Websites of Interest
About Susan Stockdale:
http://www.susanstockdale.com/
Find out more about her books, artwork, and life. Access teacher's guides for various books and learn where Susan Stockdale will be appearing in events near you.
Animal Camouflage and Habitat Adaptations:
On this site, click on the animals hiding in their environments when you find them in these photographs, to see how animal camouflage really works:
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/hidden%20animals/Hidden%20Animals.htm
On the PBS Kids site the characters from The Cat In the Hat Knows a Lot About That guide younger children through finding cartoon animals as they learn about camouflage: http://pbskids.org/catinthehat/games/now-you-see-me.html
This site asks you to match animals to their habitats based on color camouflage: www.harcourtschool.com/activity/camouflage/camouflage.html
Then experiment with different coloring patterns to make an animal that fits into these environments here: www.abc.net.au/beasts/playground/camouflage.htm
Spot the animals in this amazing photo gallery from National Geographic.
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/photos/gallery/animal-camouflage/
Do you or your institution subscribe to BrainPop? If you do, there's a video explaining all the ways animals use their colors here. www.brainpopjr.com/science/animals/camouflage/preview.weml
Optical Illusions:
The following sites all have large collections of optical illusions, with some overlap between them. There are many color-based illusions here as well.
www.sciencekids.co.nz/pictures/illusions.html -- the source of most of the illusions used in the Stripe Illusions activity.
http://www.optics4kids.org/home/content/illusions/ -- also links to more information about optics.
http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/games/illusions/ -- this kids' site from the National Institute of Health also has some moving illusions that can't be printed out!
http://www.illusions.org/ -- a huge collection of many amazing and colorful illusions
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
http://www.carnegielibrary.org/research/parentseducators/educators/blast/earlylearning/programs/LessonPlansAlphabetical.html
This section of the website provides over 50 thematic storytime programs. It includes suggested books, questions to ask, fingerplays and rhymes, activities and vocabulary words.
Commonsense Media Best Apps
http://www.commonsensemedia.org/mobile-app-lists
Find app reviews and recommendations for both Android and Apple IOS. Good information to share with parents, too.
Digital Early Learning Environment
http://ele.fredrogerscenter.org/
The Fred Rogers Center Early Learning Environment (Ele) is an innovative online space where early educators, families, and others who care for young children can come together in a safe environment to find and share digital resources that support early learning and development in children from birth to age 5.
Get Ready to Read!
http://www.getreadytoread.org/
Get Ready to Read! is designed to support educators, parents, and young children in the development of early literacy skills in the years before kindergarten.
International Children's Digital Library
http://en.childrenslibrary.org/
The International Children's Digital Library supports the world's children in becoming effective members of the global community - who exhibit tolerance and respect for diverse cultures, languages and ideas -- by making the best in children's literature available online free of charge.
PA Promise for Children
http://papromiseforchildren.com/
The place for Pennsylvania parents to find information on child development, choosing childcare, finding local activities and more.
Reading Rockets
www.readingrockets.org
Reading Rockets is a national multimedia literacy initiative offering information and resources on how young kids learn to read, why so many struggle, and how caring adults can help.
PBS Kids
http://pbskids.org/
Fun online activities and hands-on creative ideas to use with your children, many include favorite characters from PBS shows.
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