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

Infant Corner
Activities for children under 1
Development

The link to video below offers practical advice for parents and caregivers on how to help their baby reach important speech and language milestones during the first year, from crying to cooing, babbling, and talking.
Link to Video Here
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Play
With a laundry basket and some yarn make a Spider Web Discovery Basket.
Children learn so much from using their senses and so offering them a sensory bag, which acts like a big blob of water, is a great way for them to learn how to track movement with their eyes and develop a greater understanding of texture. Link to Activity Here
Busy Toddlers
Activities for children 1-3
Physical/Outdoor

Tips for making some traditional games non-competitive.

Here are some ideas for building fine muscles to prepare for learning cutting skills.
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Science/Sensory

Color rice in Fall colors for the sensory bins.

Fall is an excellent time of the year to put a twist on the classic oobleck science experiment with this applesauce oobleck recipe.
Literacy/Math
This activity gets toddlers moving with Fall leaves while learning new words, talking about alphabet letters and sounds, and matching letters.

Gather together a basket of small toys, shells, pebbles or buttons. Count them with your child. Sort them based on size, color, or what they do (i.e., all the cars in one pile, all the animals in another) In Child Care this can be a great clean up activity.
Social Emotional Development
Biting is a typical behavior often seen in infants, toddlers, and 2-year olds. As children mature, gain self-control, and develop problem-solving skills, they usually outgrow this behavior.

Toddlers need to learn to share so they can make and keep friends, and play cooperatively. Here are 6 activities to teach the skill. Link to Article Here

Hands-On Preschoolers
Activities for children 4-5
Physical/Outdoor
This apple snack is a fun, interactive activity that allows children to participate in the preparation to make their own apple “pizza”! In addition to helping children gain experience in food preparation, this snack provides a wonderful fine motor activity. Link to Activity Here

Make the spinner and now you’re ready to dance! Turn on the music and get the kids dancing. Spin the spinner and call out the body part that the paper clip lands on. Students should dance by only moving that body
Science/Sensory
With fall fast approaching, it's a great idea to try out some apple science! Observe how different liquids affect apples. Link to Activity Here

How about pine branches? How do different liquids affect them. Link to Activity Here
Literacy/Math
Ten Apples Up on Top by Dr Zuess is a great book to teach early math skills. Creating a number line teaches preschoolers number sequencing and one-to-one correspondence as well as demonstrates written numerals are representative of groups of objects. 

There’s research to show that if children can connect an action or movement while learning something new it is easier for them to retain that information. Play this Noisy Letter Jump Phonics Game. Link to Game Here
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Creative Arts
This Fall hand print art explores negative space while painting. Link to Activity Here

Vibrant colors make these Leaf Sun Catchers great for decorating windows.