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
• R ecycle plastic jugs and paper towel tubes to make this simple baby scarf pull activity. The  perfect gross motor  playtime idea to encourage your baby to get vertical! Link to Activity Here

• Children are more than busy when they’re playing. When your children play with you, they are also learning that they are loved and important and that they are fun to be around. Learn through this short video more about how these social-emotional skills give babies the self-esteem and self-confidence they need to continue building loving and supportive relationships all their lives. Link to Video Here
•• Playing pretend is a great way for your child to explore ideas and practice language skills. They also get the change to "try on" different roles. What can you find in your house to play pretend with your child. Offer them clothes, blankets, empty boxes and clean and safe kitchen objects.

•• Give your little one a sheet of stickers and a piece of paper to decorate. Peeling off stickers is a great fine-motor activity, and what child doesn't love stickers?

•• Have your child collect flowers and leaves ( make it a scavenger hunt! ) to add to the sensory bag then add hair gel to a gallon-size baggy to make a mess free sensory activity for your toddler. Link to Activities Here
••• Get creative with your preschooler making stick men. Link to Activity Here

••• Making Banana Sushi is a fun and interactive snack you can make with your child . Click to Instructions Here

••• This sticky spider web activity is perfect for  indoor play when it's too hot to go outdoors. and can be done in any doorway, hallway or other somewhat narrow place that you have. Link to Activity Here
Outdoor Fun
• Cool Off with a Baby-Friendly Ice Sensory Activity. Always be sure to supervise your baby's play. Link to Activity Here
•• Tape pool noodles to an outside wall or fence with buckets on the ground beneath the openings. Kids love pouring water down them and watching it come out the other end.

•• Most toddlers have been in the car or on walks through city streets enough to notice traffic signs and lights, and are putting together the concept of red meaning stop and green meaning go. This is a great first game for toddlers and it's one that all ages can enjoy together. Keep it simple by just having kids stop and go when you call out red and green

•• Not into your toddler making mud in your yard? Create a mobile mud patch . Link to Activity Here
••• Let your preschooler take pictures on a nature walk and then make a Journal of their experiences.

••• Have old crayons laying around? Explore the suns power doing the Solar Oven Crayon Art.

••• Two children trying to pull each other toward the other isn’t just a game about strength, not when you add in a few upside down milk crates or wood stumps for them to stand on! See who can keep themselves balanced while trying to pull their opponent off. You could even make a mud pit to make it more interesting.
Everyday Moments
• As you feed your baby, put a bright dishcloth, towel or scarf over your shoulder. Do they notice it? Do they look back and forth between your face and the colors' Talk to them about the different colors or patterns.

• While changing your child's diaper, encourage them to explore the different sounds they can make with their mouth. Show them how you can whistle, hum, blow and make kissing noises. Do they try to copy and of your sounds? Try going back and forth making sounds.
• • When your child hears about your feelings and thoughts and shares their own, they're learning the skill of thinking about feelings of others. In a joyful voice ask your child how they are today. Tell them how your are, "I am happy today to see you!" Ask them again and go back and forth. "I am excited today because the sun is shining!" Keep taking turns!

•• While you're doing laundry, show your child how to put a sock on their hand and use it as a puppet. Use sock puppets together to act out a favorite story or create a new story. Build on their ideas by asking questions like, "What does your puppet like to eat?"
••• Understanding that numbers are symbols and represent ideas, like time, s a concept that will take time. Talking about numbers with them helps build this understanding. Invite your child to point out the different numbers he sees around the house. Are there numbers in their bedroom or the kitchen. Can they find the number 1-10.

••• Clean up time? Think about where things go, and see if your child can come up with some better places to put their things. Could they find a better place to put their toys? Talk about why some places might be better than others.
Literacy
• Draw your baby's attention to pictures of people in books, magazines, or even the signs around you. Point to different pars of a person's body or face and name them. Then point to and name the same parts on their body and yours.
•• PBS Kids and Big Bird can help your toddler explore the Alphabet with the computer game Big Bird and Snuffy's Alphabet Dance Party.

•• Don't give up if your toddler doesn't sit long to look at books. A few minutes is OK - don't worry if you don't finish the story. Young children can only sit for a few minutes for a story, but as they grow, they will be able to sit longer.

•• Eye Spy with My Little Eye with a twist to encourage your toddler to explore letter sounds. Link to Activity Here
••• Come up with a list of letters (such as the letters in your child’s name) or simple words your child recognizes. Give your child the list and a bag and tell her to fill it with things in your home that have that letter or word printed on it. To get her started, show her how she might find the letter “A” on the shampoo bottle, on a can of beans in the cupboard, or on her crayon box. (To help your child stay focused, you can also set up one room in your house with a set number of objects that you’ve hidden for her to find.) When she brings you her full bag, have her write a list of her inventory and compare it to your original list.

••• Practice Learning Letters With a Mystery Letter Bag Game
Play this game with your child to learn about letters in a mysterious way! Link to Activity Here
••• Astronomers, the scientists who study stars, have divided the night sky into 88 official constellations. A “constellation” is a group of stars that form a recognizable pattern when viewed from Earth. Now you can create constellations in your home – while also teaching alphabet skills! Link to Here to Activity