Au Pair in America adds a cultural flair to the Great Farmington Hills Campout in Heritage Park

The City of Farmington Hills held its 6th annual campout event on Saturday, June 9 - Sunday, June 10. Au Pairs from Au Pair in America were invited to join the other sponsors for this unique event.

The campout started in 2007 and was designed to encourage kids to play outside and enjoy the outdoors. Close to 90 families pitched their tents in the afternoon and spent the night at the park. What a great way to give their children a sense of what camping is all about!

With the warm temperature and bright sunshine, the kids had a blast cooling off in the splash pad. After dinner, some participated in a scavenger hunt and nature trail walks. The evening was finished off by roasting marshmallows and eating s'mores. Campfire stories and songs were scheduled from 8:30-10:30 and at 11:00 pm, the "happy campers" spent the night sleeping in their tents!

Au Pair in America provided lots of fun things for the kids to do. They handed out "frisbee" rings and world globe beach balls to the children. They also distributed educational materials as well to spread the global awareness theme. For the children who needed a break from active sports and playing in the splash pad, they had fun with arts and crafts, coloring placemats from several continents, filling up passports books with flags from many countries and talking to the au pairs.

In addition, Au Pair in America had Fathers Day cards for the kids to decorate which was very timely with Fathers Day only a week off. Some children decorated the cards at the park while others chose to take them home. Wash off tattoos were a big hit as well and the children loved taking home a special crayon "star" - each of the five points were different colors.

Au Pair in America encourages its au pairs to volunteer in the community. Learning about camping was a wonderful experience for the au pairs who came from several different countries - Brazil, Germany, Chile, Guatemala, Mexico, Columbia, China and South Africa. They helped the children learn some things about their country and the children and parents helped the au pairs learn about camping - a wonderful cultural exchange experience for all.

For more information about Au Pair in America, please contact Farmington Hills coordinator Carol Benton, cbaupair@aol.com, 248-489-1407 or www.aupairinamerica.com