Featured Content For December

Resolve to Play

This is the time of year to make resolutions. Imagine if we all resolved to PLAY every day with the children in our lives in 2022!

Parents can find hundreds of playtime activities in Sparkler to fuel learning on the go. Help your families find this month’s featured activities — from creating DIY sensory snow globes to playing with light and shadow. Suggest these fun activities to the parents of babies, toddlers, and littles to help families make playing part of their daily routines!

If you sign into the Sparkler dashboard, you can visit the Library to find and share these activities and tips to individual parents or groups of families. (If you need a refresher on how to use the Library to share content with families, please watch our short webinar.)

For Everyone:

New Year’s Dreams: Imagine the coming year — What are we dreaming of? What will you learn? What kind of person will you be? Write a letter to your baby or dream together with a bigger kid. Why? Sharing your dreams can build trust and keep you and your child focused on achieving your goals.

For Babies:

Jingle Jingle: Grasp and shake child-safe bells or other noise-makers. Why? Grasping and shaking toys will help strengthen and coordinate the small muscles in children’s fingers and help them learn about cause and effect.
Shadow Theater: Use a flashlight to make shadows on the wall or ceiling. Why? Creating shadows helps children learn to focus on high-contrast light and dark images. Watching shadows is also a great way to make tummy time more engaging!

For Toddlers:

Wrapping Paper Collage: Make art with newspaper or scraps from unwrapped gifts. Why? Tearing, snipping, and gluing paper helps children strengthen and coordinate small finger muscles.
Night Walkers: Use a flashlight and take a walk in the dark! Why? Seeing familiar spaces in new ways helps to grow children’s natural curiosity about the world around them.

For Littles:

DIY Snow Globes: Make your own snow globe or sensory jar. Why? Making snow globes is a fun and festive way to exercise little fingers, and once they’re completed, they can be used as a tool to support self regulation.
Cup of Light: Create colorful votive candle holders with a recycled glass jar and tissue paper. Why? Creating art with light sparks wonder and curiosity, and it’s a festive way to explore shape, color, and measurement.

Tips for Parents and Caregivers

This holiday season, encourage families to explore Sparkler’s parent tips called “Family Traditions.” Families can find this under Tips for Adults, or you can send it to them from your Sparkler dashboard-based Library.

You can help families start new traditions to support their children’s developing identity and sense of belonging.