Wintertime is the season for short days and long nights...and hibernating animals! It's also an easy season for people to spend lots of time indoors and not engaging their minds or bodies. This blog post takes a look at winter and explores the hibernation activities that help your little animals prepare for bedtime and springtime alike.
Young children can enjoy winter season activities both inside and out, depending on the weather. If there's plenty of snow, but the day is fairly calm, then consider building a snowman! In this oldie but goodie video, your preschooler can have so much fun learning about the science of building with snow in an age-appropriate way.
Hibernation Theme Activities for Preschoolers
Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?
When it's time to get out of the bear cave on a cold winter day, Your AAA Today suggests that your younger and older children alike build that classic snowman. Provide coal, buttons, or stones for the eyes. You can use the traditional carrot for the nose, although they offer other creative suggestions such as a spoon, pinecone, an icicle, or a popsicle stick. Look for sticks that have finger-like little branches at the ends to use for arms. Then, use older clothing like hats and scarves to dress your snowman. If you'd like, you can help your preschooler use food coloring to add more pizzazz to their snow creature.
Sledding: An Exciting Winter Activity for Preschoolers
Another time-tested cold weather outdoor idea: sledding! Preschoolers don't need great big hills; if a hill is fairly large, have children wear helmets. Or your family can pack snow in the shape of walls and create a preschooler-sized snow fort. When you come back indoors, healthy mugs of hot cocoa will be appreciated by people of all ages. Movement activities keep kids healthy and active in the winter, helping them remain focused on fitness in a tough season on physical health.
Read Books About the Winter Season
Plenty of great books about winter are out there for preschoolers. Winter is an ideal time to work with toddlers on the literacy centers in their developing brains, helping with honing their speech skills and beginning sounds, recognizing sight words, and giving them a crucial head start on a passion for reading that is proven to be an advantage in academic success later in life.
If you've just come inside from playing in the snow, your children might appreciate Sneezy the Snowman by Maureen Wright. Sneezy drinks cocoa to warm up. He also gets into a hot tub and stands by a nice, warm fire—and you can guess what happens next: Sneezy melts. Fortunately, the children in the story know what to do to help their snowy friend.
For a bedtime story, nothing beats tales about hibernation with Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson, a favorite of many kids. Bear dozes off—as hibernating animals are supposed to in the wintertime. As Bear snores and hibernates, a variety of other chilly winter animals find their way into his bear cave. When sleeping Bear finally wakes up from his long winter's nap, he can join the party. When the party ends in the story, your little one can snuggle in with a stuffed animal and do some hibernating of their own.
Other hibernation books or stories with a hibernation theme for kids include Winter Sleep: A Hibernation Story, The Snow Thief, and No by Claudia Rueda. There is also the more educational Animals Hibernating: How Animals Survive Extreme Conditions, which features great hibernation activities for preschoolers, experiments that can be done at home with a parent and explores how different animals hibernate or just go into deep sleep.
Winter Arts and Crafts
When thinking about common fun indoor winter theme activities for preschoolers, many that come to mind include arts and crafts.
A handprint tree is a simple craft that only requires a blue stock card or construction paper plus paints, a pencil, and cotton swabs. Trace your child's hand and forearm on the stock card, paper plate, or construction paper and then paint in the space; she prefers brown to represent the trunk and branches of a tree. Then have your preschooler use the swabs as mini-paintbrushes, dabbing with winter colors such as white, pink, blue, and purple to create the rounded shape of a tree with leaves.
Add plastic animals or other animal figures and tissue paper for a snowscape to make an entire scene. Use a tissue roll or paper towel roll to make animal homes. Encourage them to be creative and have fun! They'll enjoy pretending and work on developing fine motor skills in the process.
Another great hibernation activity, perhaps during a snow day or pajama day, is making paper plate snowflakes. Featured at Gathered and hosted at Messy Little Monster, the author notes how this craft can be done by children of any age, from infants with a parent's help to school-aged children who can really let their creativity shine with coloring and scissor skills.
Try Making Snowflake Marshmallows
To make snowflake marshmallows, you just need toothpicks and marshmallows in two sizes. Show your preschooler pictures of snowflakes, and then put two mini marshmallows apiece -- or work on those math skills and spoil them with more! -- on several toothpicks. Then put each of these into a large marshmallow to mimic a snowflake's appearance.
This is one of the winter activities for preschoolers that serves a dual purpose. It works on fine motor skills and is also a great STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) project, turning your kids into preschool scientists! Plus, everyone can enjoy these marshmallows in their hot cocoa mugs!
There's No Hibernation Period at Horizon
Animals hibernate, but your children don't have to spend those long, snowy winter months in their bear caves! With these easy to implement ideas, hibernation activities will keep your little polar bears active until springtime.
Horizon Education Centers provide fun hands-on activities and lesson plans that promote social skills in circle time, educational development and open up children to a fascinating world of math activities, science, early literacy activities and opportunities to prepare for a lifetime of learning and success. No matter the season, our students' minds never enter a deep sleep.
Contact your local Horizon center for more information or to schedule a tour today!
