Online Activities Living Room Field Trips Story Corner What's in the Box How People Make Things Kitchen Stop Light Game Build a Neighborhood Recipes Water Play Neighborhood of Make-Believe Alphabet Doors Make a Story Museum Go Round Daniel's Bedtime E-Postcards Games Songs Videos Coloring Pages Recipes Applesauce "Get Out the Mad" Cookies Graham Cracker Treats Granola Gifts Milkshakes Noodles Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwiches Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookie Popsicles Strawberry Drink

Online Activities

Living Room

Giving children the freedom to explore in safe, familiar places and in appropriate ways encourages curiosity - one of the most important tools for learning. Read More

Story Corner

Here's a way to "read" a story with your child and have some interactive fun at the same time. Helping young children enjoy reading is a way to start them on their journey to becoming successful readers. Read More

Field Trips

Children aren’t just watching the field trips, they’re exploring the world with the help of a trusted adult guide who models a way of learning – asking questions, seeking help and looking and listening carefully. Read More

What's in the Box?

Connecting the familiar objects "in the box" with the video content helps children understand an object or idea in multiple ways. Seeing different perspectives can encourage creative thinking. Read More

How People Make Things

The factory visits help children understand most things happen through a process - a beginning, middle, and end. They learn that things take time to accomplish. Then they might not give up so easily when they’re frustrated in their work. Read More

Kitchen

The kitchen is a place for all kinds of learning – and creating. Through cooking and playing and being together we are nourished with food and with love. Read More

Stop Light Game

It’s hard for children to develop control over their bodies. Playing games about "stop and go" helps them practice control, so that they may be more likely to have self-control and be able to stop in other situations. Read More

Build A Neighborhood

As children grow, they move from being family-centered to being more aware of different neighborhoods around them. Creating neighborhoods in their artwork can help children realize there are lots of different kinds of communities. Read More

Recipes

There's lots of learning in cooking. Using numbers to count and measure. Understanding science by noticing changes when we heat, cool and mix. And learning self-confidence when children can help do something "grown-up."Read More

Water Play

Water play can be the beginning of a wide variety of scientific discoveries. Discovering what things sink or float, how water moves, and what’s too big to go down the drain.Read More

Neighborhood of Make Believe

The trolley brings children to a whimsical imaginary world — the Neighborhood of Make-Believe- a place where they are encouraged to create and pretend. Read More

Alphabet Doors

In order to learn to read, children need to know that alphabet letters are symbols for sounds. Here's a playful way to help children identify letters and the sounds that go with them- and enjoy some surprises, too. Read More

Make A Story

Making up their own stories is one of the best ways for children to enjoy stories and become successful readers. Your child's own stories are especially important because they are about your child’s ideas, thoughts, and feelings. Read More

Museum Go Round

Children tend to feel small, while all the important things seem to be in the hands of the grownups. But even the simplest cause and effect games can give children a sense of power – and enable them to feel confident in their exploration. Read More

Matisse Cut-Outs and Kaleidoscope

Playful exploration with open-ended materials — on the computer, or at home with construction paper and cardboard tubes- often leads children to unexpected discoveries and a sense of pride and joy in what they have created. Read More

Daniel's Bedtime

The transition from day to night is hard for many children. Bedtime can be a struggle because it separates them from the ones they love. This game can help children play about and talk about nighttime concerns and feel more secure. Read More

E-Postcards

Children feel more secure when they sense they are part of a larger circle of family and friends. Through e-postcards, they can make connections with the people they care about — both near and far. Read More

Games

Even though children may be able to play games independently on the computer, having you near-by can be an opportunity for conversation. There’s lots to play about and talk about together. Read More

Songs

Singing is a way to express how we feel and what’s important to us. These songs offer many of Mister Rogers’ timeless messages about children and childhood. Read More

Videos

In this variety of videos children are not only introduced to people and places far beyond their own neighborhood, but are invited to create a relationship with a trusted adult who addresses their inner feelings and concerns. Read More

Coloring Pages

Coloring with crayons markers and can strengthen children’s finger muscles and help them get ready for writing. And the pictures they make can be a gift for someone they care about. Read More

Recipes

Graham Cracker Treats

Children learn so much when they are involved with making food. They learn about math when they measure and count. They experience scientific principles when they see how foods change at different temperatures or when they're mixed. They also learn about cooperation and can feel the joy and self-confidence that comes from doing something "grown-up."

Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwiches

Children are curious about the insides of things - especially when those things are hidden. When they peel a banana, they see that there's something very different on the inside. The peeling is a protection for the banana. What other foods do they know that have a peel?

Milkshake

Food and caring go hand in hand. From early on, a hungry infant becomes aware that a caring person brings the milk. So when you're making things with a child in the kitchen, you're giving double benefits of time with you and doing something that's connected with food and love.

Making Popsicles

If you pour the juice into a small pitcher, each child may be able to fill his or her own cup. An adaptation like a small pitcher helps children feel more independent and allows them to be more successful at careful pouring. With this activity, you're also giving children practice waiting because it takes a long while for the juice to freeze.

Applesauce

Working with your child in the kitchen can open the door to discussions about what's safe and what isn't. While some parts of cooking are for only grownups, other parts can be done by children. Being involved in making something good to eat can make that food even more enticing. Besides, your child can see firsthand that heat can make some things soft -- a basic principle of science.

"Get Out the Mad" Cookies

As you read recipes, you're showing your child the value of reading. As you measure, you're showing your child the value of understanding numbers and careful measuring. And with this recipe, you have a chance to talk about things we can do with our hands when we are angry that don’t hurt anyone – like pounding dough.

Strawberry Smoothie

What a fun way to eat fruit! And what a useful way for your child to use some pentup energy -- by mashing strawberries. You might also find that your child is more open to tasting something new when he or she has been involved in making that healthy snack.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookie

When children have to wait for things to bake and then to cool, they're developing patience, and that's something mighty important for their learning. What can your child do while you're waiting? Maybe your child can help you by drying the utensils and bowls that you used for mixing the batter or make up a story about cookies or look at pictures in a magazine or read a book. There's lot you can do while you're waiting!

Granola Gifts

There's a wonderful feeling about being able to give a gift of food. Food and love go hand in hand! Think about the early feeding times in infancy. Looking up at your face, holding on to your finger -- that goes along with the satisfaction of having milk to drink. So your love becomes connected to the feeding experience. No wonder there's something extra special about the feelings we have when we grow to be children and adults who can give something good to eat to someone else.

Noodles

This may be even more enticing to your child than most kitchen things -- because it seems like "playclay" fun. The mixtures are similar and so is the work of mixing and kneading and forming the dough into balls. And while your child may know pasta only from the dried form sold in stores, your child may not have realized noodles are easy to make -- and fun!