Winter: Day One

Snowy Winter

Learn about what makes winter such a special time of year.What are some of the characteristics of the winter season? When is winter?

Read Everything for Winter--Kathy Charner and Dream Snow--Eric Carle. Talk about how you know it's winter in these books. What are some signs that it's winter? (SNOW!!!)

Do this Fingerplay:

Falling Down

Snow Snow
Falling Down (move hands, like falling snow)
Quietly, quietly (move finger to mouth-shhhhh!)
It covers the ground (move hands back and forth and smooth).

It Is Snowing

(to the tune of: Are you Sleeping)

It is snowing, it is snowing,
All around, all around.
Whirling, twirling snowflakes
Whirling, twirling snowflakes,
Touch the ground, touch the ground.

Snow is Falling

(to the tune of: Twinkle twinkle little star)

Snow is falling all around,
Falling, falling, to the ground.
I catch snowflakes on my tongue.
Building snowmen is such fun.
Snow is falling all around
Falling, falling, to the ground.

One sign of winter is that the weather turns cold and you may see snow!

Snow Paper Punch: Give each child the word SNOW and some paper-punched snowflakes. Let them glue the snow flakes onto the letters.


Snow is white and cold. It's frozen water. You can play in it and use it to make snowballs.

Sing:
Snowball

(to the tune of: Are You Sleeping)
Make a snowball, make a snowball. (Act like making a snowball)
Throw it now, throw it now. (Use Throwing Motion)
Make a snowball, make a snowball. (Act like making a snowball
Throw it now, throw it now. (Use Throwing Motion)

Snowball Toss

Directions:

• Fill several white balloons with white rice (a funnel is very helpful when doing this) and use them as bean bags. Your children can toss them to one another or try toss them into a laundy basket. OR Have an indoor snowball "fight" with cotton balls or crunched up paper.
  

Collecting Snowballs Game

Make Snow:
Start by putting several cups of ice into the blender. Pulse until you have SNOW! Let children play with the snow, making snow balls, feeling the cold temperature, etc.

Melting Snow
Give each child a plastic container. Have the children fill the containers with snow. Let them bring the containers inside and place them around the room. Have the children check their containers periodically to see what is happening to their snow. What is snow made of? As an additional experiment, try adding different drops of food coloring to the snow to see what colors as formed as it melts.

Crafts:

3D Snow Picture

Materials:

• Styrofoam Peanuts
• Glue
• Dark Paper

Directions:

Have your children glue styrofoam peanuts (you can use the ones form your water table play) onto their paper to make a 3D snowy picture.

Snow Globes

Materials:

• Small clear jars with lids
• Mineral Water
• Crushed Egg Shells (from hardboiled eggs)
• Small Toy

Directions:

• Glue a small object to the inside lid of a jar (glue guns work best.) Add mineral oil and crushed egg shells (with the filmy part removed) to your jar. Run a line of glue around the inside of the jar rim and screw on to lock in place. shake up the jar to create a snow globe scene.

Q-tip Snow Pictures

Materials:

• Q-tips
• White Paint
• Dark Paper

Directions:

Let your children create a snowy picture using Q-tips to paint a white snowy picture.

Snow On The Roof

Give each child a piece of paper with the shape of a house drawn on it.
Lay out small containers of glue with paint brushes. Have the children dip the paint brush into the glue and brush the glue on the roof and along the ground of their picture.

Give the children cotton balls to place onto the rooftop and along the ground of their papers for snow.

Snow Day Book

Playdough Snow

Snack:

Snowy Gelatin

Make gelatin. Distribute styrofoam cups to the children. Pour 1/2 cup of gelatin into the individual cups. Let each child add marshmallows to his/her own gelatin cup, counting as he/she puts them in. Let the gelatin harden in a refrigerator. Then enjoy the gelatin as a snack.