Take your class on a winter walk. Help your children bundle up and explore the outdoors. Look for things that indicate it is winter (seeing your breath, trees without leaves, ice, smoke from chimneys) talk about why you see these things and think of other signs that are special to winter. Collect pine cones for a bird feeder! After the walk, help children to make bird feeder they can take home and put in a tree in their yard.
Bird Feeder Need: Floral wire, Large open pine cone--one for each child, Peanut butter, Bird seed, Plastic bag--one for each child
Tie the floral wire around and close to the inside of the top ring of the pine cone. Give each child a pine cone. Spread peanut butter on the pine cone and then roll, or gently shake in a container, of bird seed. Provide plastic baggies for child to transport bird feeder home.
What special clothes do we need to wear when it's cold outside?
Books: Under My Hood I Have a Hat--Karla Kuskin, Fumi Kosaka The Mitten Tree--Candace Christiansen, Elaine Greenstein Talk about the clothes needed when it's cold/snowing outside.
Have children practice with: Pocket Chart for Under My Hood I Have a Hat
Songs:
Gloves, Gloves, Gloves (tune: Three Blind Mice)
Gloves, gloves, gloves, Gloves, gloves, gloves. I'm in love, with my gloves. They are what I like to wear, Especially in the cold, cold air, I like to take them everywhere Gloves, gloves, gloves.
Snowy Pokey
You put your right mitten in, You take your right mitten out, You put your right mitten in and you shake it all about. You do the Snowey pokey and you turn yourself around. That's what it's all about. Note continue with additional verses: You put your left mitten in You put your scarf in You put your right boot in You put your left boot in You put your hat in You put your snowself in etc
Activities:
Mitten Matching
Directions:
Cut out several pairs of mittens. Draw snowflakes on half of the mittens and numbers on the other half. Have your children match up the mittens, the number of snowflakes on one mitten to the number on the other mitten.
Then, let children practice getting themselves dressed to play in the snow.
Snow Fun Place snow in the sand/water table with buckets, measuring spoons, and small shovels. If they want to let them wear mittens while they play.
Crafts:
Mitten Prints
Materials:
String
Mitten Stencil
Paint
Eye Dropper
Construction Paper
Directions:
Fold a sheet of construction paper in half and have your children use eye droppers to drop paint onto one side. Once they are done dripping paint, fold the paper back in half and rub. Trace the stencil onto the paper and cut through both halves. You will then have two identical mittens. Attach ribbon to both sides and hang from a clothes line in your classroom.
Mittens & Hats Cut sponges into mitten and hat shapes. Use a clothespin to create handles. Provide trays with paint on them. Have children dip the sponges in the paint and creating prints on construction paper.
In winter, and when it's cold outside, water can freeze into ice. When the temperature warms up, the ice will melt!
Books: Frozen Noses--Jan Carr, Dorothy Donahue Hello, Snow--Hope Vestergarrd, Nadine Bernard Westcott First Snow--Emily Arnold McCully
Songs:
I'm a Little Ice Cube (tune: I'm a Little Teapot)
I'm a little ice cube, frosty and square, I make things icy cold everywhere. If it gets too warm, I better watch out, "Cause I will melt, there is no doubt.
Activities:
Ice Cube Painting
The day before place water in ice cube trays. Cover the tray with aluminum foil. Cut small slits in the foil and place ice cream sticks or craft sticks through the slits in the foil covering the ice cube trays.
Give the children heavy paper with powdered tempera paint sprinkle on it. Have the children run their ice cubes over the powdered tempera paint. Lay folded paper towels on the table for the children to lay their ice cubes onto.
COLOR ICE - Colors In ice cube trays, make ice cubes tinted separately with red, yellow, and blue food coloring. Set out clear-plastic glasses of water. Then let your children try making three new colors by dropping two different colored ice cubes into each glass. Lead them to see that mixing red and yellow makes orange, mixing red and blue makes purple, and mixing blue and yellow makes green.
Talk with children about some of the colors that are considered "cool" colors--blues, greens, purples. Let children practice mixing colors to create a icy, winter scene.
Ice Cube Racers
Use food coloring to make different colors of water. Place the colored water into ice cube trays. Set up an ice cube race track by placing a smooth board on a chair. Set out the ice cubes. Let the children choose their ice cube, put it at the top of the race track and watch it race down to the bottom.
Melting Experiments
Directions:
Use several ice cubes to study ice melting patterns. Stick one ice cube outside, one ice cube in your classroom, one in a refrigerator (or ice chest) and one in a blender. Have your children predict the order in which the ice cubes will melt. Observe the ice cubes and compare the results to your children's predictions.
Slippery Roads
Directions:
Fill an 8x12" pan with water and freeze. Place it on your science table with toy cars. Let your children drive the cars across the ice. You can also sprinkle salt or sand across the ice to see how it affects the road conditions.
Frosty Windows
Directions:
Help your children create frosty windows in your classroom. Provide your children with 1/2 hot hot water mixed with 1/2 cup Epsom salt and a paint brush. The mix will dry leaving crystals and snow design on your classroom window.
Ice Skating
Directions:
Cut two 12" square pieces of wax paper for each child in your class. Punch two holes, on opposite sides from one another on each sheet, tie a piece of string through each hole and tie it around your child's shoe smooth side down. Play some classical music and watch your children ice skate around the carpet.
Frosty Bubbles
Directions:
Refrigerate your bubble solution until you are ready to go outside, to tempreatures at or below freezing. Take the bubbles outside and use a wand to make bubbles. Watch as crystals form on the bubbles.
Cold Palentologist
Directions:
Freeze small toy dinosaurs (or other toys) into Ice cubes and then let your children use a small mallet to break them out. OR Fill several compartments of an ice cube tray with water. Let your children help drop a different small object, such as a stone, a paper clip, a penny, or a pasta piece, into each of the compartments. Place the tray in the freezer. When the cubes have set, ask the children to try guessing which object is in each cube. Then let them melt the cubes with warm water to check their guesses.
Ice Cube Snacks--Pour water into ice cube trays and let children drop a small piece of fruit into each compartment. Put the tray in the freezer until frozen solid. At snack time, serve cubes in glasses of ginger ale, flavored water, or juice.
Snow falls from the sky in as frozen flakes. Each snowflake is unique.
Books: Winter is for Snowflakes--Michelle Knudsen, Denise Fraifeld There Was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow--Lucille Colandro, Jared Lee Songs:
Dance Like Snowflakes
(to the tune of: Are You Sleeping)
Dance like snowflakes, Dance like snowflakes, In the air, in the air. Whirling, twirling snowflakes, Whirling, twirling snowflakes, Here and there, here and there.
Snowflakes
(to the tune of: Grey Squirrel)
Snowflakes, snowflakes, falling on the ground. Snowflakes, snowflakes, falling all around. I am bundled to my chin. See my footprints where I've been. Snowflakes, snowflakes, falling on the ground.
Fingerplay: Five Little Snowflakes One little snowflake with nothing to do. Along came another and Then there were two.
Two little snowflakes laughing with me. Along came another, and Then there were three.
Three little snowflakes looking for some more. Along came another, and Then there were four.
Four little snowflakes dancing a jive. Along came another, and Then there were five.
Five little snowflakes having so much fun. Out came the sun, and Then there were none!
Use these images to print out a book for each child to take home of Five Little Snowflakes. (I made it into a flip book, so you can lift up one snowflake at a time.
Activities:
Snowflake Matching Game: Use the cards to match the identical pairs of snowflakes.
Magnified Snow
Directions:
Use a blender to crush some ice. Spread it on black paper sand have your children examine it with microscopes or magnifying glasses.
Pretend To Be a Snowflake:
Directions:
Play classical music for your children and have them dance around like a snowflake in the sky.
Cut an orange in half horizontally. Have your children dip the orange into the paint and then press onto their paper. The orange will make a pretty snowflake print.
Sparkly Snowflakes
Materials:
Paper Doily
Glue
Pom-Poms
Ribbon
Beads
Buttons
Stickers
Sparkly Glitter
Spray Glue
Directions:
Have your children decorate both sides of a doily with your classroom art treasures. Once the doily is dry spray it with an adhesive and sprinkle iridescent glitter on it. You can hang these from your ceiling or in front of windows to create a snowy effect.
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.
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.
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.
