December 9th - 13th

Winter Animals  

Supplies:  

•  Plastic fruit cup
• White acrylic paint
• tissue
• construction paper
• yarn
• paper bag 

Books:

• "Polar Bear, Polar Bear" by Eric Carle
• "Tacky the Penguin" by Helen Lester
• "The Mitten" by Jan Brett
• "Bear Snores On" by Karma Wilson
• "Dream Snow" by Eric Carle

Monday:  polar bear craft

Have your child paint a plastic fruit cup.  We tried using tempera paint at first and the paint just rolled off.  Luckily, I had some white acrylic paint that worked well. Let dry.

 As the paint dries, have them tear up tissue into small pieces.

 

Assemble polar bear by gluing torn pieces all over, gluing the nose, and adding eyes, ears, and a mouth.

 

Tuesday: Mitten lacing.  This is an activity my son did at story time at the library.  They read, "The Mitten," first.  Then, they chose two mittens that were the same color.  I matched up the holes and then tied them together with a piece of yarn.  My son then, laced the yarn in and out of the holes.  (Great eye/hand coordination and fine motor practice!).

Wednesday:  Penguin foot craft

Trace your child's foot onto a piece of black paper. 

 Trace over the line with a marker so your child can see the line better and have them cut it out.  Any scissor practice is good.  If they are having a difficult time cutting, hold their hand as they cut.  Resist the urge to cut it for them.

 

Trace their hands onto a black as well.  You can cut out their hands as they cut out the foot.  Cut out a white belly, a beak, and feet from orange paper.  Have your child assemble their penguin.

Thursday:  Hibernating bear in a cave.  First we read, "Bear Snores On," and discussed hibernation...

Cut out the parts of the bear (head, body, ears, tail, and legs), and have your child assemble their bear.

We made our cave out of a paper bag but you could also use a tissue box.  Put your bear in the cave to hibernate.

Friday: "W" is for winter.

We simply talked about what the weather is like in the winter.  We glued "snowflakes" and "snowballs" to the letter "W".

December 2nd-6th

Winter  



Supplies:

• Foil or wax paper
• Elmers school glue
• Construction paper
• Dice
• Markers or crayons
• Ivory soap

Books:

• "The Snowy Day" by Ezra Jack Keats
• "The Biggest Snowman Ever" by Steven Kroll
• "The Mitten" by Jan Brett
•  "Froggy Gets Dressed" by Jonathan London

Monday:  Elmer's Glue Snowflakes:  On a piece of foil or wax paper (better)  have your child squeeze glue in different patterns to make snowflakes.  When it is dry, you can peel them off, moisten the back with water, and stick it to the window.

Tuesday:  "S" is for snowman:  Cut a large "S" out of paper and other accessories (eyes, carrot nose, scarf, hat, buttons) to a snowman out of different colors of paper.  To assemble the snowman, I laid out all of the pieces of the snowman.  I then put small "x's" where I wanted my son to put the glue.  As he put the pieces on, we talked about where eyes should go and where a hat goes, etc.

 

Wednesday:  Mitten memory game:  Cut out several different pairs of mittens out of colored paper, making sure to have two of each color.  Glue them onto another piece of paper and cut out again.  Now, lay out the mittens face down to play a game of "memory".  Take turns flipping over the mittens to gain pairs.  While you play you can talk about the color names, and use words such as "pair" and "match".

Thursday:  Snowman dice game.  On a sheet of paper make a game key.

 

Draw two snowmen on two separate pieces of paper.  Now with the dice, take turns rolling the dice.  If you roll a "1"  add eyes, "2" nose, "3" mouth,"4" hat", "5" scarf, or "6" arms.  Whoever completes their snowman first is the winner.

original source " www.toddlerapproved.com

 

Friday:  Snow fun!  Place a bar of ivory soap on a plate and stick it in the microwave.  Hold your child up or let them stand on something so they can watch the soap heat up.  Heat the soap for about 1 minute and 30 seconds and watch what happens!

 

Ivory soap is made with a lot of air.  So, as the air heats up, it expands and so does the soap.  Take it out of the microwave and let it cool.  When it's cooled, let your child play with it.