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.
Add a little learning! Have children make objects that reinforce language skills, such as things that rhyme or objects that start with the same sound.
*Have children use play dough to show different ways to make a number.
*Let them make two and three dimensional shapes with the 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.
*You can also use tissue paper or newspaper to make snowflakes.
Add a little learning! Give children copy paper cut in circles and challenge them to fill the page with sight words, letters, vocabulary words, or any skill you want to reinforce. Now, let them fold the paper and make a snowflake out of it. Can they still identify the words and letters they wrote?
Snow Prints
Invite children to draw winter scenes on blue construction paper with crayons. Give them white paint and a sponge or Q-tip to “make it snow.”
Add a little learning! Write winter vocabulary words or stories and then make it snow.
CAROLYN KISLOSKI'S SNOWFLAKE POST
3 Words... Target. Dollar. Spot. These are the kids' new magic "winter reading glasses!" $1! They had Santas and Reindeer, too, but I liked these because they work all winter.
They will be great for our Snow Sight Word Write. For some reason, special glasses really help them focus!
I used a big white bin for my "snow sight words." Here are some snow ideas you can use, shown in large bowls.
The children dig through the snow to find sight words and record them on their Snowy Sight Word Sheet. These are just some of the things I use for snow, you can use anything! The items work best when there are a LOT of whatever you use, in a big container. The more to "feel," the better!
(I had LOTS of these pearls left from my daughter's wedding. They came is a big container from Walmart.)
Rice
(This is just showing the sight words hidden in the rice.)
Snow Storm! I used packing peanuts, cotton balls, plastic snowflakes I had, beans, and rice. This makes a really fun sensory table in a big tub or bin!.
Cotton Balls
Plastic Snowflakes
Packing Peanuts
Beans are some of my favorites. If you put them in the freezer before center time, and they stay really cold! Plus, I can write the words right on the beans.
