Fun for Black Hills Early Learners

We are here to bring you fun activities for any child age 0-5 years. We hope you find this useful and helpful during this very unusual time. Happy learning!

How to find the right activities for your child. Each activities is marked by dots (•): • = Infant •• = Toddler ••• = Preschooler

Fun Activities • With this simple activity you can encourage your baby's natural ability to explore. Take an empty and clean container, like a plastic jar or a box. Show your baby how to put safe items inside and watch how they react to the sounds of the items dropping or being shaken. Let them try. Talk to your child about what is happening and how you see them reacting. •• One of the messiest and best ways for your toddler to play is to have a Jello Party. It's as messy as it sounds! Link to activity here Not sure about messy play, here is a link to a short video with Tips for Messy Play ••• With nothing more than water, food coloring, ice cube trays and plastic containers you can create ice blocks for your child to make ice sculptures on a hot day. If you have eyedroppers you might want to try adding the color after and use the clear ice to create. Link to activity here

Outdoor Fun • Lay your baby on a blanket outside and blow bubbles. You can make your own bubble mix: 1/2 c dish soap, 11/2 cups water, 2 teaspoons of sugar. •• Time to get outside with your Toddler! Make Sticky Nature art for creative fun. Red light, Green Light and Obstacle courses are great ways to encourage motor skills and practice following directions. Link to these 3 activities here

••• Played at night, flashlight tag is a fun game that mixes hide and seek with tag. Link here for directions to this and other creative tag games

Everyday Moments Through your interactions with your child during everyday routines you can support their social, emotional and intellectual development • Changing your baby's diaper is a good time for a conversation. Look at them and smile as you tell them about what your're doing. "Let's take off your pants and diaper." If they make sounds, make the same sounds back! •• During bath time, offer your child safe kitchen items like a plastic bowl and spoon. Encourage them to pretend to cook in the tub! What might they make? Use soap, bubbles and water as ingredients and take turns suggesting different things to cook. ••• Coming up with Dream Stories at bedtime can encourage your preschooler's creative thinking and build a bond between you. Ask your child, "What do you want to dream about tonight? Do you want to dream you're going to a far away place? Encourage your child to tell you as many details as they can imagine. Share a Dream Story of your own.

Literacy Let your baby explore "reading". Your baby may only sit still for a few pages, only turn the pages or to look at one picture and then be done. They may even just mouth the book and that's OK. Follow your baby's lead to make reading positive experience. •• Do you have a toddler who loves playing with dump trucks and rocks? If so, create this dump truck alphabet rocks activity. Great way to move and learn while playing with their favorite toys. Link to activity here ••• Create your own wall size Letter Match or Word Search game for your preschooler. Leave them up for awhile so your child can come back to them. Easy Do-It Yourself Name Activitie s to help you preschooler learn the letters of their name.