Babysitting

Today with the 10-11 year old girls I had a babysitting lesson. I adapted some of these ideas and came up with the rest on my own.

A few weeks ago I told the girls that we would be having this lesson and told them that they would need to be on the lookout for an old bag of any kind (purse, backpack, etc...) that they could bring. Here are the invitations that I handed out so that you can see how I worded the reminder. Although most of the girls said that they already had something in mind when I told them to be looking for a bag, I didn't want anyone to feel like they had to have something spectacular. After all, it's what's inside that counts, right?

I made each girl a personalized Babysitting Guide using a simple folder (the cheap paper ones) that included these things:

Add to your Kit
Babysitting Games
Safety First
Bee a great sitter

*Update I do not have access to these forms in Word. This posting is from an old Activity days Leader. Sorry! Please check Wendy's Activities Blog for more babysitting ideas and downloads!

I also added a few sheets of notebook paper (for notes, tic-tac-toe, phone numbers and so on) and a few coloring pages. I was going to buy dollar store coloring books for each girl but decided to print a few for each of them and then give them a few fun links (which can be found on the Add to your Kit list) where they can print more. They loved the idea!

I also glued a small emergency phone list on the inside pocket. The numbers included 911, Poison Control, the non-emergency number for the police and fire department and the closest hospital.

I wanted to include a basic first aid handout that the local fire station give out but they were all out. It's a handy little flyer geared toward kids that tells you what do to in all kind of emergencies. If you can get your hands on some, they would be great to add!

We discussed the Safety First, Add to your Kit and Bee a Great Sitter handouts and quickly reviewed most of the points. As we went along they asked questions about babysitting and believe it or not, we had a great discussion going!

After we had talked I gave them the rest of the items that I had for their kits:
(Keep in mind that it's a great time to stock up on crayons, glue, scissors, etc.)

Band-aids
Craft items like crayons and glue
Cotton Ball Game items

On the Babysitting Games handout it teaches you how to play a game with cotton balls. I gave each girl a few cotton balls and a long piece of yarn. At the end of the activity we played the game so that they would know how it worked.

They all said that they learned something new and were very excited! 2 of the 9 girls (the older ones of the group) currently babysit for me every now and them and at the end of the activity almost every one of them asked if they could babysit my kids tomorrow! One of them even called me when she got home! I hope I didn't start something!

UPDATE: Wendy, over at Wendy's Activities came up with these great PDF's. Most of the information from my original documents are included and them some. I do not have these files in Word. Sorry!

Bee a Great Sitter
Safety First
Important Information
Babysitting Games
Songs to Sing
Add to your Kit

6 comments:

  1. I seriously love you!!! I am doing a summer camp for my kids and some of their friends and I was trying to put together some kind of a babysitting kit. Seriously, you are my hero, thank you!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank-you so much for your ideas. I teach the beehives and we are having an activity tonight on this. So thank-you for helping me out!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great Idea!! We are going to use this one. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you! These are great Handouts and it saved me so much time! The Activity day girls will love these ideas. -Kristina

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thank you for these great handouts! They are so helpful!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thank you for the wonderful ideas and most of all sharing them.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts with Thumbnails