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 • Make your baby Textile Egg Cartons .  Glue different textures to the bottom of an egg carton for your little one to explore.   Sandpaper ,  bubble wrap ,  cellophane ,  pom poms ,  cotton balls , etc. • Babies love to pull things out. You could simply give your baby a Kleenex box and let the tissues fly. If you don't want to waste tissues take an empty tissue box and stuff it with scarves and let your baby pull them out.   • Have a bin full of different, safe, and interesting things for your wee one to put in their mouth.  As you know, one of the most prominent ways most babies learn is through exploring with their mouth at this stage.  Have a bin full of interesting things: Big metal juice lids, wooden spoons, spatulas, plastic cups, etc. •• Turn off the lights and turn on some flashlights .  A  simple flashlight  can be so much fun for playing games with your toddler. •• Toddlers love  balloons .  Allow them to explore these fascinating objects in a safer way by placing the balloons in nylons.  Should the balloon accidentally pop, all pieces are safely contained. ••• Grow crystals within hours with Epsom Salt and water. Link to Activity Here ••• Summer is the perfect time to experiment with water science and everyday objects. Link here for several ideas to explore water with your kids.

Outdoor Fun • If your baby is able to sit up, they'll love rolling a ball back and forth with you on the grass. Bring a bunch of balls in different colors and sizes. • Give your baby a wonderful sensory experience with a DIY Mini Water blob. • As long as you're closely supervising, water play can be one of the best outdoor activities for babies. Step outside and fill a plastic tub with a couple inches of water. Add a few plastic toys and let baby splash and play. •• Toddlers love painting with things that weren’t made for painting. When the weather is nice taking arts and crafts outside. It’s so much fun to do fly swatter painting because of the slap down and splattering of paint.   Link to Activity here •• Playing memory games with your child will improve visual/memory skills. Large memory game made from paper plates is easy. Can be played outdoors or indoors. Link to Activity here •• Toddlers love to throw things. Set up an experiment together. Get different safe things to throw, like scarf, rolled up socks, a paper cup, etc Which one can your child throw the farthest? Talk about what you notice.

••• Learn about gas and expansion through this simple and fun exploding lunch bag activity.   Link to Activity Here ••• Take advantage of the summer sun with this super fun Lego shadow activity! Build different Lego towers and test out the shadows. Link to Activity Here

Everyday Moments • Create a special Diaper Change Routine for you and your baby. Sing their favorite song each time or end the diaper change with three kisses. Repeat this routine whenever you can. • How many ways can you play Peekaboo? You can hide your eyes behind your hand, or use a hat, a napkin, or behind a door. •• As you get your child ready for bed, gently touch them on their head, ears, and hands. As you touch each part, tell them, "Love your head. Love your ears, love your hands." Talk gently and help your toddler relax. •• Keep your toddler entertained while you are fixing meals by giving them measuring cups or plastic cups and encourage them to bang on the with something like a spoon. Talk to them about the different sounds they make. Drum together and see if you can copy each other's rhythms. ••• While cooking let your preschooler add ingredients. Ask your child what they think will happen when you add the ingredients. Then talk together about what actually happens. ••• Need to fill in time while waiting somewhere with your child. Hum a familiar tune and have them guess what it is. If they guess wrong hum the tune again. You can add a few words for clues. Then let your child hum a tune and you guess.

Literacy • Use books as part of your baby’s daily routines. Read before naptime or bedtime. Share books made of plastic at bath time. • Sit your baby in your lap and say the following: "Where's your toe? (Touch his toes and kiss it) I love your toe very much. Where's your nose? Here it is (Touch his nose and kiss it) I love your nose very much two. Continue the game, naming different body parts. •• Watch this short video from Zero to Three on how asking your toddler questions while you read together helps them to comprehend the story and concepts in the book. Link to Video Here  •• Read a short rhyming poem. As you reread it, stop before reading the second rhyming word to invite your child to finish the rhyme. ••• U se a marker on Duplos to write out the alphabet at least twice once in upper and once in lowercase letters. Children can build, they can spell, make an alphabet tower, and they can match up the upper and lowercase letters. ••• This low-tech invisible ink science experiment lets kids send secret messages to friends and family. Link Here ••• Fill a spray bottle with water. Walk around your hard and say to your child, "Spray something that begins with the letter S". Link to Activity Here