Talk about the weather today with your child. Can they describe what it is like outside? Give them some options if they need it. For example as them if it is hot or cold out. Have them play outside, if the weather permits. They can jump in a mud puddle or drive match box cars threw the shallow water.
about 3 years ago, Bright Futures Family Program
Girl dressed in pink rain boots and a colorful raincoat. She is holding a colorful umbrella as she walks through a mud puddle.
Try this activity to work on language skills with your little one. (Original post is from Illinois Early Learning Project.) https://www.facebook.com/IllinoisEarlyLearn/photos/a.108484808321132
about 3 years ago, Bright Futures Family Program
Pictures two little girls holding hands while running outside.
Positive parenting does wonders for both the child and the parent. As a parent or caregiver find and embrace your strengths, take steps to work on the areas that could use improvement, and know that no one is a "perfect parent".
about 3 years ago, Bright Futures Family Program
Positive parenting describes a set of parental behaviors that foster a child's capacity to love, trust, explore and learn. The goal of positive parenting is to help parents guide their children's healthy development in the context of the family's culture. Key elements of positive parenting include the ability to understand or imagine the child's point of view, respond with interest and sensitivity, recognize that parenting can be stressful, recognize and celebrate the child's strengths, provide consistent, age-appropriate guidelines, work toward a balance of meeting parental needs and child's needs. Positive parenting also includes participating in moments of connection with the child, recognizing and regulating their own feelings, and seeking help, support, or additional information on parenting when needed. www.zerotothree.com
Today is EARTH DAY!!! It is a beautiful day out today. Get out and celebrate the earth with a nature scavenger hunt. Point out one item to your child on the list and see if you guys can find it. Once you find an item, talk about it with them. Can you touch it? What does it feel like? Is it wet? Smooth? Bumpy? Is it alive? Is it up high or down low? What color is it? ...Move on to the next item on the list. How many items were you able to find?
about 3 years ago, Bright Futures Family Program
Nature Scavenger Hunt lists: flower, rocks, water, green leaf, tree, grass, spiderweb, bird, sand or dirt, cloud, bug, ant, brown leaf, tree bark, butterfly, and fern.
Here is a simple, yet fun activity to do on a rainy day. Save Kleenex boxes and let your child wear them around the house like shoes. They will have a lot of fun with this. You can even get creative and decorate the boxes to look like animal or monster feet.
about 3 years ago, Bright Futures Family Program
Child wearing Kleenex boxes on their feet like shoes. The boxes are decorated as if they are monster feet.
Earth Day is this this coming Friday. A simple activity to do with your little ones is to have them decorate a coffee filter with green and blue markers. Once they have the coffee filter colored, use a spray bottle to lightly dampen the coffee filter. If you do not have a spray bottle, with wet hands, flick water on to the filter. As the colors get wet and blend together, the filter looks more like the earth.
about 3 years ago, Bright Futures Family Program
Child's hands creating a coffee filter planet earth. Picture from aboutmom.com
Due to the weather, we are moving the Bright Future's Easter Egg Hunt up to tomorrow, Tuesday, April 12th. This event will still be at the Bright Future's office from 1-2pm. Please let your parent educator know if you will be able to make it. Sorry for the inconvenience, but hope to see you all there!
about 3 years ago, Bright Futures Family Program
Easter Egg Hunt DATE CHANGE Flyer
Today we are celebrating The Week of the Young Child with Family Friday. Family time is so special and important. Family time promotes social interaction, which involves practicing appropriate and positive interactions with others to support the child’s developing social skills. Check out the Family Fun Bingo Board below. Can you and your family complete the entire board? #WOY22
about 3 years ago, Bright Futures Family Program
Family Fun Bingo Board. Read a story together. Go on a walk together. Make a snack together. Play a game together. Have a picnic together. Take silly pictures together. Have a dance party together. Have a device free day together. Sing songs together.
Today we are celebrating The Week of the Young Child with Artsy Thursday! So many social skills are developed when children are engaged in making choices, using their imaginations, and creating with their hands! Check out the different Easter/Spring craft ideas below for inspiration! @IllinoisAEYC #WOYC22
about 3 years ago, Bright Futures Family Program
Fork Stamped Tulips Craft
Tissue paper egg
Chick hand prints
Paper chain snake
Today we are celebrating The Week of the Young Child with Work Together Wednesday. When children build together they experience teamwork and develop their social and early literacy skills. It just so happens that tonight is our STEAM NIGHT at NGE. This is a perfect way to celebrate Work Together Wednesday! STEAM is (often hands-on) experiences that support building understanding and vocabulary, critical thinking, problem solving, communication, and reflection. Tonight we will be creating opportunities for children to learn about the world through STEAM. Be sure to come by the Bright Futures station along with the many others! Hope we see you tonight!
about 3 years ago, Bright Futures Family Program
North Greene Elementary STEAM NIGHT April 6th 5:30-7PM at NGE. Concessions will be available and there will be door prizes.
Today for The Week of the Young Child we celebrate with Tasty Tuesday! Tasty Tuesday isn’t just about eating your favorite snacks together. It’s also about cooking together and connecting math with literacy skills and science while introducing ways to incorporate healthy habits into children’s lifestyles. Follow the link below to find a spin on veggie pizza- making it into a cut carrot for the perfect spring snack! https://www.superhealthykids.com/veggie-flatbread-pizza-recipe/
about 3 years ago, Bright Futures Family Program
Veggie pizza made to look like carrots for Easter, by using chopped broccoli along the top edge and shredded carrots covering the rest.
This week is the Week of the Young Child. It helps celebrate early childhood programs and services here in Illinois. Today we are celebrating with Music Monday! Music is a wonderful tool to use when playing and interaction with our children. Follow the link below to see what the benefits are when we sing to our babies and young children. https://www.naeyc.org/our-work/families/10-ways-babies-learn-sing-to-them
about 3 years ago, Bright Futures Family Program
Three babies with musical instruments.
Covid-19 Vaccination Clinics available at Greene County Health Department.
about 3 years ago, Bright Futures Family Program
COVID-19 Vaccination Clinics at Greene County Health Department. Friday, April 1st, Friday, April 8th, and Friday, April 29th. These are available from 9AM to 12PM and 1PM to 3PM. Everyone ages 5 & older is eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccination. Children under 18 years of age must be with a parent or legal guardian at the time of the immunization or send a signed notarized permission note with another adult for the minor child. For more information call: 217-942-6961.
Don't forget to wear your blue today to show your commitment to preventing child abuse! No child deserves abuse. #GreatChildhoods #GoBlueIllinois
about 3 years ago, Bright Futures Family Program
Wear Blue Day flyer
From April 18th-30th you can bring your expired or damaged car seat to a Target store location and redeem a coupon on their Target app or Target.com/circle. This event occurs twice a year.
about 3 years ago, Emily Forrester
Car Seat Trade-In Flyer for Target.
Here is a cute snack/craft idea to do with your kiddos. Poke one end of the pipe cleaner into a marshmallow. Your child can then thread colored cereal rings such as Fruit Loops onto a pipe cleaner. Then place another marshmallow onto the other end of the pipe cleaner and bend the pipe cleaner into an arch. The marshmallows will allow the rainbow to stand up right.
about 3 years ago, Bright Futures Family Program
Fruit Loop Rainbow Threading - pictures a rainbow made from Fruit Loops threaded on a pipe cleaner. A marshmallow is on each end of the pipe cleaner representing clouds and assisting the rainbow to stand. abcdeelearning.com
Wear BLUE on Friday, April 1st, 2022 and show your commitment to preventing child abuse!! original posting www.preventchildabuseillinois.org
about 3 years ago, Bright Futures Family Program
whit background with blue lettering suggesting to wear blue to show your commitment to child abuse prevention. Image shows pinwheels and kids that are blue showing support of awareness.
Come to NGE on April 6th from 5:30-7:00PM as Bright Futures teams up with the elementary school for STEAM NIGHT! Concessions will be available and there will be door prizes!! Hope we see you there!!
about 3 years ago, Bright Futures Family Program
North Greene Elementary Steam Night April 6th 5:30-7PM at North Greene Elementary. Concessions will be available and we will have door prizes.
We recently posted an animal motion workout for kids and it seemed to be a hit. Here is another one with a spring them. Have your child do the actions of the animals. After going through all of the animals and their action at least once, ask your child which one is their favorite. Ask them why. You can even talk to them about the details of each animal. Talk about where each animal lives, what they eat, if they can fly or not, what color they are, etc .
about 3 years ago, Bright Futures Family Program
Animal Actions. Pictures of animals and descriptions of their action. Have your child hop like a frog, flutter like a butterfly, buzz like a bee, march like an ant, fly like a bird, wiggle like a worm, slide like a snail, crawl like a caterpillar, and waddle like a duck.
Celebrate St. Patricks Day with your child while seeing if you can find 5 different things that are green. If that is too easy, try to find as many things that are green as possible. Not a lot of green items in your home? Go for a walk or even just walk around the yard. Talk about each item that you and your child find. Is it soft? Hard? Does it smell? Is it big? small? What shape is it? Is it light? Heavy? etc.
about 3 years ago, Bright Futures Family Program
Happy St. Patricks Day