Hellobee Boards Topic: What activities do you expect a nanny to do with a child/toddler every day

Hellobee Boards Topic: What activities do you expect a nanny to do with a child/toddler every day https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Tue, 14 Apr 2026 17:31:04 +0000 T.H.O.U. on "What activities do you expect a nanny to do with a child/toddler every day" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-activities-do-you-expect-a-nanny-to-do-with-a-childtoddler-every-day#post-435055 Thu, 06 Dec 2012 15:39:11 +0000 T.H.O.U. 435055@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Thanks for all the tips! I guess I was more thinking about in-home activities, but suggestions about memberships and playgrounds are great too. I was just thinking that in addition to feeding and changing LO, I would like them to get 2 good sessions of book reading, 1 good session "circle time" like activities, and maybe a quick art session per day (something as simple as coloring or play dough). I didn't know if that was too much to ask of a nanny. @Mrs. Pen: That's exactly what I want, a nanny not afraid to get her hands dirty! Like we have said before, I would have loved to have you as a nanny! Mrs. Bee on "What activities do you expect a nanny to do with a child/toddler every day" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-activities-do-you-expect-a-nanny-to-do-with-a-childtoddler-every-day#post-434609 Thu, 06 Dec 2012 12:50:30 +0000 Mrs. Bee 434609@https://boards.hellobee.com/ When they're babies, they stay home a lot. Just play with toys, read, etc. Once they're about 6 months, I enrolled Charlie and Olive in a music class. When they're a little older than that (9 months), they started going to indoor playspaces (esp in the winter) as we have a year long membership. In the summer it's a lot of playground time from 6 months up. Once they're walking, there is a lot more they can do. The zoo, children's museum, Chuck E Cheese, Coney Island.... Also the nanny is responsible for making playdates of comparably aged children. Our nanny is really great at that and both Charlie and Olive have made tons of friends through our nanny's proactive efforts to make friends at the playground and in classes. Our nanny was very proactive in planning activities, but I also paid for memberships to the children's museum, zoo, playspace, and classes so they had lots to do! Mrs. Pen on "What activities do you expect a nanny to do with a child/toddler every day" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-activities-do-you-expect-a-nanny-to-do-with-a-childtoddler-every-day#post-434598 Thu, 06 Dec 2012 12:43:32 +0000 Mrs. Pen 434598@https://boards.hellobee.com/ I was a nanny :) I definitely appreciated ideas and direction from the parents but they always allowed me a lot of creative freedom. One family I worked for had a membership to the children's museum and the science museum and we would go a couple times a month and those were definitely my favorite days as a nanny! They were like special "dates" and the little girl loved them. Finger painting/painting was another favorite activity. I laid out a splat mat and let her go to town. Outside play such as going to the park, riding trikes, wagons, chalk drawing, imaginative play, hikes/walks etc. Dance parties! Encouraging educational play such as reading time, puzzles, letter songs, music time, preschool workbooks if they're that age, arts and crafts, fine motor skills activities such as lacing cards, big beads etc. I don't think it's too much to ask a nanny to be creative and imaginative and not worry about getting their "hands dirty" so to speak. abbydabbydoodlebug on "What activities do you expect a nanny to do with a child/toddler every day" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-activities-do-you-expect-a-nanny-to-do-with-a-childtoddler-every-day#post-434585 Thu, 06 Dec 2012 12:35:49 +0000 abbydabbydoodlebug 434585@https://boards.hellobee.com/ I'm a nanny to my nieces (almost 3 and 4) and I pretty much have free reign to do whatever we feel like doing. I take them to the park, grandma's house, out shopping, or to the library. They also LOVE to do crafts and just stay at home, so we do that a lot. In fact, yesterday the older one told me, "Abby, I don't want to go anywhere today" Lol. They like to play in the backyard with the dog and play soccer. They actually don't have a lot of toys, just a kitchen, some barbies, blocks and books. So we do activities related to the time of year, or just coloring. As we go along, I'll ask the younger one to count, or tell me colors, and we practice going Potty! Lately with the older one, we have been working on our phonics and reading workbooks when the younger one is napping. purrpletulips on "What activities do you expect a nanny to do with a child/toddler every day" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-activities-do-you-expect-a-nanny-to-do-with-a-childtoddler-every-day#post-434570 Thu, 06 Dec 2012 12:26:09 +0000 purrpletulips 434570@https://boards.hellobee.com/ We told our nanny to do what she did with her child. They do unstructured play but also work on learning colors/numbers/letters, coloring/arts & crafts and outside time (weather permitting). She limits the TV that they watch. mrsjazz on "What activities do you expect a nanny to do with a child/toddler every day" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-activities-do-you-expect-a-nanny-to-do-with-a-childtoddler-every-day#post-434456 Thu, 06 Dec 2012 11:23:10 +0000 mrsjazz 434456@https://boards.hellobee.com/ We only expected our nanny to read, do music activities, and take her for walks in the park. She's a short-term nanny before we go into our nanny share so we didn't expect playdates. Our nanny washes the bottles & my extra pumping parts, and folds LOs laundry--we never asked her to do these things, she volunteered! For our nanny share we do expect playdates and more structured play time at the local Y. EBSC on "What activities do you expect a nanny to do with a child/toddler every day" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-activities-do-you-expect-a-nanny-to-do-with-a-childtoddler-every-day#post-434450 Thu, 06 Dec 2012 11:20:00 +0000 EBSC 434450@https://boards.hellobee.com/ I'm a nanny to two kids, now 3 & 4 (started 1.5 yrs ago). We do spend a lot of time just playing with cars, kitchen, etc, but I try to get them out of the house as much as possible. We go to the park, on walks, and sometimes to the local children's museum or play area. We sometimes craft or have a structured activity, but mostly not. They're in preschool the days I don't have them (part-time), so they seem happiest just having some time at home without structure. I don't do any additional housework, I just clean up after the kids as we go (beds, dishes, etc) and keep them fed and happy. BabyBoecksMom on "What activities do you expect a nanny to do with a child/toddler every day" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-activities-do-you-expect-a-nanny-to-do-with-a-childtoddler-every-day#post-434445 Thu, 06 Dec 2012 11:16:03 +0000 BabyBoecksMom 434445@https://boards.hellobee.com/ We looked into nannies, but couldn't afford one. :-( All of the ones we talked to said that the nanny would be responsible for all baby laundry, cleaning, driving and cooking. Anything outside of that was the parent's responsibility. Still sounds like such a good deal to me! T.H.O.U. on "What activities do you expect a nanny to do with a child/toddler every day" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-activities-do-you-expect-a-nanny-to-do-with-a-childtoddler-every-day#post-434390 Thu, 06 Dec 2012 11:00:02 +0000 T.H.O.U. 434390@https://boards.hellobee.com/ If you have a nanny or were/are a nanny, what activities were you expected to do outside the normal feed and diaper the child? Did the parent provide ideas on activities? Did the parents expect at least one or two activities per day? Or was it just a lot of free play?