Winter Activities

Winter activities for the little ones. 

At any given time the age range of the children is roughly 21-38 months. 

All of these activities cross developmental areas but mostly focus on sensory, fine motor and discovery. 

Snow Painting

We brought real snow inside for art time and painted it with water colors. 

You could always take the paint outside but we were too cold from playing in the snow. 

 Ice painting

We filled ice cube trays with water and food coloring. Then we stuck mini popsicle sticks in each cube before freezing. Once frozen we poped  Next time I'll try washable paint so it doesn't stain their hands. 

Wax Hearts for Valentines Day

 The children sprinkled red, pink and purple crayon shavings on wax paper. After they played with the shavings, I ironed them between two pieces of wax paper as they looked on. 

I cut hearts out to hang in the window. (of course I don't have a picture of that)

Then I let them cut up the scraps and make a collage. 

Valentines for Children

I made these Valentines for the children in my class. They definitely helped contribute to the cup of broken crayons. I found a silicone heart mold and melted the crayons in the oven. Then I cut out hearts, wrote a note and tied them up with my trusty Martha Stewart kitchen twine!

Snow Pile 

We reused some packing peanuts in our sensory table to make "snow."

We used shovels, scoops and of course our hands to dig and scoop.

This is a smaller version using cotton balls. We added some winter animals and bowls for igloos. Apparently some felt shapes were needed as well! :)

Ping Pong Ball Chase

This is really simple and the kids love it!

I toss/bounce about 12 ping pong all across the room and the kids run and collect them. They put them back in the bucket and we start all over again. Genius, I know!

Great way to burn off some energy in the winter or on a rainy day. 

Great for hand-eye coordination. 

You can also incorporate position words when they are searching for them. 

Count the balls or count down before you throw them.  

You could always write letters, numbers, words, shapes etc for the children to identify before dropping them in the bucket. 

Menorah Spin-off

 During December we combined Hanukkah candles and popsicle molds for sorting and fine motor.

Other times of the year we used popsicle sticks with the molds. The possibilities are endless.