Winter Week for Preschoolers - Part 2

Although our family moves every few years, we usually happen to move to an area that gets to go through the seasons which is wonderful; especially for the children. I can still remember how excited Adrian and Zahavah were when they woke up to a few inches of snow in October. It was pure magic to them. That is exactly what I mean to bring into the "Classroom" with my winter theme this week. 

Writing in "snow" - shaving foam tray

I hesitated in between bringing out a pure white salt tray to represent snow or a shaving cream tray. In the end, having just done a colored salt tray, I went with shaving cream. I guess I was slightly over-enthuasistic over the foam because I put so much in the tray that we could barely trace anything so if you intend on replicating this idea...a little goes a long way! :) We used a baking pan to contain the foam and practiced tracing numbers this time. 

Painting with colored ice cubes

I thought this would be cool to try being that ice is something wintry but it didn't work out too well. Maybe I needed to put more food coloring drops into the ice cubes (I put a "very generous" 1 drop in each) but the colors were VERY muted when Adrian painted with them. I also had intended to put popsicle sticks in the ice cubes before they completely set so he could manipulate them without freezing his fingers but completely forgot I had put the ice tray in the freezer (mommy brain anyone?) so I improvised and added some fine motor skills to the art work: I added a pair of metal nutcrackers for Adrian to pick up the cubes and paint an abstract winter scene.

Matching snowflakes

These beautiful snowflakes cards can be used as a matching game and a memory game. I put them out only as a matching game. It was an EXCELLENT one too. These snowflakes are quite intricate and there are many of them too so Adrian really had to put his discrimination skills to work. I first saw them on Living Montessori Now I think and followed the link to PreKinders to get my own set.

Sequencing the life of a snowman

We do not do a lot of sequencing here yet but I feel we should start. Story re-telling and sequencing is important in literacy and it's kind of our first step towards this goal of developing these skills. These cards were so adorable I just had to use them. They were part of a HUGE winter package found on Oopsey Daisy.

Making a Playdough Snowman

Whether you can make a real one or now, making a playdough snowman is always a blast. I wasn't sure what to use for accessories but I was sure of one thing; we needed white dough! :) So I put out white playdough and then decided to braid some wool to make a scarf and finally gathered some twigs outside. Mini chocolate morsels (eyes), regular chocolate morsels (buttons), and slivers of baby carrot (nose) were also added to the basket for snowmen decorations. I think it turned out nicely, don't you?

Or making a real snowman if you can...

Being that it's winter in Germany, we do get to make real snowmen as well...Here is little Zahavah and big brother Adrian with their latest creation (with a major contribution from their daddy of course).

I'm linking up to Montessori Monday today!