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Snow People
Snow people are so enduring. Children love to make them. There
is a certain fascination children have with the idea that snowmen might actually
come to life. Check out he book Snowmen at Night
it is a favorite of ours! The pictures are fabulous and the story is
enchanting! Language & Literacy
Books
Songs, Poems, &
Fingerplays:
One Little Snowman
One Little, two little, three little snowmen,
four little, five little, six little snowmen, seven little, eight little,
nine little snowmen, ten snowmen standing in a row!
Literacy : Write
each line of this poem on a sentence strip and have the students practice reading the
number words and place the sentences in the correct order. Or write the number
word on snowmen cut from construction paper/card stock and have the children
read the number words as they sing the song and put them in the correct order.
(Another idea would be to glue a magnet on the back of each one and use them
on a magnetic dry erase board.)
There was a Chubby
Snowman
Literacy: Copy
the poem on chart paper and do a guided reading
by having the children follow along as you read the words of these finger plays. Provide felt snowmen shapes and other
animal shapes for on the felt board for the children to retell the finger play.
Activities
Read: Snowballs by Lois
Ehlert,
Literacy:
Have the children respond
to the story by making
Paper Plate Snow People: Provide children with a small and large paper
plate stapled together, glue, and a variety of decorative items from buttons,
fabric scraps, and yarn to nature items collected from outside. Have them create
their own one-of-a-kind snowperson.
Read: The Snowman
by Ramond Briggs. This is a wordless picture book!
Literacy:This
book makes for an excellent storytelling
activity. Cut out three big snowmen from construction paper. Write
"Beginning" on one, "Middle" on one, and "End"
on one. Have the children retell to you what happens in the story write down
the parts of the story that happened in the beginning, middle, and end on
their respective snowmen shapes.
Math & Number Concepts
Snowperson Counting Buttons: Cut ten snowman
shapes from construction paper, decorate, and program with numbers and
number words one through ten. Supply children with buttons they can
place on the snowman according to what number is on the snowman. Use all
of them or just one through five depending on the child's skill level. A
great activity to help children develop one-to-one correspondence
and learn number words. Laminate or cove with clear contact paper to make them last.
Snowperson Counting Books: Staple
together six sheets of white paper folded in half to make a simple book.
Number the pages from one to ten, let children practice one-to-one
correspondence as they stick on the correct number
of mini snowman stickers to each page. They can decorate the cover
too! Great for small motor development
too!
Small, Medium Large- Circle- White: Snowperson activities are a great way to introduce
the size concepts of small, medium, and large. Use piece of felt or tag
board cut into appropriate snowman shapes and sizes to demonstrate.
Ask the children to dictate which sizes should be where to build a snowman.
It is also a great way to reinforce the concept of the shape circle, and
color white!
Art
Cotton Ball Snow Persons: Give
each child a supply of cotton balls and glue to create one of a kind snow
people. Felt shapes and pieces of construction paper a great for
adding details like carrot noses and boots.
Chalk Snow Pictures: Let children
draw on black or blue construction paper with chalk.
Paper Plate Snowpersons: Make them
with miscellaneous things like in Snowballs by Lois
Ehlert, or give
the kids markers or crayon to just draw faces.
Sponge Painted Snowperson: Cut circles
of graduated sizes from a kitchen sponge and let children dip them in white
paint and make sponge painted snowmen or women.
Craft Activity:
Sock Snowperson: Stuff clean white
socks with dried beans, peas, coffee beans, or small rocks rubber banding
off sections as you fill them. Finish the tops by rubber banding
shut, glue with hot glue, and glue on the toe of a colored sock for a hat,
turning up the edge. Decorate with markers, glue on buttons for eyes,
cloves for buttons on the snowperson
Craft Stick Snowman: Make these cute
snowmen for fun or as a parent gift! They are easy! Paint the Craft Sticks - Jumbo Natural 100 count by Chenille Kraft® white with a black tip ahead of time, and then allow the kids to
glue the pieces on. I cut the hat rim from black craft foam, the nose from
orange felt, and the buttons where just tiny buttons I found at Wal*Mart. The
scarf is just a piece of yarn.
Dramatic Play
Put winter gear in the dress up area for children
to pretend to dress for playing out in the snow.
Fill white garbage bags with newspaper
for the children to build pretend snow people with.
Music & Movement
Pretend to build snowmen inside!
Do The Freeze!
From The CD Kids in Motion
by Greg & Steve . This song is great for developing listening
skills as children build large motor
coordination.
The children can dance a move any way they like to the upbeat rhythm of
this song and then when the music stops they have to freeze (it stops on
the word FREEZE). The music has the breaks recorded right in it so
you can do it right along with the kids! You could also do the same
activity with any other kind of music, only you would have to pause the
music yourself. I like to give the kids ribbon wands or Dazzler Ribbons
to dance with
when we do this activity.
Snowball Toss: Cut two holes
in a big piece of cardboard in the basic design of the bottom of a snowman,
then draw a cute head on the top! Give the children white beanbags,
white socks balled up, or white paper crumpled into balls to represent
snowballs they throw at the snowman target. Add some math to it by
assigning points to the circles and have children keep track of how many
points they accumulate according to which holes they get the snowball in.
Snow Ball Bowling: Fill some two liter pop bottles with
some sand, paint them white
and add a snowman face! Let the children throw a ball at them to
try to knock them down.
Science &
Discovery
Fill your discovery table with SNOW of course!
Add measuring cups, and such later to maintain interest.
Literacy:
Make a list of all the descriptive words
the children can come up with to describe the snow. Challenge them to try to
use all five senses!
Do some experiments with snow & water. What do the children wonder
about the snow? What questions do
they have? Have them make predictions about
what will happen to it as it sits in the warm classroom. Will snow melt in the fridge? How about the freezer? How about
in the classroom? Why? Why not? What temperature does
it have to be to keep the snow from melting? Place different containers
of snow in the different areas and have the children observe them over
time. You may want to teach them about reading thermometers.
Literacy: Record
observations and discuss them in science journals.
Blocks & Building
Cover blocks with white paper
to make snow blocks.
Add stuffed snow people home
decorations to the area for the children so the children can build
snowman houses for them.
Puzzles, Games &
Manipulatives
Snowball Sorting: Provide children
with a variety of different sized cotton balls, and let them pick them
up with a tweezers and place them in sorting cups, or just fill empty egg
cartons with them.
Snowman Lacing: Print snowman
clip art on to white card stock, laminate, and punch holes around outside
edge for a home made lacing card.
Computers
http://akidsheart.com/holidays/christms/snowman.htm
http://www.blackdog.net/holiday/christmas/snowman/
Cooking
Rice Cake Snow People:
Give each
child a rice cake and let them spread cream cheese or frosting on it.
M&M's, raisins, red liquorish, baby carrots, would all be good options
for decorating with!
Snow
Soup:
A cup of hot chocolate,
and mini marshmallows!
Bulletin Boards
Other Resources
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