Snow & Snowman Theme
Page 7
Outside
Observe snowflakes with magnifying glass; make snowman & snow angels; throw snowballs; paint on the snow with brushes and food coloring and water or put it in spray bottles. If there is enough snow, make a pathway with a shovel for the children to run around.
~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare
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Indoor Snowball Fight
Are your daycare children bored and unable to go outside due to bad weather? Have an "indoor snowball fight" with wadded up newspaper! It'll wear off some energy and everyone will have a good time!! ~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare SnowFlake Game Blow up 1 white balloon for each child and pretend that these are snowflakes. Can you keep your snowflake in the air?? The children also love this one. Ice Melts Materials: Ice Cubes, Paper Towels and Cups Discuss hot and cold objects, such as ice, stoves, heaters, ice cream, snow and fire. Let children observe process of an ice cube melting. Ask 'Where does it go? How does it feel in your hand? In your mouth?' Have them pretend to be ice cubes melting. ~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare |
Ice/Snow Castles
Pour water into different size plastic containers (ie cottage cheese, small yogurt, large ice cream buckets.) Add food colouring to water - different colours - red, blue, green. Freeze in freezer. On a nice sunny (not 'biting' cold) winter's day, bring containers out of freezer and sit containers in water long enough to loosen 'coloured ice'. Let children take containers of coloured ice outside to make snow castles or other creations. This will keep the children fascinated with the coloured ice and white snow! Children can also play indoors with this activity...Put snow in a square plastic tub with the coloured ice.
~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare
Painting On Snow
Materials: Watercolours, tempera paint or food colouring mixed with water, brushes, paint containers, snow
Preparation: Pour paint into containers suitable for use outdoors.
Activity: Take the children outside when the snow is fa few inches deep. Allow them to freely explore the effects of paint on snow, using both small and large brushes. The colours will spread as the paint touches the snow. Encourage creating splashed colours with wide, sweeping movements or making snow sculptures and painting them. The snow will hold the paint cans and brushes firmly in place, so you won't need to worry about upsets.
~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare
Snow - Science, Sensory
Bring a large container of snow inside for the children to play with. After it is melted add colored water and place the container outdoors. When frozen, bring the colored block of ice back inside and observe it melt.
~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts Childcare
Examine Snowflakes
Examine snowflakes with a magnifying glass. Each is unique. For classrooms located in warmer climates, make a snowlike substance by crushing ice.
Catching Snowflakes
Cover a piece of cardboard with dark felt. Place the cardboard piece in the freezer. Go outside and let snowflakes land on the board. Snowflakes will last longer for examination.
Coloring Snow
Provide children with spray bottles containing colored water, preferably red, yellow, and blue. Allow them to spray the snow and mix colors.
One of the winter themes we do is mittens. Of course we read "The Mitten" by Jan Brett & we have another version of it by another author which is always fun to compare. We make our own mittens (cut out oak tag, hole punch around the outside, decorate with markers, "sew" them with yarn) We also have a mitten line hung up on which I hang pairs of mittens cut from old wallpaper books & the kids have a lot of fun matching the pairs to hang up together with clothespins. This was a wicked popular activity the past 2 years, we kept it up almost all winter. You can also incorporate counting activities, you could alphabetize them if you wanted to work with letters or better yet have them match the letters on the pairs of mittens. We also visit with one of my dcp who is a weaver & she helps the children spin yarn & gives us wool to decorate out mittens with!
~Submitted by Patricia in MA
Snow Colour Squirts
Materials: Foodcolour, Water, Spraybottles
Fill empty plastic squeeze bottles with water and different colours of food colouring. Let the children squirt the colours onto the snow. Watch the excitement as the snow becomes a rainbow of colours. The next day, examine the snow to observe the melting process.
~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare
Snow Gauge
Materials: a large empty coffee can, ruler, marking pen (permanent ink).
1. Place the ruler inside the can. Mark and number inches onto the inside of the can.
2. When it snows, place the can outside in a clear place.
3. When it stops snowing, you and your children can tell how deep the snow is by noting which inch mark it has reached.
~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare
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Snow Pictures
Paint windows using pale blue and white paint to create a beautiful winter scene.
2 Tbsp powdered tempera paint Measure powdered paint into a container. Mix in water thoroughly to achieve a smooth paste. Add Joy, mising completely, but gently, to avoid making paint too sudsy. Dries on window in 5 - 10 minutes. Washes off easily with a solution of water and vinegar. ~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare |
Snow Tracks
Encourage your children to be snow detectives by looking for tracks in the snow and trying to identify who made the tracks.
Examples:
dog tracks
cat tracks
people tracks
bird tracks
other animal tracks
~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare
Snowball Warm-up Melt-Down
- Have the children lay on the floor, stretch out, and form a blanket of snow. Then out, and form a blanket of snow. Then have them pretend that other children are rolling them up to make large snowballs. The children roll across the floor, finally becoming so large they have to stand up and become jolly snowmen.
- Snowmen are frozen and must stand rigid all day and night. One day the sun shines so long and so brightly that the snowmen begin to thaw. Call out body parts, starting at the head and working down to the toes. The children begin moving these bady parts slowly. As the day continues to get warmer; the snowmen gradually melt away. Have the children slowly/gracefully melt to floor.
~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare
Snowflakes
Let the children examine snowflakes with a magnifying glass. They should note that snowflakes are frozen water crystals and each flake is unique with its own design. A good way to catch snowflakes for examination is to set out a piece of cardbard covered with dark felt. Place your felt board in the freezer before setting it out to catch snowflakes. Snowflakes will last longer before melting on the cold board.
~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare
Snowballs
Bring three snowballs inside. Put them in different locations. The refrigerator, the freezer and on a table. Predict how long the snow will last in each place, and check the results.
~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare
Make a Snowman
Need: 2 white garbage bags, newspaper, hat, gloves, scarf, construction paper, glue
This is especially exciting if there is no snow around. Tell the children you are going to make a snowman for the classroom. Have the children wad newspaper to fill the two garbage bags. Tie or tape the bags together. Ask the children to find clothing in the dress up area to dress the snowman. The children can add features to the snowman using glue and construction paper.
~Submitted by Christi
Categorizing Snowmen
Cut several snow people shapes of assorted sizes out of white poster board or felt. Decorate the shapes as desired. Give the shapes to your children and invite them to line up the snow people on a table or a flannel board from smallest to largest or from largest to smallest---or any other way of categorizing them that you might wish to use, such as: color, texture, etc.
~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare
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