Early Childhood Community Highlights

Infant and Toddler Tip Cards
Infants and toddlers rely on all the adults around them to provide loving, consistent care everyday. Talking, reading, hugging, and playing as well as meeting young children’s basic needs is vitally important, both at home and in child care settings. Likewise, building a broad base of support for high-quality early care and education is a critical investment in the future of our communities, region, state, and country.

With that in mind, the 12 Early Childhood Coalitions of northeastern Minnesota collaborated with the Northland Foundation to produce Infant and Toddler Tip Cards. One version is aimed at Parents or Other Caregivers (296 KB pdf) and the other at Community Members (271 KB pdf).

These small cards, about the size of a business envelope, include simple facts about the importance of the early years and helpful hints on what parents, care providers, legislators, and the community as a whole can do to support our youngest children and promote healthy social and emotional development. Cards have been provided to Early Childhood Coalitions in the region to distribute in their communities.

Getting School Ready in Minnesota Guides
The Northeastern Minnesota Early Childhood Coalitions and the Northland Foundation collaborated on a project incorporating parent education at early childhood screenings. The coordinators identified early childhood screening as the optimal time to provide families with information and materials to help their child get ready for school.

The Northland Foundation and coalition coordinators, representing Early Childhood Family Education, Early Childhood Special Education, Head Start, School Readiness, Child Care, and Family Services Collaboratives, designed this multifaceted project. Two of the key components of the Early Childhood Screening project are the Getting School Ready in Minnesota Guide and the Learning Toolkit Backpack, which includes a book, math and language tip cards, paper, crayons, a pair of scissors, a ruler, and a toothbrush and toothpaste. These items have been given to young children and their families during their early childhood screening session in 28 participating school districts across the region.  

The Getting School Ready In Minnesota Guide, which has been published in both English and Spanish, serves as a resource to assist Minnesota parents, caregivers, and teachers with helping young children become confident and successful learners. The guide is designed in an easy-to-follow format and offers information and skill-building tips to help children get ready for kindergarten.

Download the Gettting School Ready in Minnesota Guide in English (1.3 MB pdf).
Download the Getting School Ready in Minnesota Guide in Spanish (836 KB pdf).