Winter Classroom Activities For Grades K-1 (With Template Links)

The Snowman and the Bunny

A chubby little snowman (make a fist)

Had a carrot nose (poke thumb out)

Along came a bunny

And what do you suppose? (make rabbit ears with other hand)

That hungry little bunny

Looking for his lunch, (bunny hops around)

Ate that snowman's carrot nose (bunny nips at carrot)

Crunch, crunch, crunch!

Snow

Snow on my forehead (touch forehead)

Snow on my knee (touch knee)

Snow on my glasses, (touch eyes)

Getting hard to see.

Snow on my boots (touch shoes)

Snow on my hair (touch hair)

Snow on my mittens (touch hands)

Snow everywhere (wave hands all over)

Snowman

Let's roll a tiny snowball (make small circle with hands)

Until it's big and round (make big circle with hands)

Let's roll it through the snowdrifts (roll hands)

It doesn't make a sound (finger to mouth)

Give the snowman head and eyes (point to head and eyes)

A broom for him to hold (pretend you are sweeping)

A mouth, a nose, and a coat (point to mouth, nose, and rub arms)

So your snowman won't get cold! (shiver)

Buttons on the snowman

Materials needed:

• buttons
• hat template
• snowman template

Student chooses a hat with a number on it and counts that number of buttons. The student then places the buttons onto the snowman. You can use whatever numbers your class is currently working on or those that specific students are having difficulty mastering. So, this can be adapted to any level.

Classify winter and summer items

This is a great way to get families involved. A few weeks ahead of time, ask your families to send in pictures of summer and winter items from magazines or actual photos that they have at home. Collect the items and then work with the group to classify the items as summer or winter items. You can make two buckets or baskets marked with the words "summer" and "winter", or you can use a picture of the sun for the summer basket and a snowman for the winter basket.

Snow writing

Give the kids a fun way to practice writing their names, site words, or spelling words. Give the student a piece of black construction paper in a tray or pan. Pour salt over the paper and the student can write their letters or words in the "snow".

Science Activity

Give each student an ice cube. Have them try and get it to melt. Provide them with the following:

• waxed paper
• aluminum foil
• plastic wrap
• plastic sandwich bag
• tissues
• felt
• scraps of fabric
• cotton balls

Discuss which item helped the ice cube melt fastest. Which of the materials would you want to make a winter coat with? Which material would help to keep ice cream from melting? You can also put two ice cubes in two different cups. Put one in the sun on a window sill and one in a cupboard. Check them throughout the day to see which melts faster. Discuss your findings.

Bird Feeders

Collect pine cones and spread peanut butter on each. Roll the pine cone in bird seed. Hang it with a pipe cleaner on trees outside.

Ice Painting

Let children "paint" with popsicles and then sprinkle the paper with powdered jello.

Snow Picture

Use a Q-tip dipped in bleach and paint with it on black paper.

Salty Snowflakes

Fold a sheet of blue construction paper in half. Open the paper and drizzle glue on one side in a random pattern. Open the paper and sprinkle salt on the wet glue. When the glue is dry, cut around the resulting shape.

Snowflake Rubbings

Tape doilies on the table. Place paper over the doilies and have the children do crayon rubbings to make snowflake pictures.

Snow Globe

Use a clean baby food jar with the labels removed. Have children fill the jar with tinsel, sequins, or anything silver or white. Fill with water. You can hot glue a small figure on the lid of the jar to stand in the middle of your snow globe. Screw the lid on the jar and seal it with hot glue.

Winter Boots

Use the template of the winter boot, and place it on a folded piece of paper. Place the line marked "Place on fold" along the folded edge. Trace the boot and cut it out, making sure you do not cut along the fold. Open the boot, have students make drops of colored paint on one half of the image. Then, fold it in half again and apply pressure to the paint. Then open it up again and the paint will have transferred to the other side of the boot.

After reading "Snowy Day" by Ezra Jack Keats, you can have your students paint a picture to show Peter making tracks in the snow.

Materials needed:

• blue construction paper, one for each child
• white paint
• tray
• marbles
• template of Peter traced on color paper, one for each child

Place the blue paper in a tray and place random drops of white paint on the paper. Drop a few marbles in the tray and roll them side to side so that they track through the white paint. It will leave what looks like snow tracks on the paper. Once the paint is dry, the child can glue their picture of Peter on the paper.