Babies
Help your baby notice the outside moving objects. Draw their attention to the leaves blowing in the wind, the birds hopping from branch to branch, the children on their bicycles. Try using touch and smell when appropriate to engage more senses. Get closer, take time to get down on your baby's level and view how they see the world. Read more.
Toddlers
Lay a rope on the ground and have your toddler follow or walk directly on it. Start with it in a straight line and then move it to different shapes (zig-zag, circle, wiggly, etc.). With it in a straight line, ask them to show you how they can move across the rope if they were pretending to be an animal, such as a turtle or kangaroo. Watch videos with animals moving to give your toddler more information on how animals move. For children with limited mobility ask your child to try the movement of the rope with their finger or eye movement. Read more.
Preschoolers
Encourage your preschooler to use a magnifying glass to examine found outside objects. Ask them what they see when they look at different objects using the magnifying glass. Do they see anything with the magnifying glass that they couldn't see without it? This is a great opportunity to introduce new vocabulary through braille, sign, written and spoken word. Explore not only what is seen, but how it feels and smells. Read more.
Kindergartners
Take advantage of the sun by creating shadow monsters! Ask your kindergartner to create different shadow shapes using their body and encourage them to watch what happens to their shadow when they move. How does it change when they hold items in their hand (like a ball) or opens their jacket or holds your hand? Use this opportunity to teach descriptive words like tall, short, small, and round. Make predictions about movement in relation to the shadow. Engage all senses when playing in the sun with shadows, like asking your kindergartner how the sun feels on their skin and describing the things they smell. Read more.
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9 Books about Going Outside |
Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert
Inside Mouse, Outside Mouse by Lindsay Barrett George
Bump! Thump! How do we jump? by Janice Lobb
Inside Outside Upside Down by Stan Berenstain
Outside Over There by Maurice Sendak
Are You Ready to Play Outside? by Mo Willems
Feathers for Lunch by Lois Ehlert
Goodnight World Outside by Frances Gilbert
Sam Who Never Forgets by Eve Rice
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COVID Alert PA App Now Available |
Recently, the Pennsylvania Department of Health released the COVID Alert PA exposure notification application. It is now live in the Google and Apple stores, and you can download it for free at:
COVID Alert PA is a free mobile app using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology and the Exposure Notification System developed by Apple and Google. The app offers:
- Interactive COVID-19 symptom checker
- Opt-in for alerts for potential exposures to the virus
- Updates on the latest public health data about COVID-19 in PA
- Advice for what to do if you have a potential exposure to COVID-19
COVID Alert PA protects both privacy and personal information. The app does not use GPS, location services, or any movement or geographical information. It will never collect, transmit, or store personal information. It is completely anonymous.
Existing traditional contact tracing processes rely on a positive individual to remember and name who they have been in contact with recently, and for how long. In many cases, positive COVID-19 individuals may not even know the people they were in close contact with, like if the contact happened on a bus or train, at a check-out line in a grocery store, a restaurant or some other public venue.
The app supplements traditional contact tracing processes by being able to identify strangers a positive app user came in contact with and help stop the rapid spread of COVID-19. If the app detects that you have been in close contact with another user who has tested positive for COVID-19, you will receive a push notification on your phone. This is called an exposure alert and will be followed by what you should do to monitor your own health. You can learn more about the app and how it works here.
The Department of Human Services is committed to supporting this effort and helping protect the people we serve encouraging use of COVID Alert PA. This technology only works if others have downloaded the app, which is why the Pennsylvania Departments of Health and Human Services are asking all Pennsylvanians to unite against COVID and download the app. Will you download the free app and join in the fight against COVID-19?
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Reduce the Risk of Choking in Young Children at Mealtimes |
Children under the age of four are at a high risk of choking while eating. Created for parents and caregivers of young children, this colorful four-page resource from the USDA Food and Nutrition Services includes tips on:
- Preparing foods to make them easier to chew
- Choking hazards to avoid
- Ways to model and teach good eating habits
- And more!
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Encouraging the Development of Fine Motor Skills |
From the time they’re born, children are working on their fine motor skills! Fine motor skills are the movements the hands and fingers make to grasp and manipulate objects. The way an object feels, moves or even tastes can help a child learn about the world around them.
Babies use fine motor skills to grasp the fingers of moms and dads and clench their hands. Babies may grab or hold onto rattles or teethers and pass objects from one hand to the next. As a child gets older and becomes a toddler, they use fine motor skills when eating, playing and exploring the world around them. By the time they get to preschool and kindergarten, the fine motor skills they started developing as babies helps them learn to write, use scissors, button clothes, build with blocks and more.
Tips to help your child learn fine motor skills
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Give your child opportunities to explore and manipulate age-appropriate objects. Put your baby down for tummy time when they can strengthen their arm, legs and back muscles. Encourage them to reach and grasp by holding rattles, teethers or other toys. As your child gets older, they can use their hands to explore items like foods, textures and more.
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Encourage use of both hands. Did you know that being left or right handed can come from mom or dad? A recent study shows the same genetic markers tied to being left-handed may also play roles in brain development and communication between different brain areas. Although children may be as old as six years old before they show a preference for using their left or right hand, encouraging them to use either hand means they can more fully explore their world and learn.
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Expect a mess. Messes can be learning experiences! When your toddler eats spaghetti with their hands, or your preschooler digs into the dirt, these are learning experiences using fine motor skills.
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Use sign language skills. Before they can talk, babies as young as 4-6 months can begin to learn basic sign language, like more, all done, or milk. These basic signs are ways to communicate and can be steps towards building fine motor skills. Watch the video below for basic words in sign language you can use along with language to help your child communicate.
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Protecting Your Child From the Flu |
Just as it does every year without fail, influenza season – also known as flu season – is coming. Many people don't realize it, but the flu can be a very serious illness. It causes thousands of deaths in the United States every year, some of which are among previously healthy children.
As a parent, the best thing you can do to protect your children from the flu is to get them vaccinated. Everyone around them should be vaccinated, too.
At the end of last flu season when COVID-19 was circulating, more people had to be hospitalized or died from what doctors called "influenza-like illnesses." Flu and COVID-19 will be spreading at the same time again this winter. Getting a flu shot will help protect your child from one of these viruses.
Check out these resources to help protect your child from the flu.
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Is your child meeting typical milestones? Use the Early Learning GPS to find out! |
What do you expect your child to be able to do in six months or a year? How do you know if your child is meeting typical milestones? Learn more about children's developmental milestones and follow your child's progress with the Early Learning GPS.
Answer 10 quick questions about your infant, toddler or preschooler's development and get access to reliable resources to help your child learn. Visit www.earlylearninggps.com.
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Keeping Your Child Safe from Lead |
Lead has had many uses over the years, from making paint flow smoothly or keeping your car from "knocking" to hardening plastics. However, unlike other metals like zinc or copper, lead has no uses in the body. In fact, lead in the body is harmful. And lead that gets into the body stays in the body for a long time. It takes about 27 years for half of the lead that is taken into the body to be excreted.
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Children learn best through exploring, using all of their senses to understand their world. While playing, they are better able to focus on what interests them, but they still need lots of support from caring adults to help them develop the habits they need to thrive in school and beyond. Find resources from PBS to support child's early learning.
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When Frightful isn't Delightful |
It's the season for ghosts, goblins and scary things, especially for young children! Even if your family does not participate in Halloween activities, there are displays at stores, schools or activity centers.
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10 Books about Being Afraid |
Children can have many fears--of the dark, going to bed, or new places. The fears can change with their age or experiences, and sometimes we don't understand their fears. But for children, those fears can be very real.
Talk with your child's teacher, doctor or health care professional if your child is having difficulty with fears, or you feel the fears are causing problems with your child.
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Do you have a new preschooler? You need this! |
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Our Favorite Pinterest Pins |
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The PA Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) provides families access to high quality services to prepare children for school and life success.
Find more information about Quality Early Learning in Pennsylvania
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