Use these activities to learn with your child every day!
Activities for Infants
10m
Language & Literacy
Book Exploration
Set out some books that will gain the interest of your child (soft books, books with textures, board books, picture books, lift-the-flap books).
Place your child in front of the books. See what they move to or let them choose the book if they can.
Hold your child or sit next to them as you read the book; allow them to hold one half of the book and turn the pages if they can.
Begin by talking about the title, the author and illustrator, and read those out loud. Show them the parts of the book like the cover, spine, and pages. As you read, point out the pictures and words on the pages.
5m
Language & Literacy
Learning to Wave Bye-Bye
Let me see and hear you wave "bye-bye" in a variety of situations throughout the day.
Play a "bye-bye" game when putting away toys. Say "bye-bye" to each toy as you put it away, and encourage me to wave bye-bye.
When you see me wave bye-bye in an appropriate situation, celebrate!
Activities for Toddlers
10m
Creativity
Create A Song
Think about all of your baby’s wonderful attributes!
Create a short song of 3-5 lines about your baby, including their name. Don't worry about your ability to sing!
Sing this special song to your baby every day.
After repeating the song for a week or two, see if your baby seems to recognize the song.
Varies
Approaches to Learning
Choosing at the Store
While shopping, encourage your child to help you to collect some of the items.
Use these activities to learn with your child every day!
Activities for Infants
5m
Language & Literacy
Babbling to Reply
Throughout the day, encourage me to 'talk' to you. Start the 'conversation' by asking me a simple question.
When I babble, respond to me with real words to show me that I can start a 'conversation' too.
During daily activities, describe what I'm doing, looking at, playing with, or feeling.
When you ask a question, describe my activities, or respond to a babble, make sure to pause after you speak. This invites me to respond with my babble sounds.
5m
Language & Literacy
It’s Book Time
Choose a book that will gain the interest of your infant (soft books, books with textures, board books, picture books, lift-the-flap books).
Sit close while you read the book or let your child hold the book; read the title, name the images on its cover, and then read the book if there are words.
As you read the book, point to images and words while describing what you see.
Allow your child to touch the book (and stick it in their mouth, if they want to!). Pause when something captures their attention or if they have a verbal response.
Activities for Toddlers
10m
Language & Literacy
Relax My Body
Place your baby (wearing only a diaper) on a blanket on the floor.
While your baby is lying on their back, use slow circular motions to give your baby a gentle massage. Name each body part as you massage, and say goodnight to that body part.
Roll your baby onto their tummy and continue the massage (be sure to avoid their spine).
End the massage by tracing a heart over your baby's heart and give them a kiss.
1hr
Social Studies
Attend A Community Festival
Plan to attend a local family-friendly festival in your community. Seek festivals with hands-on activities that will expose your child to different foods, art, crafts, music, performances, community vendors, and civic organizations.
Help your child participate in age-appropriate activities, like clapping hands during a music performance or tasting a new food.
(Optional) Take pictures while attending the festival. Later, look at them with your child and talk about what you saw at the festival.
Use these activities to learn with your child every day!
Activities for Infants
15m
Language & Literacy
Boxes of Colors
Make two color boxes for me to explore. Put items of one color in one box, and items of another color in a second box. Examples of colored items:
socks
blocks
Let me play and explore, and talk about the items and their colors as I play.
Then, show me how to sort the items by color again, putting them back in the boxes they started in.
(Optional) Repeat with other colors.
10m
Approaches to Learning
Did You Hear That?
Collect a few sound-making objects to play a "Did You Hear That?" game. Examples:
rattles
bells or keys
Hold a sound-maker 1-2 feet away from one side of my head, where I can't see it. Make the sound 2-3 times and pause to watch my response.
Repeat with different sound-makers and hold them in different positions (to the left, right, above and below my eyes.)
Activities for Toddlers
10m
Language & Literacy
Baba Dada Babbles
Throughout the day, emphasize double consonant words in your natural conversations. Examples of double consonant words:
Mama
Dada
If I'm making a longer babble like "bababababa," repeat the shorter two-syllable word like "baba" and see if I'll copy you.
Play a fun repeating game. Say a double consonant word into an empty paper towel roll or empty plastic container. This will make it sound funny! See if I'll repeat the word into the roll or container.
15m
Math
Copy Cat
Tell your child you will play a game where they will copy your movement pattern. “Copy Cat, Copy Cat, copy me wiggle-wiggle-freeze, wiggle-wiggle-freeze, wiggle-wiggle-freeze.”
Reset and say “Let’s try another movement pattern. Copy Cat, Copy Cat, copy me spin and jump, spin and jump, spin and jump.”
Invite your child to make other simple movement patterns with you. For example, clap-clap-stomp, clap-clap-stomp, clap-clap-stomp. Don’t forget to start each new movement with “Copy Cat, Copy Cat, copy me.”
Use these activities to learn with your child every day!
Activities for Infants
15m
Science
Bathtime Fun
While the tub is filling, gather plastic cups, bowls and containers in different sizes. Poke holes in the bottom of a few so water can trickle through (or use something like a pasta strainer or steamer basket from the kitchen).
Once your baby is in the bath, show them how to fill and pour from the containers. Encourage them to splash the water and feel the water coming out of the spout and containers.
Describe what your baby is doing with the containers and how the water is moving.
Ask and answer your own questions, and don't forget to respond to any babbles your baby makes as part of the conversation!
5m
Social-Emotional Learning
Silly Squealing
Try some silly games to see if you can get me to squeal with delight. I'll make a sudden burst of high pitched vowel sounds like "eeee!" to let you know that I'm happy.
Games to try:
"I'm Gonna Get You!"
Making funny faces at me.
Activities for Toddlers
5m
Math
Count on Me
Count your baby's fingers and toes, touching them one at a time while counting out loud.
Kiss or tickle your baby's ears, nose, bellybutton, elbows, etc. while counting them.
Repeat, counting your own fingers, toes, ears, etc.
Varies
Health & Wellness
Food Preferences
Try to keep mealtime positive and flexible. Focus on the conversation at the table instead of what I'm eating or not eating. Try to act like it's no big deal if I refuse food or even an entire meal.
At each meal, try to offer one food I typically like. If I like applesauce, ketchup, or other dips, include that on my plate and invite me to dip.
Offer me small portion sizes of a variety of items (like: a tablespoon of peas or 2 strawberries). Even if I don't try something today, offer it another time. My likes change a lot from day to day!
If I seem to be filling up on snacks before mealtime, consider eliminating snacktime or offering a snack earlier in the day. Or, offer fruits and veggies as a snack instead of more filling foods.
Use these activities to learn with your child every day!
Activities for Infants
5m
Language & Literacy
Babbling with Inflection
Exaggerate your inflection (the tone of your voice) throughout the day, when reading books, or when playing games like "peek-a-boo."
Notice if I'm babbling with a specific tone. I might sound like I'm asking a question, giving you an order, complaining, or being excited! Respond to me as if you understand everything I'm saying.
If possible, interpret aloud what I'm trying to say. If you're not sure what I mean, you can encourage me to keep babbling with a smile and by saying "Oh, really?"
You may hear me having long babbling conversations with myself when I'm alone. I use this time to practice new inflections!
15m
Health & Wellness
Learning To Sleep Through the Night (6-12 months)
If I'm over six months old and wake up frequently for feedings, it might help to wean me off my middle-of-the night feeding.
Check with my pediatrician first to see if this is appropriate for me.
Gradually decrease the amount or length of time of my feedings (i.e. if I usually drink 6 ounces, decrease it to 5 and then 4 ounces.)
If I awaken during the night and do not need to eat, you can try to prevent my middle-of-the-night awakenings from becoming a pattern.
If I'm just fussing a bit, wait to see if I'll fall back asleep without your help.
If it sounds like my crying is getting worse, respond, but try to be "boring." Change me and sing me a soothing song, but don't play with me.
Try to keep my nap and bedtimes as consistent as possible.
Activities for Toddlers
10m
Language & Literacy
Animal Sounds
Gather some visual examples of animals; these visual examples can be animal toys, animal flashcards, a book with different pictures of animals, homemade drawings of animals, or cut-outs of animals from a magazine.
Show these visuals to your child while saying the names of the animals and the sounds they make.
Your child should be able to see your mouth as you make the sounds.
Give lots of affirmation to encourage your child to mimic the animal sounds.
30m
Social Studies
Favorite Community Place
Take your child to a favorite place in your community. Bring snacks and drawing materials.
Give them a tour and describe all the things you like about that place. If appropriate, let them walk around and explore what interests them.
Draw pictures of some things in that place, and invite your child to draw along with you. You can also take pictures. When you get home, refer back to the drawings and talk about the important features of the place.
(Optional) Repeat on different days in different places.
Use these activities to learn with your child every day!
Activities for Infants
10m
Social-Emotional Learning
Can You Copy Me?
Play a game of "Can You Copy Me?"
Sit with me and show me a gesture that's new to me. Examples:
drumming your fingers on the table
shrugging your shoulders and raising your hands, like "huh?"
Encourage me to copy you.
Repeat! Change your gesture, and see if I'll copy you. Keep playing this game for as long as I'm interested.
10m
Approaches to Learning
Where Is It?
Move your face or a favorite toy behind a cover (like: your hands, a blanket, a box).
Uncover your face or the toy after a few seconds so I can see, touch or play with it again. Watch to see if I keep looking at the place where your face or the toy disappeared.
Repeat with different objects.
Activities for Toddlers
10m
Physical
Grasping a Toy
During playtime, give me small things that are easy to grasp and are safe for me to put in my mouth. Examples:
Rattles
Teethers
Encourage me to practice grasping things with both my right and left hands.
Let me practice grasping when I'm in different positions. I can grasp while I'm lying on my side, tummy, and back, and in a supported sitting position.
Celebrate when I successfully grasp a toy!
10m
Health & Wellness
Belly Breathe
At the end of your child's bedtime routine, ask them to take a deep breath while lying down in their bed.
Ask your child to put their hands on their belly. Take another deep breath together, and notice how your hands move as you breathe.
Practice belly breathing together- a big breath in through your nose that lasts for 4 counts, then breathing out slowly.
Repeat a few more times together. Try to do a few rounds of Belly Breathing each night right before turning out the lights.
Use these activities to learn with your child every day!
Activities for Infants
10m
Creativity
Beat Your Feet
Lay your baby on their back and turn on some music.
Hold a baking sheet in front of their feet.
Encourage them to "drum" on the baking sheet with their feet.
15m
Creativity
Responding to Music
Play or sing lots of different types of music for me throughout the day. Help me feel the rhythm of the music by moving to the beat when you're holding or rocking me.
Introduce nursery rhymes and songs with simple hand movements (like "Itsy Bitsy Spider," "Wheels on the Bus," or any other song you like).
Try using music to help me adjust to transitions in daily routines, like when I first wake up, when I'm going down for a nap, or at bedtime.
When I'm fussy, try singing, humming, or turning on music.
Activities for Toddlers
10m
Social-Emotional Learning
Laughs and Chuckles
Let’s discover games that make me laugh. Here are some ideas to try:
Nuzzling my tummy with your face
Playing ‘pat-a-cake’ with my hands or feet
Pause frequently during the game to watch for any signs of delight, or for signs that I need a break.
Another way to make me laugh is by talking to me in a silly way. Use high pitched and animated voices, and exaggerated facial expressions. See what I think is funny.
10m
Science
Bubble Chase
Head outside with a bottle of blowing bubbles.Pick a starting point and put something there to mark it (a ball, a water bottle, etc.). Blow bubbles and have your child chase after them. See if your child can pop them!
From your new location, blow bubbles and chase them again. Repeat several times, then look back to your starting location. What direction have the bubbles been moving in?
Ask your child to describe what's happening with the bubbles.
Experiment with different ways of blowing bubbles (like waving your arm around instead of blowing air, or holding the bubble wand still and letting wind blow bubbles). What made the bubbles move that time?
Use these activities to learn with your child every day!
Activities for Infants
10m
Science
Fast and Slow
Head to a playground or outdoor space where you can swing and move with your child. You can do this activity with swings or infant scooters or even just in a wide open space.
Push your baby at different speeds on swings or a scooter and name each speed (like: "fast/faster/fastest" and "slow/slower/slowest").
Switch to walking slow or fast, or picking up your child and spinning them around in a circle slowly and more quickly. Remember to say the words as you change speeds.
Check out others around you – and describe their speed too!
5m
Approaches to Learning
Exploring Your Face
Help me be curious about how you and I are two separate people! When I was first born, I thought that I was part of you. Now, I will use touch to learn more about you.
Encourage me to explore your face during a quiet time together.
Let me feel your nose, touch your glasses, rub your beard, poke your mouth, or feel your hair.
Wiggle your nose, raise your eyebrows up and down, open and close your eyes, stick out your tongue.
Compare your face to mine when I touch to explore it.
Activities for Toddlers
5m
Language & Literacy
My First Conversations
At quiet times throughout the day (feeding, dressing, playing, or bathing), help me learn how to have a conversation!
When I make a sound or babble, imitate my sound. Then pause and wait for me to make another sound in the 'conversation.'
You can also respond to my sounds or babbling with sentences.
Keep the conversation going- continue a few rounds of taking turns making sounds back-and-forth.
15m
Physical
Fast Freeze, Slow Freeze
Tell your child that you will play a game where you will move fast or slow, and then freeze. Then, you’ll start moving again.
“I’ll say “dance fast or dance slow.” Then, I’ll say “freeze” and you have to freeze and stop until I say “go.””
