Image Source: Canva Busy caregivers may feel there is never enough time to do a little something extra. Yes, we all know that feeling of exhaustion!  When you are feeling in a creative rut, this is the time to get acquainted with your local librarians you may find your librarians’ enthusiasm and the humorous picture book illustrations will spark your creativity and energy!  Reading books that inspire creativity and provide opportunities for children to explore their abilities can help development. When children have creative opportunities, their language skills and social skills dev ..read more

Image Source: Canva “Tell me a story!”  This is an opening to build on your child’s interests and attention span.  Pounce on the opportunity by having a few suspenseful stories of your own ready to share!  Unlike reading to children, oral storytelling seems to unleash the imagination.  (No illustrations to rely on!)  When we are making direct eye contact with the children in our audience, we are also building community.  When we watch each other’s faces for emotions, a call-and-response takes place.  For example, if I gesture wildly or raise my voice, the ch ..read more

(Eighteen to Thirty-Six Months) Image source: Canva This is an exciting time for caregivers of toddlers!  Every day brings new glimpses of personality and their expanding interests. Tap into your toddler’s creativity with a few inexpensive and low-stress creative activities.  Your child’s self-confidence and language will develop at a fast pace when participating in a variety of art, music, dance and story-telling activities. Eighteen to Twenty-Four Months At this age, you’ll notice your toddler finds undressing to be quick and fun but dressing is still difficult.  Physical coor ..read more

(Ages Birth to Eighteen Months) Image source: Canva Think you don’t have time to be creative?  We can’t give you more hours in the day, but we can   find creative activities to do with your child that don’t require any “extra” time. From birth to eighteen months, creative play is very essential to development.  When children participate in creative play, they are actively learning about their world.  Activities in music, dance, art and story-telling can enrich their play and stimulate self-confidence and language development. For the young child, these activities will ..read more

Image source: Canva The World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action designates August 1-7 as World Breastfeeding Week. This year’s theme is the Warm Chain of Support, focusing on how all people and environments in a mother’s and child’s life impact healthy child development. Breastfeeding provides all nutrients needed for babies and is an inexpensive, climate-friendly, sustainable way to provide the best nutrition for infants. Current recommendations from the World Health Organization encourage mothers who are able to breastfeed to do so exclusively for the first six months after their baby’s birt ..read more

Image Source: Pexels “I don’t like this!” This statement is one that children or youth might use during a heated game, when being asked to correct unwanted behavior or when plans change. For those children and youth who were looking forward to milestones like field days, end of school year celebrations, prom, or graduation, they have reason to believe that life can be sad, frustrating, and difficult. The question is how do we, as nurturing adults, help young people cope with these emotions and equip them with the skills they need to be caring, connected, and capable adults? Any loss for a chil ..read more

Image Source: Jackie Steffen Reading with children is one of the most effective and educational activities you can engage in with your children.  Children learn concepts of print, letter and word recognition, comprehension, and storytelling (https://reachoutandread.org/why-we-matter/child-development/).  To help you incorporate reading into your daily routine and bring in some exciting science concepts, check out Nebraska Extension’s 2022 STEM Imagination Guides.  This year, we are discovering all things ocean!   Each guide features an exciting book about oceans, water ..read more

Image Source: iStock-841351076 According to the National Association for the Education of Young Children: “For preschoolers, field trips as simple as visiting the grocery store down the street or the post office a few blocks away offer interesting learning experiences. Trips such as these help children get to know the people and community in which they live.” Field trips are positively related to many areas of development, including social-emotional skills, by fostering positive relationship-building among students, teachers, and the people hosting the field trip. They also enhance and increas ..read more

Activities like visiting apple orchards provide kindergartners with space and time to explore interesting environments that cultivate an excitement for learning.  Image source: Sara Wangler April 21st is National Kindergarten Day. Kindergarten is a German word meaning “children’s garden.” The name was coined by the German educator Friedrich Wilhelm August Froebel who created the first kindergarten in 1837. Froebel admired Jean-Jacques Rousseau who held to the idea that all children are inherently good. Rousseau also stressed that frequent opportunities for natural expression would allow c ..read more

Image Source:Pexels.com For much of February, our family has enjoyed watching the Olympics with our 4-year-old, Weston, and 2-year-old, Kelsa. The events have prompted lots of great questions about the snow and cold, the mountains, all the cool sports and the different countries people live in. These unprompted questions led to conversations of culture and some of the different ways we do things. One topic that has been of particular interest to our children, especially Weston, is the concept that while we are getting up in the morning, people on the other side of the world are going to sleep ..read more