Snowstorm- Submitted by Carol

a bag of cotton balls

In a circle lead the children in a game of make believe. Pretend it is snowing. Pretend to put on winter outdoor clothes. Pretend the snow is deep, lead children quietly steeping high in the deep snow. Pretend to build a snowman. Have children toss the cotton balls up and "listen" to them fall. Ask children what they heard. This is a nice quiet activity that uses many of the senses.

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Parachute Snowfall- Submitted by Carol

Place cotton ball "snow" on the parachute. Put on some music and gently let the snow fall.

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Dancing Snowmen- Submitted Cheryl

For music and drama, become dancing snowmen. When the music stops, sllllooowwwllyyy melt down to a puddle on the floor. Then turne the music back on and become a snowman again.

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Shiver Warm- Submitted by Cheryl

Up This activity will help your children warm-up on a cold day. Pretend you are controlling the heat in the room. Tell the children you are going to turn the heat down to make them all shiver. When their bodies are all shaking in the make-believe cold, turn the heat back up so their shivers gradually stop. Continue turning the heat up and down. The lower you turn the heat, the harder the children should shiver. Finally, turn the heat off altogether so that they 'freeze' in position.

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Skating- Submitted by Cheryl

Have the children can pretend to join some winter skaters, skating on a frozen pond. Let the children skate around the room. Have the children take off their shoes and put on their make-believe skates. Play some waltz music and have the skates glide in time to the music. Transform the room into an imaginary frozen pond. Have kids remove shoes & "skate" to "The Skaters Watlz." Use fan for colder weather. OR Let kids have 2 pieces of wax paper a little bigger than their shoes, as slipping material. OR ice skate on the carpet using the plastic bags newspaper comes in, worn over socks.

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Snowball Warm-up Melt-Down- Submitted by Cheryl

Have the children lay on the floor, stretch out, and form a blanket of snow. Then out, and form a blanket of snow. Then have them pretend that other children are rolling them up to make large snowballs. The children roll across the floor, finally becoming so large they have to stand up and become jolly snowmen.

Snowmen are frozen and must stand rigid all day and night. One day the sun shines so long and so brightly that the snowmen begin to thaw. Call out body parts, starting at the head and working down to the toes. The children begin moving these bady parts slowly. As the day continues to get warmer; the snowmen gradually melt away. Have the children slowly/gracefully melt to floor.

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Ice Tunnels- Submitted by Cheryl

Provide children with something(s) to crawl through (open ended large box, barrel, blankets over tables and chairs). Have the kids pretend they are in Alaska and that they are crawling through an ice tunnel. The sides of the tunnel are very cold, so the kids should try not to touch the sides as they crawl through.

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Snowflakes- Submitted by Cheryl

Pretend to be a snowflake--Ask the children to pretend to be a graceful snowflake falling from the sky. Play soothing music for them to dance to.

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Cotton Ball Snowstorm- Submitted by Sherry

Make a "Cotton Ball Snowstorm" with your child. Place a handful of cotton balls on the floor. Join your child on the floor as you blow the cotton ball "snow" all around. Can you make your snowstorm wild and windy? How about gentle and breezy, etc

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Melting Snow Kids- Submitted by Sherry

In an open area, have your children pretend to be Snow Kids, standing straight and tall. Choose one child to be a Warm Breeze, and give the child a scarf. As the Warm Breeze gently touches the Snow Kids with the scarf, have them slowly melt down to the ground. When all the Snow Kids have melted, choose a new Warm Breeze and start the game again.

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Let's Ski- Submitted by Sherry

To make a pair of play skis for your children, find an old pair of shoes a little larger than the children's feet. Glue the shoes to two narrow strips of heavy cardboard. When the glue is dry, let your children take turns slipping their feet into the shoes and "skiing" across a smooth surfaced floor.

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Winter Dress-Up- Submitted by Christi

Supply the children with extra hats, gloves, coats, scarfs, etc and let them dress for the winter season!

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Building an Indoor Snowman- Submitted by Cheryl

3 large white plastic bags, newspaper, construction paper eyes, nose, mouth, tape, a hat, a scarf, and mittens.

This activity helps teach young children the concept of a snowman and about winter clothes and body parts. It also focuses on the size concept of small, medium and large. Prepare the kids for this activity by talking about making a snowman. The Snowman by Raymond Briggs is a great picture book to use. It goes through the process of making the snowman, the little boy's adventure with the snowman, and it's melting.

Provide the children with 3 large white plastic bags. Cut the ends off to make one medium and one small. Have the children stuff them full of newspaper. Stack the plastic bags & tape them in place to build the snowman. Encourage the children to identify parts of construction paper face and tape onto plastic bag "head". Last, have the children identify items of winter clothing items, including color, and add the to the snowman. Now you have a snowman without the snow!

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Winter Dress Up- Submitted by Sherry

I have put mittens, scarves. etc. in dramatic play with styrofoam packing chips. I added shovels, buckets,etc. They can make their own snow scene with styrofoam balls and toothpicks or popcycle sticks. I also have made my flannelboard with snowman pieces available for sequencing, etc.

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Snow Fun- Submitted by Sherry

Lead your children around the room pretending to stomp through snow. Then have them lie down on their backs and move their arms up and down and legs open and closed to make pretend "snow angles". If you have snow in your area do these activities outdoors.

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Ice Skating- Submitted by Cheryl

Give each child 2 sheets of wax paper. Show children, by placing the wax paper under their shoes, how they can "skate" on the carpet. (Be sure to try it yourself! Tons of fun!) To avoid over crowding, draw a chalk circle on the carpet in the center of the room to represent the "Ice Rink. Choose 4 or 5 children to skate on the ice rink. Play music as they skate and allow them to choose new skaters when the music stops.

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Skating Fun- Submitted by Sherry

Have your children take off their shoes and put on pretend ice skates. Then play music and let them skip and slide across the floor as they "skate" around the room.

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Homemade Sleds- Submitted by Sherry

Collect boxes large enough for your children to sit in. Remove the lids or top flaps from the boxes. Poke two holes near the top and middle of one of the short sides of each box. Attach a rope handle to the box through the holes. Let the children color the insides and outsides of the box sleds with crayons and attach decorative stickers.

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Sledding Fun- Submitted by Sherry

Let your children play with box sleds from the activity Home Made Sleds. Have them put stuffed animals inside the sleds and take them for rides. Or give the children crumpled paper "snowballs" to try tossing into the sleds.

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Language Idea- Submitted by Sherry

Let your children place objects in or on a sled as you pull it around the room. Make up a story about the objects as you go.

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Ice Cave- Submitted by Cheryl

Turn the block center into a wonderful ice cave place for the children! Hang long pieces of white butcher block paper around the edges of the center. Put butcher block paper on the walls. Add lots of blue and white streamers hanging from the ceiling. Put blue nap mats, sleeping bags, other other fabric on the floor, Wrap some of blocks in white paper to look like ice (the kids love to build igloos!) Add in lots of cottonballs and stuffed &/or plastic polar bears, seals, fish, penguins etc!

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Create an Ice Palace- Submitted by Cheryl

Make colorful blocks of ice to create your own palace. Fill empty containers with water, add some food coloring, mix, and freeze! Some suggestions for containers to use are:

Milk cartons, tin cans (especially coffee cans), Ice cream buckets, Margarine tubs, 2 liter bottles

Ask the dck's families to save these containers for you. You can also freeze one batch at a time until you have enough blocks to build your ice palace. Trim off the tops of milk cartons, gallon jugs, 2 liter bottles, etc. so the ice blocks can slip out easily. Once the containers are completely frozen (expect large containers to take at least 24 hours), dip the container in warm water to get the sides to melt a bit. The ice block should then slide out easily. Clear out an area in your yard and start building an ice palace/maze/fort with the blocks!

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