Whole Child Development
It’s certainly winter time around here, as the three and a half foot berm of snow that has been shoveled and blown from our driveway will attest. If it’s winter in your neck of the woods, I thought you might like a list of ideas for activities you could use in creating a winter themed unit.
We’re crossing our fingers, hoping for a white Christmas this year. Looks like we may end up with rain instead. (We may just have to head for the mountains!) For those of you with plenty of the white stuff in your local forecast, you might want to try this fun recipe for ice cream. The main ingredient: Fresh, fluffy snow! (Taken from this post appearing last year.)
I love picture books! In our family library, my husband’s beautiful leather-bound tomes line one section of shelves, while my continually growing collection of children’s literature fills another section. I’d say our respective collections take up about the same amount of real estate, but since I can fit about 20 picture books in the same amount of space as one “War and Peace”, I’d say my collection is larger. There just never seems to be a bad time to read a good children’s book. Start of an activity – great! Rowdy transition time – perfect! Bedtime – ideal! It reminds me of the iPhone commercials (“There’s an app for that”). Any situation, there’s a book for that. New puppy in the family? There’s a book for that. Having a really bad day? There’s a book for that. Want to become a pirate? There’s a book for that too. Ate too many cupcakes and now you’ve turned pink, which you were really excited about at first, until the birds and bees thought you were a flower and swarmed you, and after one more cupcake you’re actually red, which isn’t nearly as neat as pink and now you need to know how to get back to your normal self? Wouldn’t you know, there’s a book for that too! (If you think I’m totally off my rocker with that last reference, you need to read Pinkalicious!)
During a winter themed preschool unit, there are plenty of opportunities for a great book. You might use one to start off outside time, an art project, a game, or a discussion. Or you might just read one to enjoy it together with your little ones. For any occasion, here’s a quick list of some of my favorite winter-themed books. Instead of summarizing them myself, I’ve linked each picture to Amazon, which also gives a story summary.
(Click here to go to Jan Brett’s website.)
Jan Brett is a prolific as an author and illustrator! Her books are instantly recognizable, with her trademark style of using detail to draw you further into the story, weaving a story-within-a-story as she offers new vantage points in the borders or foreshadows the arrival of a new character.
If you’ve already done a few snowstorm paintings, switch things up a bit and get three-dimensional! Collect a sampling of random white items to glue onto a snow collage. Have your children help if you can! Here are some ideas: cotton balls, batting, tissue paper, packing peanuts, styrofoam (break it into the tiny balls for realistic snow), white buttons, white tulle, plain old white paper (have the children rip it into pieces for more texture and increased small motor skills), paper with white prints (white on white-ish plaids, stripes, etc.), glitter, salt, white scraps of ribbon or fabric – you notice the theme here, right? White stuff! If it can be glued onto paper and it’s white, (and suitable for children of course) it’s perfect!
For those of you implementing a winter theme, consider creating a mitten match! You could use actual gloves and mittens and have children pair them together, or create a type of memory game like the one I did here.
I made mine out of felt for quick and easy durability. I gave each set different characteristics, but you can see, for my older children, I made it a bit challenging by making some pairs similar to other pairs. I thought I had made each set as a matching pair (with one lefty and one righty), but it looks like a lack of sleep caught up with me and some are opposing and some are not. I can see an argument for either. If you make each hand you have an actual pair, but if you make them the same hand, you have an identical match. I ‘ll let you decide for yourself, or just be like me and make them late at night and see how they look in the morning!
There are so many fun ways to paint a snowstorm, I couldn’t settle on just one! So instead, you get my rambling brainstorm of the many ways to paint a snowstorm! With each method, I like to start them out with a background picture, the scene behind the storm. I may have them color something with crayons or provide geometric shapes cut out of construction paper for them to glue on to create houses (square+triangle), trees (triangles), or even snowmen (circles). You could also cut out scenery pictures from travel magazines. Of course, you can also just paint the snow, particularly with younger children. For many children, the fun is just in controlling the storm, so the background doesn’t really matter much. Just be sure to use colored construction paper for each of these methods, so that the snow will show up! Darker colors like blue, gray, and black show the snow even more dramatically!
On my first giveaway post, I asked readers to comment with their favorite snowy day activities. Amber posted these instructions for Snow Ice Cream:
On my first giveaway post, I asked readers to comment with their favorite snowy day activities. Amber posted these instructions for Snow Ice Cream:
If you’re itching to build a snowman with your little ones, but you’re local climate doesn’t support such an activity, whip up some of your own snow dough. This is just a spin on the Classic Playdough Recipe. Follow that recipe but add about 1/4-1/2 cup white tempera powder to increase the whiteness and the fluffiness (or simply omit any color, and you’ll end up with white-ish dough). Add some glitter as well for real appeal. The final product is a sparkly white playdough that can be rolled into snowmen, or manipulated into other snowy creations. Provide pipe cleaners and beads for the snowmen’s noses, eyes, and buttons. You might also consider other items like yarn, fabric, what-have-you! Inserting these kinds of accessories builds fine motor skills and often encourages use of the pincer grasp, critical for budding writers. Manipulating playdough enhances fine motor strength while also fostering creativity. Enjoy some fun in the snow….dough!
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