Materials
It's Groundhog Day by Steven Kroll
brown felt
scissors
flower-patterned small, paper cups
fabric glue
permanent markers
Instructions
* Groundhog Day is celebrated on February 2nd.
1. Prior to the activity, cut two simple finger puppet shapes from brown felt
for each child. Cut a finger-sized hole in the bottom of a paper cup for
each child.
2. Read It's Groundhog Day by Steven Kroll. Talk about how the groundhog
pops up from his underground home. Ask the children if they would like
to make their own groundhog puppet.
3. Give each child one of their two brown felt finger puppet shapes. Let
them use markers to create facial features and other designs on the
puppet.
4. Give the children the other half of their puppet. Help them use fabric
glue to glue the two pieces together. Remind them to leave room for
their finger to fit in the puppet. Let dry.
5. Give each child a flower-patterned paper cup. If you don't have flowerpatterned
cups, provide flower stickers and white cups for children to
decorate. Show them how to make their groundhog finger puppet hide
"under the ground" (inside the upside down cup) and then pop up
through the hole.
6. Say the following fun Groundhog Day rhyme:
Little groundhog in the ground
Away from sights, away from sounds, (hide puppet under cup)
You gnaw out tunnels down beneath
With your great big groundhog teeth.
Then one wintry February Day
You pop up (pop puppet up through hole in cup)
To chase the winter away.
More to do Math: Discuss which animals live under the ground and which animals live
above ground. Create a simple graph by dividing a piece of poster board in
half with a marker. Label the bottom half "underground" and the top half
"above ground." Have the children sort familiar animal pictures on the
graph according to where they live.
