We’re in the neighborhood!
Each month offers activities families can do together in a variety of settings. The activities within the Learning is Everywhere Calendar and on the website are aligned with the Pennsylvania Early Learning Standards (ELS).
These guidelines can be used to determine what infants, toddlers, pre-kindergarten, and kindergarten children may know or be able to do within specific age ranges.
Print the book list! 9 Books about the Neighborhood.
- My Neighborhood by Johnny Bregar
- Keat’s Neighborhood by Ezra Jack Keats
- Curious George Neighborhood Friends by H. A. Rey
- Welcome to My Neighborhood by Quiara Alegria Hudes and Shino Arihara
- What Do You See in Your Neighborhood? by Bracha Goetz
- Only One by Marc Harshman
- Jobs Around My Neighborhood by Gladys Rosa-Mendoza
- Night on Neighborhood Street by Eloise Greenfield
- In Lucia’s Neighborhood by Pat Shewchuk
Take a walk with your baby, starting with shoes and socks. As you dress her, tell her what you’re doing. “These are your socks, these are your shoes!” Tell her that you are going for a walk and what you might see, hear and smell. Once outside, explain to her what she sees and hears. (Social and Emotional Development)
Encourage your baby to explore different textures by providing him with items to feel, such as bare feet in the grass or hands touching trees. Talk about what he is feeling, and use words to describe the item (soft, rough, hard, smooth, etc.) Tell him about what he is feeling in content to his neighborhood. “This trees is in our back yard and gives us shade from the sun.” If you cannot take your baby outside, bring the outside in. Put grass in a plastic container. Allow the child to play with their fingers or toes. Pick up a blade of grass and tickle their hands, arms, legs, feet, face. Smell the grass and talk about the color. (Scientific Thinking and Technology)
While looking at cars, birds, houses or anything else, begin to build simple two word combinations and add descriptors to help your baby begin to distinguish between big and little, or loud and quiet. For example, if your baby points to a car, you can say, “Yes, that is a blue car”, or “Look, there’s a big car and there’s a little car, which one is the big one?” (Language & Literacy Development: Reading, Writing, Speaking & Listening)
Take a walk with your toddler, starting with shoes and socks. Help her put on her shoes and socks and encourage her to tell you what she’s doing. “These are the socks, these are the shoes!” Ask her questions about what she might see, hear, feel or smell. Does she think she will see a fire engine, hear a car horn, or smell a flower? (Social & Emotional Development)
Encourage your toddler to walk on different terrains (such as up a set of stairs), develop his depth perception (throwing a ball to you) and feel different textures (such as rocks, flowers and grass) as he is walking. (Scientific Thinking & Technology)
While looking at cars, birds, houses or anything else, begin to build simple two word combinations and add descriptors to help children begin to distinguish between big and little, or loud and quiet. For example, if your toddler says “Car”, you can say, “Yes, that is a blue car”, or “Look, there’s a big car and there’s a little car, which one is the big one?” (Language & Literacy Development: Reading, Writing, Speaking & Listening)
Go for a walk with your preschooler or kindergartner and have her help you identify different items that begin with each letter. For those more difficult letters (like Y or Z!), can she name items she’s like to see that begin with those letters? (Wouldn’t she like to play with a yo-yo while she’s at the park?) Take along homemade flashcards or a list of the letters of the alphabet so your kindergartner has a reference to the letter and then the object that starts with the letter. Have her place the card with the correct letter by the object. If she finds a flower, put the letter ‘f’ by it. (Language & Literacy Development: Reading, Writing, Speaking & Listening)
Compare big and little as your child moves throughout her neighborhood. Help her decided if items are bigger than she is (like a mailbox), or smaller than she is (like a dandelion) by having her stand next to the item. Now it’s your turn! Have her help you decide if items are bigger, or smaller than you are! Don’t forget to compare not only height, but also width. (Mathematics Thinking & Expression)
Help your preschooler or kindergartner make her own neighborhood book. Take photos of your child’s favorite neighborhood items, like a swing, or a special stick, or even a mud puddle! Purchase a small photo album, or glue the photos in sheets of paper that you can staple together. Have her tell you about her favorite items and you can help her record her responses in her book. (Language & Literacy Development: Reading, Writing, Speaking & Listening)