# Project 03: Babysitter's Activity Kit and Family Showcase

**Unit:** Unit 3, Growing Up, Getting Along (Human Development and Relationships)
**Topic:** 3.4 Families and Caring for Others
**Runs across:** Lesson 3.18, three days (Day 1 brief and plan; Day 2 build, parent card, safety check; Day 3 test, demo, Family Showcase, submit). The tradition cards from Lesson 3.15 join the showcase.
**Team:** alone or in a pair (student's choice)
**Scored with:** `Rubric 03 - Babysitters Activity Kit.md` (five criteria, 20 points; the labs and projects category)

## Standards this project assesses

- NYS HDR 1. Human Growth and Development Across the Lifespan c) Demonstrate understanding of procedures required for the care of an infant or young child; d) Plan and implement experiences for young children which promote physical, social, emotional, and intellectual growth and development
- NYS HDR 5. Family Role in Society d) Examine the role of the family in teaching cultural traditions and understanding of cultural diversity (the tradition cards in the showcase)
- CTE PSI 2. Design Process (Proactive) a) a. Defining the problem being addressed; b. Defining criteria that must be met through the finished design; c. Defining constraints that must be adhered to; f. Developing and constructing a prototype or model of the selected design; g. Testing and evaluating the prototype and model against the design criteria and constraints
- CTE CIR 1. Communication f) Demonstrate personal development of communication skills through practice of these skills in a variety of classroom applications
- CTE HSW 3. Personal Safety c) Summarize common causes of intentional and unintentional injury and describe associated prevention strategies
- NYS FACS Standard 2 (Intermediate), Key Idea: Students will know the basic principles of home and community safety. They can demonstrate the skills necessary to maintain their homes and workplaces in a safe and comfortable condition. They can provide a safe and nurturing environment for themselves and others.; PI: Students demonstrate the principles of safe and healthy childcare.
- CDOS 3a Universal Foundation Skills: Thinking Skills; Interpersonal Skills; Managing Resources
- National FCS 3.0: 12.1.1 Examine physical, emotional, social, moral, and cognitive development.

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# The project sheet (student version)

Name: ______________________ Date: __________ Period: ______ Working: alone / with ______________

## The scenario

You have been asked to babysit a child on Saturday afternoon. The parent says the child gets bored fast. You are going to show up with something in your bag that no other babysitter brings: one activity you designed for exactly this child's age, safe enough that the parent does not have to worry, cheap enough that you made it for under $5, and good enough that the child learns something while playing.

That is the kit. You will plan it, build it, write a card so the parent knows how to use it, check it for safety twice, test it with a partner playing the child, and show it at the Family Showcase.

## Step 1: Pick your child

Choose one age: 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6. The ages-and-stages chart on `Handout 03.18` tells you what a child that age is working on in each area:

- Physical: big movements (run, hop, climb) and small movements (pinch, stack, draw)
- Social: playing next to others, then with others; taking turns; sharing
- Emotional: naming feelings, handling "no," waiting
- Intellectual: words, colors, shapes, counting, sorting, why questions, pretend

Pick one area and one thing the child is working on. Your kit builds that one thing. Not four things. One.

## Step 2: Pick a kit type from the menu

| Kit type | What it is | Best for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sensory bag | A sealed zip-top bag with gel or soap inside and things to find or push around (buttons, pom-poms, cut shapes) | Ages 2 to 4; physical (small movements) or intellectual (find the red one) | Double-bag and tape every edge. Nothing loose outside the bag for ages 2 to 3. |
| Story with props | A short story you tell (five to eight sentences) with three or four objects the child holds or moves as the story goes | Ages 3 to 6; intellectual (words, order) or emotional (a story about being scared, being brave) | Props must be big for ages 2 to 3. Write the story on the card so the parent can tell it. |
| Sorting game | A set of things to sort by color, size, or shape, with cups or a plate divided into sections | Ages 3 to 5; intellectual (matching, categories) | Small pieces are choking hazards for ages 2 to 3. For 4 to 6, "with an adult" goes on the card. |
| Movement game | A path, a set of cards (hop, spin, crawl, freeze), a follow-the-leader game, a beanbag toss into a box | Ages 2 to 6; physical (big movements) or social (turns) | Nothing to climb. Nothing that has to be thrown at a person. Show where to play it (a clear floor). |
| Simple craft | A paper plate animal, a yarn-wrapped stick, a torn-paper picture, a cup with a face | Ages 3 to 6; physical (small movements) or emotional (making a face that shows a feeling) | Child-safe scissors only, and only for ages 5 and 6 with an adult. Glue sticks, not liquid glue, for ages 2 to 4. |

## Step 3: The rules

Criteria (what the kit must do):
1. Fit the age exactly. A 3 year old's kit should bore a 6 year old and confuse a 2 year old.
2. Build one development area, and you can say which and why.
3. Be safe: pass every line on the safety checklist, twice.
4. Cost under $5 from the bin price list.
5. Come with a parent card a parent can read in one minute.

Constraints (what you have to work inside):
- Bin materials only. Nothing from home unless I approve it.
- No food in any kit.
- The tube rule: for ages 2 and 3, nothing loose that fits through a toilet paper tube. For ages 4 to 6, small pieces are allowed only if the card says "with an adult."
- Built in one class period.
- Nothing sharp, nothing that has to be plugged in, nothing that goes in a mouth.

## What you turn in

| Deliverable | What it is | When | Rubric criterion |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. The plan | The plan template, signed by me, with the age, the area, the one thing the child is working on, the kit type, the three steps, the priced materials list under $5, and the first safety check; any change you made during the build written on it; the test notes (what worked, what did not, one change) | Day 1, signed; Day 3, with test notes | 1. Age fit and development area |
| 2. The safety checklist | Ten lines, each initialed by you and by a partner; anything that failed and what you did about it | Day 2 | 2. Safety |
| 3. The parent card | The kit's name, the age, what it builds in a sentence a parent would understand, three steps in plain language, one safety line, one cleanup line, "made by" with first name or initials only | Day 2 (may finish at the start of Day 3) | 3. The parent card |
| 4. The kit | The built activity, complete, labeled with the plan | Day 3 | 4. The build and materials |
| 5. The demo | Two minutes at your kit in the Family Showcase: the age, the area, what the child does, one safety line, and what changed after the test | Day 3 | 5. The demo |

Also turned in, not scored on the rubric: your self-assessment row and the gallery card (one kit you would bring to a job and why).

## Day by day

| Day | Lesson | What happens | Checkpoint |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3.18 Day 1 | The brief, the menu, the criteria and constraints. Pick an age and an area. Plan on the template. Price the materials. First safety check. | I sign the plan |
| 2 | 3.18 Day 2 | Build from the bin. Write any change on the plan. Write the parent card. Run the safety checklist; a partner runs it again. Fix what fails. | Checklist initialed twice |
| 3 | 3.18 Day 3 | Test with a partner playing the child's age. Write the test notes and make one change. Demo at the Family Showcase. Self-assess. Submit everything together. | Everything submitted |

## The Family Showcase

The Family Showcase is the Day 3 demo round. Kits sit on the counter under age signs (2, 3, 4, 5, 6) with the parent card in front of each. The tradition cards from Lesson 3.15 are posted on the wall above (name optional). Each student or pair gives a two-minute demo at their kit. Everyone else walks the showcase with a gallery card. If the room has a hallway case, the kits and cards stay up for the rest of the unit.

## Where you get to choose

- **The age.** Any of five.
- **The area and the one thing.** From the chart, your call.
- **The kit type.** Any of five, as long as it fits the age.
- **Alone or with a partner.** Either. A pair makes one kit and each person gives half the demo.
- **The parent card.** Written, or a picture card (draw the three steps and label each with one word), or both, or in two languages.
- **The demo.** At your kit for the class, or at the table for me only.

## Supports

- **Sentence starters** for the parent card and the demo (the Turkish, Portuguese, and Spanish lines are marked [check with a native speaker]):

| English | Turkish | Portuguese | Spanish |
|---|---|---|---|
| This kit is for a ___ year old. | Bu set ___ yaşındaki bir çocuk için. | Este kit é para uma criança de ___ anos. | Este kit es para un niño o una niña de ___ años. |
| It helps the child practice ___. | Çocuğun ___ alıştırma yapmasına yardımcı olur. | Ajuda a criança a praticar ___. | Ayuda al niño o a la niña a practicar ___. |
| First, ___. Then, ___. Last, ___. | Önce ___. Sonra ___. En son ___. | Primeiro, ___. Depois, ___. Por último, ___. | Primero, ___. Luego, ___. Por último, ___. |
| Watch out for ___. | ___ konusunda dikkatli olun. | Cuidado com ___. | Tenga cuidado con ___. |
| Do not let the child ___ alone. | Çocuğun tek başına ___ yapmasına izin vermeyin. | Não deixe a criança ___ sozinha. | No deje que el niño o la niña ___ solo. |
| After the test, I changed ___ because ___. | Testten sonra ___ değiştirdim çünkü ___. | Depois do teste, mudei ___ porque ___. | Después de la prueba, cambié ___ porque ___. |

- **The picture instruction card.** Three boxes on the back of the card template: draw step 1, step 2, step 3, one word under each. A safety line in a fourth box with a picture (an eye for "watch," a crossed-out mouth for "not in the mouth").
- **The plan template with checkboxes.** Age, area, and kit type are checkboxes; the three steps have numbered lines; the materials list has the bin prices printed so you only write the quantity.
- **Kit types with large pieces.** The movement game and the story with props use big items. A student who cannot work with small pieces picks one of those.
- **Extended time.** The plan can finish at the start of Day 2; the card at the start of Day 3.
- **The demo for the teacher only.** At the table, same two minutes, same rubric.
- **A written alternative** if you are absent on Day 2 or Day 3: a full plan plus a parent card for a kit you describe in detail, and a written test (what a child of that age would do with it in the first two minutes and what you would change), scored on the same rubric with criterion 4 from the plan.

## How it is scored

Rubric 03 has five criteria, each scored Not Yet (1), Approaching (2), Meets (3), or Exceeds (4), for 20 points. You fill the self-assessment row first with one sentence of evidence per criterion; then I score. A pair gets one score for criteria 1 to 4 and each person gets their own score for criterion 5 (the demo).

The project counts in the labs and projects category (40 percent of the marking period). A late project is accepted with a one-level drop on one criterion, never a zero. A kit that fails a safety line at the showcase (a loose piece that fits through the tube for a 2 or 3 year old kit) is capped at Approaching on criterion 2 until it is fixed, and it can be fixed the same day.

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# Teacher notes on the project

- This project is the state module's own two illustrative activities ("Activities for Afterschool Program" and "Prototype Toys") sized to a 40-minute schedule and a middle school room with no children in it. The test is a partner playing the age; no real child is observed or used.
- The Family Showcase is the Day 3 demo round, not a separate event. The tradition cards from Lesson 3.15 give the wall behind the kits a second layer (HDR 5. d)) at no extra time.
- Budget for the unit plan: the build bin runs about $25 to $35 per class set new (quart and gallon zip-top bags, hair gel or clear dish soap, food coloring, large pom-poms and buttons, paper plates, paper cups, construction paper, yarn, painter's tape, packing tape, glue sticks, large craft sticks, index cards). Most of it lasts across periods and years. [Sal: put this on the Unit 3 budget line, and leave balloons out of the bin because of latex.]
- The $5 limit is priced from the posted bin price list, not from a store, so the arithmetic is the same for every student and the limit is about choosing, not shopping.
- The tube rule is the safety line that matters most. Say it on all three days. A kit for a 2 or 3 year old with a loose small piece is not done.
- Donating the kits: a pre-K or an elementary after-school program in the district, a library children's room, or a family shelter's play area, with permission and a second safety look by that adult. Only kits that passed every checklist line, and never with a student's last name on the card.