Aunt life: A little bag of fun

Did you read The Baby-sitters Club as a teen? I collected the junior version and then got stuck into my sister's collection when I was in high school. I loved that each babysitter had her own 'kid kit', which was filled with fun items and activities to keep her charges busy.

Over the holidays, I made a similar kit to entertain small visitors but mainly with my niece and nephew in mind. I figure they'll be coming over a lot more now that we live in the same city, and I plan to take it with me when I go over to babysit.

I bought one small item for each of the kids - Frozen-themed snap cards for my niece (who says she likes to 'win, win, win!'), and a Thomas the Tank Engine board book for my nephew that's about kindness and being yourself. I've also added a few things from around the house, like some animal babushka dolls (they're especially popular), Shaun Tan's beautiful book Tales from Outer Suburbia, some stickers... and some bubble wrap!

It's a big improvement from what we used to offer kids to play with (a tennis ball!) and I hope it'll be a novelty for the kids in our life. Plus, it fits neatly on a bookshelf where little hands can reach it :)