Baby It's Cold Outside

Winter. There is something about snow that just makes kids so excited. 

I on the other hand, am not a fan of winter, post-holiday season. 

I don't let that stop be from letting the kiddos explore the magic of snow in the comfort of our heated classroom! 

Here are a few of my favorite winter centers and activities! 

This sensory table was popular, especially with the boys. I took the bin from my sensory table and filled it about 1/3 of the way with water. I then took a metal tin and put it in the corner. I filled it with full water bottles so that when the rest of the water froze, it could be pulled out to create a small pond.  (Note~ the tin will freeze to the rest of the ice, so fill it with some hot water and you should be able to pull it free in a few minutes.) I placed the sensory table outside overnight and in the morning I had an ice table with a small pond! If you don't have a sensory table, a tupperware container will work just fine. We added arctic animals to the table, along with some real snow. We also poured water into the pond so that the kids could explore what happens when ice, snow, and water are mixed together. The children brought gloves and mittens to be hung on a clothesline near the sensory table so they can still play without their hands getting too cold! The best part of this sensory table is that it will be like new every day if you let it refreeze overnight! 

When the kids got tired of the ice table, I replaced it with another type of snow table. We found all sorts of white materials in our room such as cotton swabs, cotton balls, pom-poms, feathers, tissues, tissue paper, paper, styrofoam balls, snow glitter, etc. The kids can pour and scoop the materials. I also had the children practice fine motor skills by tearing the paper to make snow. This is also a hands-on experiment in which types of materials can be torn and which cannot. Here's a close-up of the materials we used. I look forward to hearing from you in the comments section about what other ideas you have of things that could be added to this table! 

I must give my friend Jannette props on this picture. Our class did the same activity, but hers came out so much cuter so I took a picture of her bulletin board. Thanks Jannette! This was an activity that the whole preschool did. Each child had to count the letters in their name and choose that many circles. They wrote one letter on each circle and then glued them in order from top-to-bottom. The Occupational Therapist who works in our preschool was elated that we did this project. She said that developmentally, left-to-right progression can be very difficult, especially for 3s and 4s. She applauded our use of top-to-bottom progression for the little ones! You can get really creative with this project. Allow the children to draw snow in the  background and create the snowman's head however they want. If you are feeling really adventurous, the kids can also cut out their own circles! That's what we did~ and that's why ours weren't as photogenic as Jannette's. At least the kids got to practice using scissors! This was fun for all. 

Sugar cubes are fun to build igloos with! Add some non-fiction picture books to the center so kids can flip through the books and check out pictures of real igloos! Let the children explore building igloos with sugar cubes! 

The traditional bird-feeder recipe using peanut butter is not something that we can use because we are a peanut-free school. Instead, we used Crisco shortening. This was easy and fun! Cut cardboard tubes into small pieces. Let the kids spread shortening on them with a popsicle stick and roll it in bird seed. Hang it by a tree with some yarn and lets the kids delight in watching the birds go to town! 

The recipe for getting kids to play with academic tools and materials is to add them to something sensory, goopy, or messy. This was a small group activity. Each child got a ball of white floam (snow). We put magnet letters in the center of the table. They spelt each other's names, and some different words from our winter word wall. 

Practice writing and pre-writing skills by allowing the children to write in "snow" (shaving cream). They love to cover themselves up to their elbows in this stuff! We covered our table in Saran Wrap for easy cleanup. You can also use baking sheets or trays so that they can be removed for easy cleanup, too. Provide the children with q-tips to write with as an extension activity. 

Another activity created by my colleague and friend, Jannette (isn't she amazing?) We read the book The First Day of Winter by Denise Fleming. Each child added a piece to the snowman while we left. You can also find lots of activities for this book at www.denisefleming.com and www.makinglearningfun.com. 

Even though there are endless activities for winter, this will be my last one for today. Fill a dishpan with water and small objects or magnet letters. Put outside or in the freezer overnight and voila! A fine-motor, science, and literacy center wrapped into one! Give the children small squirt bottles filled with warm saltwater and watch them marvel as they melt the ice to free the letters. Provide them with a cookie sheet to stick the letters on when they free them. You can also provide them with popsicle sticks or other objects to etch away at the ice with. Refreeze and reuse until the kiddos are no longer interested in this activity. Easy~peasy! Another twist on this is to freeze individual magnet letters in water in an ice cube tray so that you can pop out letter ice cubes and let them hammer away at them with play hammers! 

What are your favorite winter activities?
My next blog will be about the way I organized my classroom learning centers. Stay tuned! 

Until next time...
*Bite Sized Preschool*