Parent Resources: Early Childhood

In This Section...

Tips for Parents
Preparing for School
Play It Safe
Nutrition
Health & Fitness
STEM - Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math
Just for Kids

Always kiss your children goodnight - even if they're already asleep.

-- H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Tips for Parents

Adventures in Parenting
Stories that demonstrate good Parenting Skills.
Learn Some Positive Parenting Tips
Discover (or rediscover) positive ways that you can help your child learn and develop.
Just In Time Parenting eNewsletters
Parents can sign up for a monthly email that helps them track their child's progress and ensure that they are receiving proper care and development opportunities.
Child Behavior: What Parents Can Do to Change Their Child's Behavior
(en Español)
Words to Use with Your Kids Every Day
Everyday phrases to instill confidence, self-respect, and thoughtfulness in your children.
Parent's Guide to Helping your Child Learn
Take an active role in your child's learning. Tips on how to help them using language, listen, write, read, develop social skills, think, and math concepts.
A Place of Our Own
These two companion resources offer online resources for early childhood educators and parents. The Web sites provide activities appropriate for toddlers to preschoolers and range in topic from Health & Safety to Language & Literacy to Science & Environment and more. (en Español)
DadCanDo.com
Advice and best tips on how dads can make the most of the time they spend with their kids.
BabyWatch - Early Intervention Services
Baby Watch Early Intervention is a statewide program which provides services to infants and toddlers, birth to three, with developmental delay or disability, and their families.
Wonderopolis
Check out the "Wonder of the Day" - simple activities for parents to share and explore the wonders of everyday life with children.

Preparing for School

Kindergarten Readiness Checklist
A checklist that will give you an idea on what areas your child is doing well in, and where they may need some extra attention.
Kindergarten ... Here We Come! (pdf)
The items listed in this pamphlet can help identify and reinforce specific areas of kindergarten readiness. (en Español)
PBS Bookfinder
Search for a book by age level or theme.
Ready! Set! School!
Ready!Set!School! provides activities and resources to help parents prepare their pre-schooler for kindergarten. (en Español)
Reading Tips for Parents of Preschoolers
Read early and read often. The early years are critical to developing a lifelong love of reading. Here are some tips to help your child become a happy and confident reader. (en Español)
Reading Readiness Screening Tool
The Get Ready to Read! screening tool for four-year-olds will assess your child's pre-reading skills and provide suggestions for improvements. (en Español)
Reading Rockets
Here is a lot of great information and resources on how young kids learn to read, why so many struggle, and how caring adults can help.
PBS Early Math
A site that helps nurture development of your child's early math skills. (en Español)
PBS Fun and Games
Search for excellent activities and games from PBS.
Get Ready to Read!
Resources to help your preschooler get ready to learn to read. As your child’s first teacher, you can set him or her in the right direction for a lifetime of reading and learning.
Building Literacy Skills Every Day
Quick tips and simple games that can make everyday chores more fun and at the same time support your child's language and literacy skills. (en Español)
Sesame Street: Parents
Learn how to use the Sesame Street website with your child and reading articles about a wide variety of parenting topics.
Utah Kids Ready to Read!
Utah State Library's resources for parents and caregivers to help them nurture their children's early literacy skills.
Child Development Tracker: Literacy from Age 4-5
Learn what to expect of how children this age learning to read.
Is my Child Ready to enter Kindergarten?
The expectations of children who enter kindergarten can vary from school to school. However, here are some general social and educational guidelines about the skills children should develop by the time they start a kindergarten program.
Easy Books for Young Children
Suggested book list for young children.
6 Pre-Reading Skills Booklists
Most picture books can be used to demonstrate one or more of the six pre-reading skills, but this is a list of a few proven favorites.
Rhyme Activities and Tips from the Mother Goose Club
Reading, reciting and singing Mother Goose rhymes are an excellent way to help a preschooler get ready to read.
Recursos en Español
Oprima aquí para recursos de aprender temprano para los niños en español.

Play It Safe

What Do I Do in an Emergency?
Instructions to help you with common childhood emergencies such as broken bones, cuts, insect stings, sunburns and more. (en Español)
Knocked out Tooth
What to do when your child knocks out a tooth.
Bike Safety
Bike riding is a great way to get exercise and share time as a family, remember basic bike safety tips. (en Español)
Preventing Dog Bites
Teaching kids a few basic dog manners will let them — and dogs — enjoy safer encounters. (en Español)
Play It Safe in the Sun: A Guide for Parents
Learn how to protect your child from getting a sunburn and preventing skin cancer. (en Español)
Booster Basics
Booster seats can be the key to preventing tragedies. Find out more about why booster seats should be used until the age of 8, Utah Laws, how to properly fit a child to a booster seat, and fitting station locations.

Nutrition

Little Bites, Big Steps Program
The Little Bites, Big Steps program provides Utah parents and caregivers with nutrition information to teach young children healthy eating habits from the beginning.
MyPlate for Preschoolers
Use the MyPyramid as a guide to help you feed your preschool child as well as resources to help you preschooler grow up healthy, develop good eating habits and try new foods.
Sprouting the Beans
A food blog which explores the arts, culture, community, children's books, all while enjoying delicious food and family. This blog includes weekly menues to fit dietary restrictions: Peanut/Nut Free, Limited Egg & Gluten. Include an educational component that expose different cultures; tie to books/activities for kids; healthy, local, organic eating while keeping it simple/back to basics.
Tips to Help Your Preschooler Overcome Picky Eating
Here are some effective ways you can help make healthy foods like fruits and vegetables all-time favorite choices in your home.
Strategies for Feeding a Preschooler
Preschoolers want to do things themselves, but they are willing to learn from caregivers. This give-and-take creates opportunities to teach kids about healthy food choices in new and exciting ways.
Healthy Eating
5 strategies to improve nutrition and encourage smart eating habits. (en Español)
Cooking With Preschoolers
Cooking can help young children learn and practice some basic math concepts and build language skills.
After-School Snacks
Learn how you can make sure your child gets nourished but still has room for a healthy dinner. (en Español)

Health & Fitness

Sleep and Preschoolers
Help your child develop good habits for getting to sleep. (en Español)
Raising a Fit Preschooler
Instead of just running around in the backyard, a preschooler has the physical skills and coordination to ride a tricycle or chase a butterfly.
Is Your Preschooler Too Active?
It is normal for preschoolers to be active and have shorter attention spans, but here are some tips to help you determine if over activity might be a problem for your child,
Flu Prevention Tips
Find out more about the immunizations your baby needs with this chart from the CDC, National Immunization Program.
Immunizations and Checkups
Find out more about the immunizations your baby needs with this chart from the CDC, National Immunization Program.
Immunizations: Parent Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Answers from the American Academy of Pediatrics Childhood Immunization Support Program to common immunization questions.

STEM - Science, Technology, Engineering & Math

Exploring Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) in the Early Childhood Classroom
Online Resources, Early Learning Tip Sheets, Early Learning Videos, Organizations, and additional resources for STEM.
Science Discovery
A hands-on discovery science curriculum for Preschool and Kindergarten.
Science in the Air
Children’s curiosity and science inquiry skills are enhanced in environments that invite exploration, documentatio and discussion.
Using your Backyard as a Math and Science Lab
Slip some learning into your backyard.
Playground Physics: Hang in There
Playing with pendulums and swings can help preschool children find out more about gravity and motion.
Create a Science Lab In Your Home!
Tips on how to create your very own science lab at home.
Experiment with Boiled Egg Science
Explore the changing states of matter which transform an egg from raw to soft to hard-boiled.
Zoom Glue
This activity will demonstrate the concept of adhesives.
Keep an Ice Cube
Can you keep an ice cube from completely melting in 30 minutes?
Silly Putty
Silly putty is a fun toy that many children have played with before but most do not know the science behind it.

Just for Kids

Preschool Pioneer
An online collection of high quality educational resources for preschoolers.
PBS Kids Go!
Learn with your favorite PBS characters.
PBS KIDS Island
Play reading games on Carnival Island.
Learn to Read at Starfall
The Starfall website helps make learning to read fun for kids.