Snow Dough
You can use any play dough recipe for snow dough. Simply omit the food coloring and let the children knead in iridescent glitter to make it sparkle. (My favorite dough is: 2 cups flour, 2 cup salt, 2 TB. cream of tartar, 2 TB. vegetable oil, and 2 cups water. Mix ingredients together in a pan until smooth. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture forms a ball and sticks to the spoon. Cool and knead. Store in airtight containers.)
Note! Make sure children wash hands before and after playing with dough.
Snow Flakes
Let children fold coffee filters in half, then fourths and eighths. Cut little “bites” out of the folded edges. Open. You can make colorful snowflakes by coloring the coffee filters with water soluble markers before cutting them.
Hint! Make snowflakes out of newspaper, tissue paper, wrapping paper, and other types of recycled paper.
Snow Prints
Let children draw winter scenes on blue construction paper with crayons. Give them white paint and a sponge or Q-tip to “make it snow.”
Positive and Negative
Fold a sheet of construction paper in half. Cut three semi-circles similar to the one shown on the fold. Open. Explain the positive and negative shapes. Use the snowman cutouts for some of the games mentioned yesterday. Tape wax paper to the the back of the negative design as shown. Let children decorate and the hang on a window.
Ice Skating
Give each child 2 paper plates. Demonstrate how to place these on the floor and put one foot on each plate. Slide your feet as if skating. Put on some waltz music and let the children skate, twist, and turn. Play “freeze.” When you stop the music children must “freeze” in their positions. When the music begins again they may continue to skate.
Snowball Math
Fill a clear jar with snowballs/cotton balls. Let each child estimate how many snowballs are in the jar and write their name and answer on a sheet of paper. At the end of the day count the snowballs. Who guessed more? Who guessed less?
*Let the children use the “snowballs” to make sets or to do addition and subtraction problems.
Snowball Reading and Math
Give each child a sheet of scrap paper. Tie this in with skills you want to reinforce by having them write a letter, vocabulary word, math fact, etc. on the paper. Wad up the paper to make snowballs. Divide the class into two teams facing each other. When the teacher says, “Let it snow!” the children start throwing their snowballs at the opposite team. Before children can throw the snowball back they must open it up and tell a team member the information on the paper. (It’s O.K. to ask for help.) After several minutes the teacher says, “Freeze!” and everyone must stop throwing. Each team gathers up the snowballs on their side and counts the amount. Who has more? Who has less? In this game, the team with the least amount is the winner.
*Keep throwing snowballs as long as the children are interested.
Snow People
Instead of drawing snow “men,” encourage children to paint or draw snow ladies, snow children, snow pets, and other characters.
Sock Snowman
You will need a white tube sock and some fiber fill for this project. Children stuff 3 large handfuls of fiber fill into the toe of the sock to make the snowman’s body. Tie off with yarn or string. Stuff 2 large handfuls to make the middle section. Tie off. Stuff 1 large handful for the head and tie off at the top. Invert the top of the sock and pull over the head for a hat. Children can decorate with markers, felt scraps, etc. Encourage children to name their snowman and tell or write a story about what they would do if it were real.Icebergs
Fill plastic containers with water. Add food coloring and freeze. Place these in your water table and tell the children they are icebergs. Add walruses, polar bears, and other plastic arctic animals.Science Experiment
Give each child a clear cup with an ice cube in it. Ask them to draw a picture of what it looks like. Have them predict how many minutes it will take their ice cube to melt. Encourage them to draw what it looks like after five minute intervals.
Snowman Soup
Fill a plastic zip bag with a package of instant hot chocolate with miniature marshmallows. Tie on a candy cane with these directions: “Here’s a little snowman soup – complete with stirring stick. Add hot water, sip it slow, and it will warm you up real quick!”