Talk, read, and sing with your children every day! Please share photos of your family talking, reading, and singing using the hashtag #TalkingIsTeachingTips
Simple interactions like these can help boost children’s brain and language development, setting them up for success in school and beyond. Please share photos of your family talking, reading, and singing using the hashtag #TalkingIsTeachingTips
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Saturday |
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Go on a scavenger hunt at the park! It’s a fun way to play outdoors. |
Play dress up and act out your little one’s favorite story together. |
Turn on some fun music, sing along, and have a family dance party! |
Go on a nature walk with your baby. Talk about the things you see, hear, and smell all around you. |
Play fun games like “Duck-Duck-Goose” or “Simon Says.” |
Have fun pretending to move and sound like different animals. Hop like a bunny or wave your arms like a butterfly! |
Play “I-Spy” by taking turns naming and describing the things you each see. “I spy a big red truck. You?” catch help your child enjoy the outdoors and stay active. |
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Self-care is important! You can better care for your children when you take the time to take care of yourself. |
Share a book with your child. As you read, ask questions like: “What do you see? What’s your favorite page? |
As you’re driving or riding the bus, talk about the colors of traffic lights and what they mean –red means stop, green means go. |
During bedtime, hold your baby close and sing a lullaby. What’s your favorite song to sing together? |
Take turns showing each other different faces and use words to describe them: “We’re smiling because we’re happy!” |
Have fun singing a silly song about your day with your baby! |
Take a walk in your local park and talk about the colors, shapes, and sizes you see around you. |
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Play peek-a-boo while getting dressed! Ask, “Where are you?” as you pull a shirt over your baby’s head. Then say, “There you are!” |
During bath time, use words like “sink” or “float” to help your child experiment and learn new words. |
During snack time, sing about food and make fun food rhymes like “banana fanana”! |
Everywhere you go, use words to talk about what you see and what your baby is looking at or pointing to. |
Share a nursery rhyme with your child today. Use your hands and body to bring the words to life! |
Use words to describe how food tastes or smells. Ask, “What does this apple feel like? Taste like? Smell like?” |
Share a book or a song in your native language. It’s a great way to introduce your child to your home culture! |
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Sing “Old MacDonald” with your child, and change the animals on the farm to other animals or objects you see in your home! |
Begin a daily gratitude routine with your child. Each day at bedtime, take turns sharing things you were thankful for that day. |
Books can help children develop empathy! When reading together ask questions like: “How do you think the character feels?” |
As you help your child get dressed, talk about colors of his clothes. You can say: “Your socks are red and soft!” |
Sing songs like “Five Little Monkeys” that have simple counting patterns to help your child learn early math skills. |
During bath time, play fill and dump with a cup. This teaches your child about measurement concepts like full and empty. |
Your baby loves to hear to hear the sound of your voice! Talk about what you’re doing and name objects around you. |
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At the grocery store, describe the food you put in your cart using words like big, tall, wide, or tiny. |
As you do laundry, describe the clothes you’re folding: “This shirt is humongous! What else can we find that’s humongous?” |
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For curious, young minds, playing is learning. Playtime is fundamental to your child’s early development, helping hone her cognitive, social, and emotional skills. Opportunities to play are everywhere! Here are a few ideas to integrate play into your daily routine with your toddler.
Playing dress up, or even exploring the different colors and textures of the fabrics in your closet, can be exciting.
Give your child kid-friendly pots, pans, and other kitchen props so he can play chef while you make dinner. Describe spices and vegetables to your child and encourage him to smell, touch, and even taste the ingredients you’re using.
Have your child look at the pictures and tell the story. Act out the stories together as you read aloud or have her retell the story using her favorite toys.
It can be repetitive and simple, like “wash your toes, wash your nose.” Couple singing with a game where your child pours water on the body parts mentioned in the song.
Help your child look for birds, benches, trees, bushes, and other common outdoor features. Encourage your child to explore the texture of leaves, rocks, and gravel. Describe the shapes and colors of the things you see.
Choose a color and/or shape and challenge your child to point out as many objects that fall into that category as he can. Build your child’s vocabulary by describing any unfamiliar or new objects that he encounters.
While waiting at the doctor’s office, your child can play the doctor and you can introduce yourself as the patient. Pretend you have a stomachache or a headache and ask your child for a cure. You can encourage your child’s role play in many other settings like restaurants, grocery stores, and subways.
A fun book that teaches youngsters about compromising and the importance of being a good friend.
Playtimes can be wild! Jump and dance with animal babies in this rhyming board book. Adorable illustrations and simple text are fun for children and parents alike.
The bestselling, award-winning team of Yolen and Teague present their fourth original dinosaur board book, a fun guide to friendship and playing nicely with others.
This little sea otter loves spending time with his parent — learning new things, playing together, or even just holding each other. In fact, everyday this little sea otter spends withhis parent is special, just becausethey are together.
A whimsical menagerie of bears, pigs, dogs, and even a soccer-playing elephant brings the words to life in What Am I Playing?
