Search: Resources for Early Learning

Flashlight Games

Play flashlight games with toddlers to help them build language skills. Spotlight and name an object in the room and then talk about it.

Flower Shop

Help children create a flower or garden shop. Model the roles of a florist and a customer.

Garden Shop

Help children set up a garden center shop. Have children take turns role-playing as a gardner, a clerk, and a customer.

Hardware Store

Set up a pretend hardware store with tools and building materials. Talk with children about what tools are needed to build certain things.

Hide and Seek

Play hide-and-seek games with babies to help them learn that things and people exist even when they can’t be seen.

In the Mirror

Give a baby a mirror and join him in the fun. Make silly faces, clap to a tune, point out body parts, or watch as he babbles to his new “friend.”

Join the Band #1

Invite children to form their own band, like Violet in the book Violet’s Music. Encourage children to name and talk about the different musical instruments.

Kitchen

Invite children to pretend cook and bake a favorite recipe or a recipe from the book Chicks and Salsa. Then serve it to friends and teach them how to make the recipe.

Learn About Letter Sounds Together: Bag of Sounds (/l/)

Play a sound game to help children listen for and recognize the /l/ sound in the beginning of familiar words.

Let the Show Begin!

Encourage small groups of children to put on their own play of a scene from Oscar and the Bat.

Let’s Laugh

Ask family members to share what makes their baby laugh. Make a book of “laughing baby” ideas and share it with families and colleagues.

Let’s Make Soup

Talk about the soup in The Ugly Vegetable. Have children create a make believe vegetable soup, set a table, and invite friends to taste their “soup.”