Cleaner to nanny - advisable? & advice please!

[preppypolly]

My lovely cleaner is keen to become nanny to my 2 dd's who will be 1 & 3 by the time I return to work in Nov. She has already helped me at bath time etc.. & has (some) experience of childminding but no qualifications. Older DD is currently at a fantastic nursery 2 days per week - she loves it & so do I but both my & DH's jobs are pretty full-on & I'm already dreading the 4 of us attempting to be out of the house washed & dressed by 8am 3 or 4 days per week. So, a nanny seems to be the answer. I was ready to post on childcare.co but cleaner mentioned to me that she's keen & as I already know her, trust her & am happy to have her in my home it seems worth a go. I would be happy to fund her on a First Aid course & encourage her to do other training too. But my initial plan is to start her off as a Mother's Help about 2 days per week over the Summer so she knows our routine & is ready to go in Nov.

So, this may sound like a bizarre question but what do 'good' nannies do with kids all day?! At nursery there's lots of stuff going on, some of it fairly educational & I really don't think she'll be able to recreate this. There are lots of local baby/toddler groups so reckon she can go to these maybe 2 days, do some outdoorsy stuff & obviously some playing at home but then....what?! I'm a bit worried that older DD will miss the stimulation of nursery & so would like to encourage nanny to do some of this at home but not sure if this is expected? Or what form this would take?
Sorry this has turned into a lengthy post but I'm really feeling my way here having never had a nanny & now almost attempting to 'train' one, so any advice at all much appreciated.

Is she a parent herself? Will you be taking up your free nursery hours for your older DD (that would help a lot with picking up the slack of activities etc)
Are there good playgroups and 1 o clock clubs in your area? What about singing groups/ toddler gyms etc (would add to weekly cost of course). Whereabouts are you? If London then there's a whole load of stuff she could do with toddlers every day.

I am a nanny:

I attend a surestart drop in group, an art/messy play activity session, cooking group, toddler gym, rhyme time and story time at the library.

I take my charge to the zoo, park, farm, museums, library, swimming, the shops, on a bus/train ride, theatre and cinema

We also go on/have playdates - where the children learn off each other, babies copy the older ones, and children learn to share/play etc.

At home 1 on 1, I do painting, sticking, drawing, cooking, gardening, playing, reading, messy play.

Thank-you very much Grabaspoon, that's a really useful list. And yes Dilys, we do live in London so there are a lot of local groups but they normally only take up an hour & half or so in the morning & was at a bit of a loss as to what she'd do for the rest of the day.

Didn't actually know that the 3 year old would have free nursery hours... that would definitely help as just having one to focus on makes it a lot easier. Must look into this further - is it just via local govt website or something? REalise I am totally clueless...!

She's not a parent, only 25, so she will really be looking to me for input. And I honestly don't think I'm brilliantly creative at the 'at home' stuff, I tend to take them out & about with me or have playdates, or we just read or draw or play with toys in quiet time at home. Nanny/cleaner doesn't drive & am not sure how easy it would be for her dragging a 1 & 3 year old on the bus/tube to get to museums etc...(I'm still too much of a wuss to do it on my own) but I guess we can play it by ear together & see how it goes.