# 12-MONTH CALENDAR

## Growing

#### 12 Months of Tips & Activities for Enhancing Child Development

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### Inclusion

Inclusion is the celebration of diversity put into action.

Tips for Structuring Inclusive Activities
1. **Support participation.** Use a variety of ways to help children join activities and sustain participation.
2. **Be consistent.** Children can be successful and feel trusted and safe when adults are consistent.

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### Sharing One’s Feelings

Quote from The Social-Emotional Learning Toolbox by Kathy L. Perez, Brookes Publishing Co.

#### 3 Ideas for Teaching Kids Emotions
1. **Feeling Wheel Game.** Create a spinning wheel that features different feeling faces. Give each child a chance to spin. Ask them to identify the feeling and talk about an incident that made them feel that way.

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### Cultivating Empathy

Steps to Cultivating Empathy:
1. **Watch and Listen.** What is the other person saying, and what does that mean to them?
2. **Remember.** When did you feel similarly?
3. **Ask.** Ask what the person needs.
4. **Show You Care.** Let them know that you care about their feelings.

Quote from Coaching for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Accessibility, and Belonging in Early Childhood by Anni K. Reinking & Laycee Thigpen, Brookes Publishing Co.

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### 4 Ways to Show Children Diversity Strength
1. **Teach children it’s okay to ask questions.**  
2. **Have conversations about stereotypes and biases.**  
3. **Set a good example.** Be mindful as children look to you as a model.

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### 3 At-Home Spring Activities to Boost Your Child’s Development
1. **Build a rainy-day hideaway.** Have the kids build a tent by draping old sheets or blankets over furniture.
2. **Create sand pictures.** For fine-motor practice, have your child glue sand to the bottom of a paper plate.
3. **Play memory matching.** Make a simple concentration game with pairs of duplicate playing cards or pictures.

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### Activities to Boost Child Development
1. **Get outdoors every day.**  
2. **Go someplace new together.** Plan the outing and discuss what you’ll see.
3. **Play simple skill-boosting games.** Search for letters and numbers at the store or ask your child to find items on a list.

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Quote from Building Preverbal Communication & Engagement by Lesley B. Olswang, Julie Feuerstein, & Gay Lloyd Pinder, Brookes Publishing Co.