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Toys R Us Easter Egg Hunt (School Holiday Fun)

School holidays are a fun time for nannies and their kids. For me, the concept of not having a hard daily schedule locked in pretty much screams freedom. You’re telling me we could spend all day at the zoo and not have to fight traffic to get across town for 3pm? Yes!

For the kids, school holidays are just like, the best time ever. Between day trips, playdates, sleepovers, cubby houses, activity camps, baking and brightly coloured crafts, the possibilities are endless! Combine school holidays with a seasonal event like Easter and it’s a sugar-hyped feast of scavenger hunts, brightly coloured crafts and chocolatey goodies.

The possible downside is that often school holidays mean that with all the kids under the one roof, grocery lists are doubled and shopping trips are lengthy. If your kids are anything like mine, the only time I can convince them that running errands is a good idea is if they’re allowed to purchase a new beanie boo with their pocket money or if a grocery store scavenger hunt is created.

So if you’re hauling kids around the shops these Easter school holidays, pop into a Toys “R” Us as a special treat for the kids.

Now I know Easter is kind of all wrapped up and done for the year (or should that be unwrapped), but there’s still a fun Easter egg scavenger hunt happening for the kids. Looking for some entertainment these school holidays? Toys “R” Us have got you sorted. The Toys “R” Us TRUMagic Easter Hunt is a game available free on the app store.

Toys “R” Us Easter Egg Scavenger Hunt Game

The campaign is designed to bring some modern day magic into Easter using the latest cutting edge technology. The game allows the player to interact with Toys “R” Us mascot Geoffrey the Giraffe and his Easter bunny friends, leading them on a virtual adventure through Toys “R” Us stores to find Geoffrey’s Playground and receive a free Easter treat.

Here’s How It Works:

1. Download the free Toys “R” TRUMagic app from the Apple Store or the Google Play store and activate it.

2. Head to your local Toys “R” Us store, open the app and hunt for one of the Easter eggs hidden around the store. Once you find it, point your device at it to meet your new Easter friends.

3. Follow the bunny paw prints all the way to Geoffrey’s playground.

4. Watch Geoffrey and the bunnies as they do a surprise welcome at the playground. You can even record yourself joining in!

5. Claim your free treat from the nearby Toys “R” Us team member at Geoffrey’s Playground.

Enjoy the school holidays kiddies!

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NANNY SHECANDO is suggesting this game as a fun, and special once off treat for your kids to enjoy these school holidays on the premise of being hauled around the shops participating in the standard professional nanny role “errands”. Errant or impulsive spending is not endorsed by NANNY SHECANDO nor does the editor condone bribing your charges with games and treats. As always, the use of iPads and other technology is recommended in small amounts and with constant adult supervision. NANNY SHECANDO has not endorsed the social media sharing features available within the game, and wishes to express that the use of social media by children should be closely monitored.

*images used from Toys R Us

3D Wall Art Letters (School Holiday Craft)

School holidays have arrived, and for most of us, brought rainy wet days. But even though we’ve been cooped up inside, we’ve been enjoying slow-paced mornings and action packed days.

Without having to negotiate school runs and afterschool activities, I searched for a school holiday plan that minimised the TV time, because there are only so many movies you can watch before going stir-crazy.

So whilst still feeling the effects of our chocolate comas after the Easter long weekend, I invited our school age nanny kids to get creative!

The kids decorated these 3D wall art letters to place on the windowsills in their bedrooms. This craft requires 10 mins prep, which in return bought me 40 mins of disruption free (no guarantee) washing, ironing & folding time (#nannylife), and I’m keen to share it with you!

To Make: 3D Wall Art Letters (School Holiday Craft)

Time: prep – 10 minutes, assembling – 40 minutes
Ages: School age

You’ll Need:

3D letters (paper-mache or wooden) – found in all good crafting stores; eg Spotlight/Lincraft
PVA Glue
Paint
Cotton Tips
The possibilities are endless with how creative you get with your letters – raid your craft box for rhinestones, stickers, tissue-paper, confetti, crepe paper and sequins, or experiment with fabric off cuts, foil, beads, wool, magazines etc.

To make:

1. Using paint cups, mix 1-part glue to 2-parts paint. Tip: plastic shot glasses make perfect portion sized cheap paint cups!

2. Get decorating – let your kids take it from here while you enjoy a well-deserved break. Or like me, use the moment to get the housework done!

Make: School holiday kids craft 3D Wall Art Name Letters #easykidscraft #nannylife #schoolholidays

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I’ll be sharing more school holiday crafts and activities over on my Instagram (@oliviasfoster) if you want to follow along. Happy Crafting!

More school holiday ideas? See fun craft activity ideas + school holiday survival guide.

>>> Do you have a school holiday plan with the kids? Make these 3D wall art letters!

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Olivia is a career nanny of 5 years and craft extraordinaire. Having travelled Australia working with many families, Olivia now resides in Sydney and cares for 7 children aged 15 months to 1o years old. Craft + diy activities feature prominently in their daily schedule. You can follow Olivia on instagram {@oliviasfoster} for crafty ideas and activities.

DIY Egg Carton Easter Egg Nests

With the accumulation of little Easter gifts we’ve been receiving at our many Easter celebrations over the last week, we’ve gathered a nice little collection of baby chicks. The kids loved seeing a little yellow chick nesting in amongst a basket of colourfully wrapped chocolate Easter eggs.

We popped loads onto our DIY Easter hats for the parade. and decorated the house with them. But after the initial excitement of a “cute little yellow fluffy” thing wore off and they moved on to the appeal of chocolate, I began to think about what I could do to repurpose these little yellow chicks.

Even though here in Australia we’re welcoming Autumn, I’m not one to pass up a learning opportunity. So we channelled some Spring vibes for an afternoon and made these paper bag birds nests using simple craft supplies. From there, we had an instant learning opportunity about the seasons and spring baby-animals.

Brown Paper Bag Egg Carton Easter Egg Nests

Time: prep – 5 minutes, assembling – 25 minutes
Ages: 4+ (STEM learning)

You’ll Need:

An egg carton
Brown paper bags
Scissors
PVA glue
A paint brush (for gluing)

To Make:

1. Cut and separate the ‘cups’ from the egg carton.

2. Cut the brown paper bag into lots of strips, about 1 cm wide.

3. Place strips onto the egg carton and using the paintbrush, spread glue all over the strips. Similar to a decoupage or papier-mâché style.

4. Arrange your strips artfully as though resembling a messy twiggy birds nest and cover completely in glue. Then leave to dry.

Once dry, pop in some decorated eggs like these lovely decoupage eggs or some yummy chocolate eggs, and a little yellow fluffy spring chick or two.

If your craft box is due for a re-stock, here’s our 10 top essentials. For More Easter crafts, see this gorgeous Easter Egg Paper Basket and this Easter Egg Bunting.

DIY Egg Carton Egg Easter Nests – a STEM spring themed learning opportunity. #nannylife #spring

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Once we made these egg carton easter egg nests, the kids were so into the spring theme that we even popped out to the garden to plant our apple-core sees. Not sure if they’ll survive the winter but it was the teachable moment that counts!

>>> Do your children get excited about spring-time and the arrival of baby animals?

img source: spring chicks

A Good Friday Pipe Cleaner Easter Bunny

Oh hello long weekend, so lovely to see you. Even better than an extended long weekend (this nanny is on holidays), is a rainy day. Milky tea and naughty caramel Easter eggs on the couch with a movie, interspersed with board games and a good book – school holidays are the best.

Except if you’ve got kids, I’m sure they’re about to go stir crazy being cooped up inside, rained out on the first day of school holidays. This Pipe Cleaner Easter Bunny craft is so ridiculously easy (I’m not kidding). It’s guaranteed to keep those rascals busy for at least half an hour, plus playtime, so I suggest you pull out the craft box and put together an invitation to create.

To Make: Pipe Cleaner Easter Bunny Craft

Ages: 4+ (3+ with help)
Time: prep – 5 minutes, assembling – 15 minutes

You’ll Need:

Pipe Cleaners – 2 long ones for the ears and feet, and one for the whiskers
Google Eyes
Styrofoam eggs
Felt, card, or fabric (to make the nose)
________

To Make:

1. Start with the ears. Take a pipe cleaner, and starting in the middle, fold in the ears to make a loose “M” shape in the middle.

2. Then loop in the ends so that the ears become a bit of a halo on the bunny’s head.

3. Take your styrofoam egg and push the ends of the pipe cleaner into the styrofoam to secure. You could also glue down the ends using a hot glue gun. Mould the pipe cleaners to look like bunny ears.

4. Next up we need to make the feet. Grab another pipe cleaner and fold into a heart shape, leaving the ends long enough to push into the base of the bunny. Note: if you bend the bunny so that he’s in the middle of the heart shape, he will stand up and be quite stable.

5. Using PVA glue, stick on your googly bunny eyes and. Then cut your final pipe cleaner into little bits (they’ll be your whiskers), and glue onto your bunny styrofoam egg.

6. Finally, glue the nose on using a material and colour of your choosing.

And that’s it, a Good Friday easy kids craft for Easter!

Make this Easter bunny styrofoam egg using simple items from the craft cupboard. #Easter #nannylife

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We made these Easter bunnies using just a few simple items we always have stocked in our craft box essentials. Pipe cleaners are often the hero of the DIY supplies, perhaps because they’re malleable enough that kids can go wild with their imagination and assemble whatever form or shape they’re envisioning.

>>> What are you up to today for Good Friday?

DIY Paper Plate Easter Basket

(Olivia here again with another super fun craft!) We’re pretty EGG-cited that the Easter Bunny is almost here, so we’ve created a paper plate basket, ready to collect everything he leaves behind!

I’m also sharing a list of non-chocolate things to fill your plastic eggs. We recommend you download and print to pop a copy up on the fridge, and even pass around to your nanny families!

To Make: DIY Paper Plate Easter Basket

You’ll Need:

2 Paper plates
Ribbon
Plastic eggs
Clear dry glue
Scissors
Stapler
+ all your favourite crafting materials to decorate eg – feathers, sequins, glitter, confetti, pom poms, wool, beads, buttons, felt pieces, cotton balls, stickers, foam shapes, tissue paper, jewels, etc.

Tip: Need crafting supplies? Here’s 10 Essentials for your Craft Box

To Make:

1. Cut 1/3rd off the top of 1 plate in a zig-zag line.

2. Cut the same off the other plate in a straight line.

3. Decorate the outer side (back) of your zig-zag paper plate by gluing your favourite crafting materials and allow to dry.

4. Staple the 2 plates together to form a basket.

5. Staple or tie ribbon to either side of the back plate to create a handle.

Now that you’ve got a basket – here’s a list of 30 non-chocolatey egg fillers; (free download)

>>> Download your free printable here <<<

DIY Paper Plate Easter Baskets + non-chocolate easter ideas (easy kids crafts) #nannylife

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Wishing you an EGG-cellent Easter & long weekend! For more Easter themed activities, check out these great crafts: Washi Tape Easter Bunting, Easter Egg Hunt Carry Bag. Happy Crafting!

>>> What are your favourite non-chocolate(y) egg fillers?

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