Early Learning

This month we focus on resources for early childhood education. The sites for grownups will be useful for parents, early childhood teachers and daycare providers. Sites for children are organized based on the Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards, and may be used by young children working with an adult.


Sites for Grownups l Sites for Kids Physical Healthl Motor Development l Emotional Development l Language Development l Imagination l Mathematical Thinking l Social Systems

Sites for Grownups

PBS Parents offers comprehensive information about child development from birth through the early school years, addressing topics like school readiness, social and emotional development, raising boys, and more. The Children and Media guide gives tips for how to handle video games, TV, and other media with children of different ages. Spanish version also available.

Leading to Reading from Reading is Fundamental (RIF), is designed to help parents and childcare providers develop the language skills of their infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. A section for adults includes articles and videos with advice and activity suggestions. The Babies and Toddlers and Preschoolers section features age-appropriate early literacy activities. In English and Spanish. This is a must-see site!

The Reading is Fundamental (RIF) parents page has additional information for parents of children age 0-4.

The Peep and the Big Wide World web site provides a collection of activities to help preschool children learn simple science and math concepts.

Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction Early Childhood includes information on teaching standards and practices, professional development, early childhood special education, and kindergarten entrance.

The Wisconsin Early Childhood Collaborating Partners is an online community for parents, administrators and staff of early education programs in Wisconsin. The site includes links to information on screening and assessment, 4-year old kindergarten, professional development for early childhood educators and more.

The Talaris Foundation attempts to bridge the gap between what scientists know and what parents practice by translating scientific knowledge into tools for parents and other caregivers.

The National Association for the Education of Young Children offers resources to professionals and parents, including information about accredited childcare programs and assistance in locating quality childcare.

31 Days to Reading describes activities for parents to do with children ages 3 to 5. Each activity is designed to help children build important literacy skills.

How Can I Help my Preschool Child Learn to Read? from Verizon Literacy Network includes four podcasts suggesting activities that parents can do with children as they read together. These podcasts are ideal for those who prefer to learn by listening.

Colorin Colorado? provides bilingual resources for teachers and families of English language learners. Check the Families/Familias section for ready to read tips for parent of 0-3 year olds and preschool children. Be sure to expand the menu by clicking on the + sign in front of each item in the left hand column.

Birth to Six from the Multonomah County Library provides lots of information about reading for parents of young children. It includes recommended book lists (books for babies, books for toddlers, rhyming books, etc.).

The American Library Association (ALA) provides Parent Guide Brochures for early literacy in both English and Spanish.

Zero to Three is an organization that focuses on the healthy development of children and families. Much of the information on the site is geared towards professionals, but the site also offers science-based information and tools for parents.

Hooray for Health is a health curriculum from PBS designed around the Arthur television series. Materials are available in Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, and Vietnamese.

Sesame Solutions Parents Page provides articles on health, safety and other topics as well as links to activities for children.

Mouse Tips for Working with Young Children from Sesame Street may be useful to read before using the sites for children below.

Sites for Kids: Physical Health

Happy Healthy Songs from Sesame Street: listen or sing along to songs about nutrition.

Color Me Hungry from Sesame Street: children match healthy foods with their color for Cookie Monster.

Your Amazing Body from Sesame Street: match the body parts to their function.

Elmo Goes to the Doctor from Sesame Street: read this story to children before a doctor visit.

Elmo’s Fire Safety Game from Sesame Street: learn about fire safety with Elmo.

Sites for Kids: Motor Development

GrooveIt from Arthur: children choreograph and perform their own dance using simple movements strung together in an order they choose. Print out the dance cards from this site and dance to music.

Let’s Grovercize from Sesame Street: bend and stretch with Grover.

Boohbah Dance from PBS: children create a Boohbah dance by using sliders music and movement. Then have children dance along.

Sites for Kids: Emotional Development

Tikabilla Emotional Theatre: Children drag different faces on the character to represent different emotions.

Puppet Personality from the Children's Museum of Indianapolis lets children to create puppets that illustrate different moods.

Getting Along song: sing along with Caillou.

Maisy Fun Club from author Lucy Cousings: read Maisy stories, dress maisy, do simple online or printable activities with colors, numbers, sorting, and matching.

Sites for Kids: Language Development and Communications

Leading to Reading from RIF: Babies and Toddlers section features video and audio stories, nursery rhymes, games, lullabies and finger plays. In Spanish or English.

ABC Match from the International Reading Association (IRA): match initial letters with pictures to practice letter-recognition fluency and memory.

Alphabet Organizer from IRA: create a printable an alphabet book or chart by typing a word for each letter.

Cookie Monster’s Letter of the Day from Sesame Street: feed Cookie Monster by dragging the items that begin with the correct letter to his mouth.

Elmo Rhymes from Sesame Street: click on the picture that rhymes.

SuperWhy from PBS: try several games involving pre-reading skills (teacher gude to games).

Comfy Corner from the BBC: watch and listen to stories being read. Be sure to click on “Full Screen” to see the story in its larger size.

Online Games from Get Ready to Read: watch Inky the Octopus and Gus the Bunny then explore early literacy skills like first letter sounds, rhyming words, and making compound words while watching animated stories.

Sites for Kids: Invention and Imagination

Poisson Rouge or Red Fish Soup is a delightful site for young children to explore. The site is completely visual, designed to let children too young to read discover and experiment. There are activities that involve numbers, letters, music, art and imagination. Teachers and parents may appreciate the user guide, but try not to direct children too much on this site!

Fimbles Music Maker from the BBC: compose and then listen to a tune.

Kaleidoscope from Boohbahs: create colorful patterns by moving 3 different lenses.

This is Emily Yeung: Online games and activities such as scrapbooking, building a sand castle, finger painting and others.

Animal Soundscapes from the BBC: create music by placing animal shapes and listening to their sounds.

Fancy Shoes from PBS’s series Franny’s feet: decorate a pair of shoes.

The World of Victor features very simple games, puzzles and songs for young children. Available in English, French, Spanish and Japanese.

Sites for Kids: Mathematical and Logical Thinking

Count Your Chickens, How Tall, Banana 411 and other games from from PBS’s Curious George: practice counting, estimating and other mathematical skills (teacher guide to games).

Games like Balancing Bunnies, Trash Stash, Hop to It and Splat from Peep and the Big Wide World explore skills like balancing, sorting, estimating and color mixing.

Dominoes Games from the BBC: practice matching skills.

Number of the Day from Sesame Street: count objects.

More Counting: click to count robots, fish and other objects.

Tangrams from PBS’s Sagwa series: practice geometrical and spatial thinking with tangrams.

Making Triangles and Polygons from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics: play with virtual geoboards to learn about different shapes.

Fixit from PBS’ Jakers series: work on logic and spatial skills by “fixing” broken items for Jakers the pig.

Oscar’s Trash Collection: sort junk by color for Oscar.

Sites for Kids: Social Systems

Mama Mirabelle from PBS: several activities to help preschoolers learn about the natural world.

Franny’s Feet from PBS: games and activities about exploring the world.

Panwapa Island from PBS: virtual world designed to inspire and children to be responsible global citizens. (ages 4-7)

The Text-only menu provides accessible and printer-friendly access to the Surf Report Archives.

Please contact us if you have questions or suggestions for the Surf Report!