Celebrate the beginning of winter (and the shortest day of the year) with these language and literacy activity ideas from The GIANT Encyclopedia of Monthly Activities!
Welcome Winter!
Materials:
- Several large sheets of paper
- Index cards
- Markers
What to Do:
- Introduce the first day of winter with your favorite winter children's books (see the list below for some suggestions).
- Write the word winter in the center of a large sheet of paper and circle it. Ask the children to name some things that relate to winter, such as snow, cold, ice, ski, hot chocolate, mittens, boots, sled, snowman, and so on. Write their ideas on the paper outside the circle as you say them.
- Depending on the attention span of your group, you can end the activity and post the list, end the activity and come back to it later for extension activities, or continue the activity by making a winter word wall. (A word wall is a bulletin board display of the alphabet that the children add words to so they can refer to them for various activities.)
- To continue, let each child choose a word to copy. Ask them to draw a picture of the word on an index card.
- Write their word on the card, and have them add the card in the correct location on a winter word wall.
More to Do:
Use the list of words to develop your next theme with the children. Vote on a category for the direction the curriculum will take. Have the children decide on how to change the room and the props needed, and encourage their creativity by letting their ideas transform the room.
Group or Circle Time: Cut out all the winter words listed. Designate a few categories, such as holiday, weather, clothes, food, and so on. Ask the children to sort the words into the correct categories.
Related books:
- The First Day of Winter by Denise Fleming
- Animals in Winter by Henrietta Bancroft & Richard G. Van Gelder
- Time to Sleep by Denise Fleming
- Max and Ruby's Snowy Day by Rosemary Wells
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This activity was taken from The GIANT Encyclopedia of Monthly Activities. This activity was originally contributed by Ann Kelly from Johnstown, PA.
