June 2022 Fun Book Activities and Curriculum
Group 1
HOW TO PLAY PEEK-A-BOO
FARM ANIMALS PEEK-A-BOO
Make your baby their own Peek-A-Boo Farm Activity. What You Will Need
Directions
Using the Printable with Old MacDonald Had a Farm It will also be fun using the activity to sing Old MacDonald Had a Farm. First, hide one animal behind the door. Together start singing the song, “Old MacDonald had a farm. E-I-E-I-O. And on his farm, he had a _____________.” When you come to the part where you name the animal, then open the flap and discover which one was hidden inside and then add it to your song. Take turns changing the animal after each verse. Have much fun! Need help singing the song? Click the link below to sing along. OTHER BOOKS TO ENJOY
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About the Book
Peek-a-boo! Do you see me? I see you!
Babies can join in the fun as kittens, bunnies, mice, and other little animals play peek-a-boo behind cupboard doors, underneath blankets and toys, and throughout the pages of this sturdy board book. DEVELOPMENTAL BENEFITS OF PLAYING PEEKABOO
Peekaboo is a game which you can’t help to play whether it’s with your newborn or toddler! Whether you get a smile or giggle it’s an infectious game that just keeps going, and when your little one gets old enough it turns to hide and seek! Peekaboo is not only a fun way to play with your baby or toddler it’s hugely beneficial developmentally as you will find below. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT A big skill your little one will be developing while playing peekaboo is ‘object permanence’, this is the ability to understand that an object or person is still there even though it/they can’t be seen. This skill also links to improving problem solving skills. MOTOR DEVELOPMENT Baby – Encourages reaching. Toddler – When playing hide and seek your little one will be improving their balance, agility, and co-ordination. SPEECH DEVELOPMENT Playing peekaboo can encourage speech, saying ‘peekaboo’, ‘where’s mommy’, ‘here I am’. Giving the foundations to the beginnings of a conversation with your little one. SOCIAL & EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT Some social skills your little one will be using and therefore developing are, turn taking, playing with others, increasing their confidence, and playing with others. This game also helps babies experience emotions such as surprise and anticipation. As well as excitement and happiness when you suddenly appear from under your fingers! PEEK-A-BOO GAME VARIATIONS
Peek-A-Boo Games are easy and fun to make at home or at school. Remember, peek-a-boo is simply covering something up for your baby to find. Be creative.
Peek-A-Boo Boxes Using a small box, you can hide different items inside and place a blanket or lid on the box. You may wish to use a favorite stuffed animal, photos, or other toys. Have your baby lift the top off and discover what's inside. Say Peek-A-Boo. Once your baby becomes a pro at his Peek-A-Boo Box, add tissue paper to hide the item. Sandy Peek-A-Boo What You Will Need
PEEK-A-BOO Arts and Crafts |
Group 2
Seven Steps to Build Your Child's Vocabulary
1. Talk about objects and events that interest the child
2. Have many conversations with children 3. Engage in sustained interactions 4. Read and discuss books 5. Use varied words while expanding world knowledge 6. Talk about past events 7. Engage in pretend play Read more at 7 ways to build your child's vocabulary (theconversation.com) Other First Word Books to Enjoy
Baby Sign Language
Baby's who are introduced to signing, enjoy many benefits including:
Learn basic baby sign language below and visit Baby Sign Language: 21 Words and Signs to Know - Parenting |
DID YOU KNOW
Books like Sassy Baby’s First Words promotes talking about items and objects in your child’s life. Although there is not a traditional story, your baby will begin to decode and match words and sounds to pictures. Words are paired with objects, events and emotions This process builds your baby's a vocabulary so he can express himself and communicate in the future. As you read Baby's First Words, be sure to point to the picture when you read the word or read the word and ask your child to point to the correct picture. As your child gets older, point to a picture and ask your child to find the word that names it. Take turns by allowing your child to point to a picture and you find the word that names it. Relate words from the book to the child's world. For example, point to the word apple and match it to the picture of an apple. Then, offer your child an apple for snack. Talk about the apple. What color is it? Is it smooth or rough? Is the apple sweet or sour? Remember, there are so many ways to promote literacy in your child's world. Books are a huge part, but singing and just talking to your child promotes literacy naturally. 
Spoken Language Milestones
Although every child is unique, the following ages and stages is a guide that reflects broad developmental norms for children and vocabulary. 12 months-2 words plus mommy and daddy (or equivalent in languages other than English) 18 months- 10-50 words 2 years- 300 words 2.5 years- 450 words 3 years- 1,000 words 4 years- 2,000 words 5 years- 5,000 plus words 17 years- 36,000 to 136,000 words. The words that children tend to say first are naming words (Nouns and Proper Nouns). Then action words (Verbs) are the second earliest type of word. Other words which are learnt early on are a few examples of modifiers (for example ‘more’), and personal-social phrases (for example ‘please’, ‘no’). Other Ways to Promote Early Literacy and Expand Vocabulary
Books are only one way to introduce language and build vocabulary for your child. You may wish to try the following: Singing Babies are drawn to singing. Singing can be used to calm or sooth your infant, stimulate their brains, or engage and entertain them. Song lyrics are another way to build your babies vocabulary. 1. Try singing a special song during daily activities. For example, sing the alphabet three times while brushing your toddlers teeth. Not only does your child benefit by being exposed to letters, but by singing the song 3x's you are helping your child meet their 2-minutes of brushing each morning and evening. Movement and Words Hand Gestures, dancing, and other forms of movement can help your baby and toddler remember words through kinetic learning. Consider the Hokey Pokey and learning the names of body parts as well as right versus left. You put your right foot in, you put your right foot out, you put your right foot in and shake it all about... Children sign the song and follow along by dancing to the words. This increases the probability that they will add the names of body parts to their vocabulary. Nursery rhymes often have hand gestures that accompany the words. For example, you can use one arm to be the clock and the other is the mouse when reciting Hickory Dickory Dock. |
Group 3
Literacy and Flannel Boards
Read the story Squeak in a new fun way. Create flannel Board pieces to go with the story. Print, laminate then cut them out. Then add a piece of velcro to the back to create your own flannel board pieces to this fantastic story. Have your child help tell the story as you read by adding the piece that matches the page you are reading. They might even want to use the pieces to retell the story. 
Mouse Cookies
Cooking with children helps develop their math skills and helps them to learn how to follow directions. It also allows for some great conversation! Ask many questions while cooking with your children to encourage conversation! Be sure to ask specific themed questions while making these fun snacks!
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About The Book
In this fun book with lots of animal sounds, we learn how one little squeak from a mouse sets off a chain reaction of sounds in the animal kingdom. Other Books to Read about Squeaking
Songs About Mice
TODDLER FARM THEME PAINTING ACTIVITY
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Directions
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Group 4
There are so many creative ways to build and construct with your child at home. Yes, you can use blocks and Lego. But you can also use recycled materials such as boxes and containers as building supplies as well.
Hammering golf tees into cardboard is fabulous for developing fine motor and hand-eye coordination, and when you write letters on the cardboard you add a literacy component as well! Do you have paper cups or red Solo cups at your house? They make great building materials as well. You really could build something new every time with cups and imagination. A Song for Your Little Construction Worker
Road Building
What toddler doesn't love playing with trucks, tractors, and cars. Roll out as many pieces of Play-Doh as you want to make a road or track. Kids love to press their trucks as they roll them along to create tracks for each other to follow. This will keep them busy for a long time! 
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About The Book
Wearing their hard hats, safety goggles, and work boots, a team of toddlers are busy building away. Using excavators, shovels, and bulldozers, they are hard at work making their perfect playhouse blueprint come to life. Jaunty rhyme perfectly complements the playful and bouncing illustrations in this kid pleaser. BENEFITS OF CONSTRUCTION PLAY Construction or block toys boost hand-eye coordination. This will happen gradually as your child learns to grasp, collect, and move the blocks or construction toys. They may also compare the many pieces of construction toys before building something. This will enable them to distinguish between same and different. When your kid joins school, his ability to count the pieces will improve his math skills. Building blocks for math comes in handy! Not only that, his reading and understanding abilities will also improve as he tackles the construction pieces to build something. In fact, block play and child development go hand in hand.
Pool Noodle Word Builder Game
What You Will Need
Directions
Other Fun Reads about Clay and Art
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Group 5
Other Good Reads for Your Little Meteorologist
Pet Arts and Crafts
Cat Hand print Use a wallpaper sample book to let the children cut out a rug for their cat to sit on. Then put their hand print upright on the “rug” (fingers together, thumb outstretched a little becomes the tail). Use the top of a liquid detergent cap to make a circle at the top of the hand print (to become the cat’s head). They are really cute – add facial features, whiskers, etc.You can also have the children name their kitten. Fish And Fish Bowl Cut off 2 inches from a paper plate. This is the fish bowl. Children can either draw or cut out colored fish from construction paper. Fish can be glued to paper plate. Attach string and hang from the ceiling. Paper Puppies Make puppies from brown lunch bags. Let the child draw the face on the bag and glue on ears. Sing-A-Long Songs
Field Trip Ideas
Animal rescue programs are a great way to introduce your child to animals and volunteer at the same time. Animal shelters are always looking for donations or people to help out with the dogs, cats, and other animals. You and your toddler may be able to help walk dogs, play with cats, clean cages, help with feedings, or even read to the animals. Children can also help animal rescue programs through donations. If your child is having a birthday party, rather than buying a present, ask each guest to bring a special gift that your child will donate to the local SPCA or animal shelter. Supplies needed include: - Lysol spray - Clorox sanitizing wipes - hand sanitizer or hand soap - Liquid laundry soap - Canned Cat & Kitten Food - Pate - Dry Kitten Food - Purina Kitten chow - 13 & 39 Gallon Trash Bags - Dry dog food & dry cat food - Dog & Cat Treats - Wood Pellets used for Kitty Litter - Dog Collars & Leashes - Paper towels - Cat and dog toys - Pine shavings - Blankets - Towels and washcloths Take your toddler to the shelter to donate the items so they can see how their donation will help their 4-legged friends. |
About the Book
Gwendolyn longs for a pet. What kind? Any kind! How many legs? Two, four, ten--she's not picky! But her parents have other ideas, and instead they give her . . . a box of dirt. "It smells of swamp," Gwendolyn says--but her parents say it smells of possibilities. And once Gwendolyn gets savvy about seeds and soil, sun and shade, she finds they are right. The dirt starts performing some amazing tricks, and soon she has a whole pet garden of her very own--it might not have "any legs at all, but it was alive, and Gwendolyn could talk to it, care for it, and watch it grow." This book is fun since you can do activities with your child about gardening or pets. Start planting with them or just have fun playing in the dirt. Have them do fun activities with their stuffed animals. Wash the Dog Sensory Activity What you will need
Step 1. Fill the plastic tubs half-way with water. Step 2. Place a few scoops of dirt into one of the plastic tubs to make mud. Hide a few small plastic dogs in the mud. Step 3. Have your child find the dogs and clean them in the water bin. You can provide your child with small wash clothes, cleaning brushes, or other tools. Your toddler may think playing in the mud is more fun than washing the animals off, so let your little ones experience the feeling of the mud between their fingers. Play clothes is a must for this activity. Bird Feeder Activity
Not all kiddos have pets, but animals are all around us. Teaching children about caring for animals is a way to prepare them to become a pet owner in the future. And it's fun! What You Will Need
Directions:
Your child will love to see all of the birds who come to eat from their bird feeder. Spend some time with your child talking about the birds. What color are they? What sound do they make? 
Local Animal Shelters
SPCA Serving Allegany County 5440 State Route 19 - P.O. Box 181 Belmont, New York 14813 Phone: 585-593-2200 [email protected] Rescue Pups, Inc. 3073 Pangburn Rd Friendship, NY 14739 (585) 466-1964 rescuepups.org Southern Tier Animal Rescue 4604 Steenrod Rd Friendship, NY 14739 · ~13.1 mi (585) 973-8106 petfinder.com |
Group 6
Other Books About Rain
Songs About Water
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About the Book
A water ride like you've never experienced before, featuring the cutest drop of water in all of precipitation. Meet Drop. She's water! And she's seen a thing or two. Yep, even dinosaurs; she's four and a half billion years old, after all. Everywhere Drop flows--and she flows everywhere--she keeps things moving, making life on earth possible, and having a great time doing it. (Have you ever plummeted from a rain cloud? Or took a thousand-year nap in a glacier? Drop knows how to live right.) With delightful panache and a steady stream of funny one-liners, Drop takes readers on an adventure through the water cycle and beyond. Filled with irresistible artwork, funny asides, and a steady sprinkle of kid-enticing facts, Drop is the story about water you never knew you were thirsting for. RAIN CLOUD GRAVITY PAINTING FOR KIDS What You Will Need
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