We had a week of winter themed activities! In Texas, my kids don't see much snow or winter. So exposing them to different seasonal things they may not see every day is a must!
We started off the week with some snowman fun! Everything we did was on the topic of snowmen (or snow-people, if we are being politically correct!)
We started off with these two books. Olivia loves books, in fact, I have to be careful because she wants to read them about 10 times each. When we sit down to read, it takes a while, but that is okay! These two books are great, Colors in the Cold talks about different colors and clothes the snowman is wearing and The Itsy Bitsy Snowman is to the tune (or rhyme) or The Itsy Bitsy Spider. She loved both books!
Next, we did some fine motor practice with cotton balls! This activity was simple, free and FUN! All you need is a container (I used a coffee cream container because we go through those so fast. Anyone else obsessed with coffee??), and some cotton balls. I drew a face on the container and glued some paper on for a scarf to make it look like a snowman. We also used some fine motor tools but that isn't mandatory!
Olivia played with this a lot during the morning time! She kept going back to this activity. I loved it because it wasn't messy! She ended up using her fingers the most, I think the tools are still too difficult for her. Nevertheless, she had so much fun!
Next, we moved to a little craft time. I just used blue construction paper, and cut up white paper into squares. I let her begin gluing anywhere she wanted. While she was doing that, I cut a few smaller black squares and an orange triangle. (Can you guess what she is making? lol.)
An after a loooooot of gluing, we had our finished product! She loves doing this activity! However, I think I could literally put a glue stick in her hand any time of day and she would be happy as a clam. The kid loves to glue!
Next, we decided to move outside! We did a snow play sensory bin! I took a simple plastic cup and drew a snowman face on it. Then she just played with the pretend snow and scooped it in to the cup!
I think we did this for almost an hour, she LOVED playing with this bin. It was 70 degrees outside, so we enjoyed the warm weather too.
On Tuesday, we stuck with the winter theme and dressed up a few Educlips kids! I love this activity and Olivia had the best time dressing up the little kids. Her motor skills are not great with this yet, but it was still a lot of fun! I have provided the link below, and I just printed and cut them out, then laminated them!
Our Snow Sensory Bin was fun for her to explore. I used cotton balls, pipe-cleaners (twisted up), and some large sequins. For sensory bins, just try to use what you have around the house! No need to purchase a lot of items. Kids just love to explore new things!
Snowflake Dot Art was a hit too! I am convinced all things Dot Art are a hit! A while back I purchased a set of Dot Art Dabbers and my kids go crazy over them! What is it about these things that is so fun? I think I may need to try their hand at BINGO. Anyway, Livi loved this activity! Note to Self: Print more copies next time! She wanted more, more, more!
We finished up our day with a great book (the dog says Woof Woof and she loves that!) And some "Snow Writing!" Big brother helped with this one!
Shaving cream is one of the easiest things to clean off of anything! We did this one outside but it was a super easy clean up!
On Wednesday, we did a Snowflake Play-Doh Mat! Playing with Play-Doh is Livi's jam, she loves it! Rex also loved this mat last night after dinner! I worked with Livi on how to roll the Play-Doh which was something she couldn't do yet. Now, she does it with ease and loves making "Sssss" or snakes as we adults call them.
And holy moly, get ready for picture overload. This next one was both of our favorite things all week! I did another explore bin for her with some water beads and arctic animals.
You guys, she spent the first 5 minutes with these critters just waving at them and saying "Hi!" (Picture above is her waving!) I could have died, it was so sweet!
After we got our introductions out of the way, lol, she was ready to play. Hint: It will sound weird, but I highly suggest playing with these on a blanket or with carpet underneath. We did it on a table but when the beads would fall they fell on the carpet and she picked them right back up. When we tried it on the concrete, they bounced EVERYWHERE. It was a disaster. These are not messy, so inside play is perfectly fine!
I gave her a cup because she loves scooping them up and dumping them out. Olivia did not attempt to eat these, and they are non-toxic, but keep an eye on your little one if you do these bins. :)
We talked about all of the animals and I hid some of them for her to find in the water beads. And again, my son loved these when he got home too!
Lastly, we wrapped up our winter themed ideas for the week with Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle. I have such love for their books and this one is no exception. Please go buy this one if you do not have it! It is inexpensive and your kids will love it!
Lastly, I created this "P is for Polar Bear" gluing activity and placed a few real pictures of polar bears on there. I was surprised to see how interested she was in these pictures. I forget that she isn't used to seeing real photos of animals like this; she really studied them for a while.
I just had her glue cotton balls on, but let's be honest people, I was over the gluing at this point in the week. So before she even saw the glue stick, I glued all over the P and told her to put cotton balls on the "purple space" (she knows her colors so she followed this instruction well.) Mommy wins! :)
With gymnastics during the week, and the rest of our busy schedule, these activities filled up our week quite nicely! She is really enjoying the themes each week and all of the different things we do! Next week we will be doing a Valentine's Theme! I am very excited for some chocolate play-doh, sensory bins, and heart crafts!
I have provided all of the links to the activities I created this week (or found on Pinterest) and they are all free! So download them if you would like to try these with your little ones!
Until Next Week,
Hillary
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