During the winter weather The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats is a great book to read and uses as a bases for fun indoor activities. I created the following activities to conduct with both my preschool classroom as well as my toddlers at home. Enjoy and always remember your feed back and comments are important!
Language and Literacy Experiences
Book: The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
Activities: Cotton Ball Snowman, What to Wear and Icebergs
Materials: Cotton Ball Snowman – 2 to 3 cotton balls, construction paper to cut out hat, nose, eyes and mittens glue magnetic tape (optional)
What to Wear – Cut pictures of types of clothing worn during different forms of weather - mittens, toboggan, scarf, boots, galoshes, raincoat, umbrella, sunglasses, flip flops, winter coat and a jacket and types of weather – rain, wind, sun, snow and cloudy out of old magazines or print images from the computer.
Icebergs¬ – 2 Styrofoam plates, clear or blue plastic wrap, transparent tape, blue construction paper and glue
Reading: While reading The Snowy Day have students/your child comment on the scenery in the book. Talk about the activities that Peter does in the snow, ask students to describe the type of activities they do on a snowy day.
Extension: Make hot chocolate to show students how they can warm themselves after coming inside when it's cold or wet outside.
Hot Chocolate Recipes for Kids
Retrieved from: http://www.amazingmoms.com/htm/winterideas.htm
When kids are wet and cold from playing outside, a cup of hot cocoa
will make them feel warm and toasty.
Here are the ways our readers spruce up their favorite winter drink. We suggest starting with good home made cocoa, like mom used to serve, this makes a world of difference. You'll find the recipe on the can.
Garnish your cocoa with a candy cane which can double as a stirrer.
Whipped cream and colored sprinkles make this drink super special!
Top with whipped cream, cherry and chocolate sauce
Make a "Milky Way" drink by adding caramel topping.
Place chocolate chips in the bottom of a clear glass mug.Add steaming hot milk and stir the melted chocolate.
Top hot cocoa with whipped cream and cinnamon
Drop a scoop of peppermint ice cream into a mug of hot chocolate.
Put two large marshmallows in the bottom of an empty cup and pour hot chocolate on top so that the marshmallows melt. Serve with graham crackers to make s'mores in a cup
NOTE: If your child is lactose intolerant, the above drinks can be made
with soy or rice milk and Tofutti or Sorbet instead of whipped or ice cream.
Activities should be completed after reading the book
What to Wear: Select a type of weather and ask students/your child to find the type of clothing needed.
Example: If Snow is selected as the weather, then children should pull out winter coat, scarf, boots mittens and toboggan.
What to Wear Modified for Special Needs: Select a type of weather. Lay two articles of clothing in front of student, one the correctly matches the type of weather and one that is incorrect. Ask student to choice which item of clothing matches the weather.
Example: If snow is the selected weather place a flip flop and a boot in front of student and ask which item should you wear on your feet when there is snow outside.
Extension: Select a type of weather and the appropriate type of clothing and talk about how it feels outside (warm, cold, wet or windy) duplicate the weather using house hold materials.
Snow or cold weather: fill a bowl with water and ice and have student/your child submerge their hand
warm: fill bowl with warm water and have student/your child submerge their hand
windy: use a paper or other paper product to fan student/your child to produce wind
rain: dip your hand in water and flick water on to the student/your child to simulate rain
Cotton Ball Snowman: Use the materials listed for “Snowman” activity to assemble a miniature snowman. After the snowman dries attach magnetic tape to make a refrigerator magnet.
Icebergs: Explain to the student that “The Snowy Day” takes place in the cold. Talk about icebergs and how they are formed for more information and pictures on icebergs go to www.oceanworld.tamu.edu/students/iceberg/iceberg1.htm
Age appropriate definition of an iceberg: A large piece of floating ice.
1. Cut out the center of one of the paper plates (puncture the center of the plate to start a place to cut, you want to keep the paper plate intact).Cover center with plastic wrap
2. Use the styrofoam from the center of the plate to cut iceberg shapes.
3. Glue a piece of blue construction paper to the center of the 2nd plate. Paper should be large enough to cover the entire center of the plate. Glue icebergs on top of the blue paper in the center.
4. Cover the 2nd plate with the 1st plate (with the center cut out) and tape together. The first plate serves as a window frame for the iceberg craft.
Extension:
Fill a bowl half full of water. Add some ice cubes and watch them float. Use your finger to push the ice cubes underwater and watch them float back up. Explain that icebergs float the same way.
Fill a container with snow, mark the height level in the bowl and let it melt. Observe the level of the water once the snow melts.
The water level will be lower because snow is fluffy and filled with lots of air.
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