News for Black Hills Early Learners
Starting in March 2022 the Early Learner Digest will be going to a monthly format that will go out the first Monday of each month!
At the end of each activity domain and goals for the activities are provided. For a copy of the Early Learning Guidelines click on the photo.

Infant Corner
Activities for children under 1
Development

How your child plays, learns, speaks, and acts offers important clues about your child’s development. Developmental milestones are things most children can do by a certain age.

From Zero to Three's Magic of Everyday Moments series watch how to nurture your baby from birth to 12 months, teaching them how to feel safe and secure in the world while encouraging developmentally appropriate growth.
Play

Your baby can hear before he's even entered the outside world. In fact, his hearing is almost fully developed by the time he's born. Babies use the sense of hearing to take in an enormous amount of information about the world. The following article shares strategies to stimulate your baby's hearing during the first year of life.
Construction of Knowledge: Thinking and Reasoning Goal CD-1

Set your baby in your lap and blow bubbles around her. Just make sure none go into eyes. Babies love the magic of the bubbles and following their direction with their eyes. They may even try to swat at them.
Construction of Knowledge: Thinking and Reasoning Goal CD-1
Busy Toddlers
Activities for children 1-3
Physical/Outdoor

Provide one bean bag for each child. Name a body part and tell them to walk around with the bean bag on that part (elbow, head, foot, belly, back!).
Motor Development Goal HPD-4

Clothespins are perfect for those little toddler fingers! This is a super simple clothespin activity for toddlers to explore and strengthen their fine motor skills.
Motor Development Goal HPD-5
Science/Sensory

I know, it's messy, but other than that, why not let your toddler paint with their feet!
Put large sheets of paper out on the floor and have the children, 2 or 3 at a time, dip their feet in fingerpaint and make a group footprint picture! Be sure to have some soapy water near by for clean up!
Construction of Knowledge: Thinking and Reasoning Goal CD-1

With a simple DIY stethoscope, your kids can listen to each other’s or their pets heartbeats.
Scientific Exploration and Knowledge Goal CD-8
Literacy/Math

Toddlers are curious and always learning. One milestone they hit is when they are able to label parts of their body. Use a sticker to make a game out of labeling their body parts.
Communicating and Oral Language Development Goal CLL-3

This number matching activity involves balls, throwing, and numbers! What could be more fun for a little kid than that?!
Mathematical Thinking and Expression Goal CD-4
Social Emotional

Toddlers live large, play hard, and love big. When they get upset, they can act irrationally. They often have emotional outbursts to clear out the bad feelings – which can be difficult for you to endure without erupting yourself. Before losing your cool, remember that your child's lack of self-control is normal. He'll eventually learn what's socially acceptable by the way you and others react. Try to respond calmly and enforce the limits you've set so things don't intensify.
Self-Regulation and Pro-Social Behaviors Goal SED-4
Hands-On Preschoolers
Activities for children 4-5
Physical/Outdoor

Did you know there are 52 bones in our feet? Wow! That let's us move our feet in different ways! Count to 52 with the children! Now, encourage the children to each show a way that they can move their feet while sitting down! Then, encourage the children to stand up and show ways to use their feet (stomp, tip-toe, walk on heels, etc.)
Motor Development Goal HPD-4
Here is a unique motor activity for kids. Place small soft balls on the floor. (or use rolled up socks) Place a clothes basket near the soft balls. Have children remove their shoes and socks. While seated the children move and pick up the items with their feet and place them in the basket.
Motor Development Goal HPD-5
Science/Sensory

Give children black construction paper, white chalk and encourage the children to draw pictures of themselves and what they think their bones might look like. This is a tough concept for them as preschoolers are so concrete and discussing something that they can not see that is under their skin is a bit abstract for them. But, just let them go at it! If possible have some x-rays to show them.
Scientific Exploration and Knowledge Goal CD-9
Create a simple hands-on demonstration on how the stomach digests.
Construction of Knowledge: Thinking and Reasoning Goal CD-3
Literacy/Math

Our fingerprints are unique and part of our body.
This is a fun and easy alphabet learning activity involving finger printing. This pre-writing activity is a great way to get preschoolers more familiar with writing letters of the alphabet.
Foundations For Writing Goal CLL-9
This game was so simple you might want to pack it up in your bag as a go to game to use anywhere. First lay out 20 cotton swab “bones” on the table. Then take turns rolling a die and taking that many bones. The winner is the one that rolls the correct number to take the final bones.
Mathematical Thinking and Expression Goal CD-4
Creative Arts

This is one of my grandson's favorite activities. Have child lay down on a large piece of paper and trace their outline on the paper. The child then decorates it any way they want.
Creative Arts and Expression Goal CD-12

Looking for something to do with a collection of buttons? Invite the children to make self-portraits with a paper plate and buttons.
Creative Arts and Expression Goal CD-12