snow, I split it up between the two boys and just let them play. The younger boy just liked to touch it. It has a cold wet feeling to it that he loved. The older boy got more imaginative and started making things out of his snow. He first started with a snowball, and then decided he wanted to make a snowman. I was really impressed at how well we were able to make things with the snow.

*If you do get this for your children to play with, I highly recommend taping a plastic table cloth on the table that you can throw away when you are done. I had a really hard time cleaning up when we were done because the snow clung to the table.

My name is Katie Grogan. I have been babysitting for six years now, and it is the love of my life. I officially started babysitting when I was fourteen. And for those of you who can't do math, that means I am twenty years old. I have gained my passion for working with kids from my mom who opened an at home daycare after I was born. I have grown up with babies and toddlers in my house for my whole life, and I have loved every day of it. Now, because of this passion I have for children, I am studying early childhood education in hopes to be a Kindergarten teacher. I am currently a sophomore at Francis Marion University(Two more years to go!)

When parents hire a babysitter, they expect to get someone who will stay with their kids to make sure no one hurts themselves or sets fire to the house. Some of the tasks parents expect babysitters to perform may include:

• Cook dinner/fix a snack
• Put on a movie
• Get kids ready for bed (bathe, brush teeth, put on PJ's, etc.)
• Put them to sleep

When a parent hires me they get that, plus more! I am a very interactive babysitter. I like to make sure that the kids are having more fun than their parents are on their date night. I am known for my babysitters bag that I bring whenever I babysit. Thanks to my mom, I have an endless supply of craft supplies and games to fill my bag with. Each time I babysit I like to bring different activities geared towards the interests of the specific kids I am watching (I don't like to bring the same things every time).

I figured I would share with the world some of the activities that I do with "my kids" and to give other babysitters like me some ideas that you could use with your kids. Since these are not my kids, I am going to keep the children anonymous by only posting pictures of the activity, not the children. Enjoy!