Snowmen at Night

We had preschool with friends again today! Today was my turn, so we used one of my favorite winter time books…

We actually read this one year round because we love it so much. We also have these other two and my kids love them just as much…

  

Today we used a Snowman theme and focused on Shapes!

• Puzzles … as the kids come, it’s always fun to have an activity for them to do together. Today I just pulled out several wooden puzzles that they did at the table. Then we can say hi to everybody and chat for a minute before we start!
• Read “Snowmen at Night” by Caralyn & Mark Buehner. I love the illustrations in this book and the rhymes are so fun!

• Snowman Shapes … this worked out well and the kids did a great job! I wish I would have taken a picture of all of them together. They all turned out different, but so cute!
1. Beforehand, cut out the shapes:
• 3 white circles (small, medium & large)
• 1 black oval (bottom of top hat)
• 1 black square (top of top hat)
• 1 orange triangle (carrot nose)
• 2 brown rectangles (twig arms)
2. Use a piece of blue paper and a glue stick.
3. Have the kids follow directions as you glue the large, medium & small circles on. Then the top hat, carrot nose and arms.
4. Use shape words as you work on your snowman:
• “find the biggest white circle”
• “glue the black square on top”
• “glue your orange triangle for his carrot nose!”
5. Add buttons! We used circle dot stickers. I’ve also glued on real buttons before.
6. Use a white crayon to write your name and add snow!

• Sing “Once There Was a Snowman” and do the actions. Words and music here!

 

• Paint Bags … We practiced drawing shapes! Simple & worked great.
1. Use a gallon size Ziploc freezer bag (I used Target brand)
2. Pour a good sized blob of paint in the bag. I used Crayola washable paints. I’m guessing any paint would work.
3. Carefully squeeze the air out of the bag and seal. You can also tape the opening closed. We didn’t have any problems.
4. Squish the paint around so it fills the bag.
5. Use a Q-tip or fingers to draw shapes, letters or pictures!
6. To “erase” use your hand to smooth the paint.
7. NOTE: my friend’s comment was, “This is my kind of painting!” Seriously, it’s fun, but there is no mess!!

• Melted Snowman S’mores
1. We put these together for the kids to take home and make with their moms.
2. Use a sandwich-sized ziploc baggie.
3. Place 4 graham cracker squares, 2 large marshmallows, 1 small chocolate bar.
4. Print, cut out & fold the “Melted Snowman S’mores” topper. Click the picture to download the topper!
5. Staple it to the top of the bag!
• Snowman Races … I had the kids work for their melted snowman s’mores They were so cute racing and it was a lot of fun! The book says …

Then the snowman games begin: They line up in their places. Each one anxious for his turn in the snowman races!

1. Line the kids up at one end of the room.
2. Give them an empty ziploc baggie.
3. Put a bowl of marshmallows and a bowl of chocolate bars at the other end of the room.
4. Take turns racing down to get a marshmallow, put it in their bag, race back and sit down.
5. Repeat to get a chocolate bar, then another marshmallow (we added the graham crackers later)
6. Cheer each other on during your snowman race!

• Shape Snacks … Find snacks in several shapes. We had circle crackers, triangle Bugles, square cheese slices and rectangle fruit strips. Mmm.

Snowman Shapes

We did this project totally out of order in 2010 but it would be great for S week (even if it's not snowing outside anymore!) winter or Christmas. They turned out so cute!

• Cut out:
  1. 3 white circles ... large, medium, small
  2. 1 square & 1 oval ... any color for the top hat
  3. 2 rectangles ... make one longer than the other for the scarf. I also fringed it a little at one end
  4. 1 orange triangle ... for the nose
• Assemble!
  1. Let the kids glue the shapes onto blue paper to build a snowman.
  2. Then we added eyes and a mouth and some snow with a white crayon.
  3. The best part was gluing on all of the snowman's buttons. My 3-year-old liked lots of buttons :)

Here are this year’s snowmen. So cute! Buttons were still the favorite part! I love the huge snowflakes my 4-year-old drew with his white crayon.

 

O (circle shapes)

• Painting O’s … my 3-year-old thought this was so cool!
  1. Need a blank paper and a shallow tray of paint (orange paint would work nicely for O week!)
  2. Dip the end of a toilet paper tube into the paint, then stamp O’s all over your paper.
  3. Try the end of a straw in another color of paint to make tiny circles.
  4. Try a clean, dry plastic bottle top (you know, the screw on kind from juice bottles or a gallon of milk) for medium circles.
  5. You could even use a cup turned upside-down dipped in paint.

 

• NAME-O!
  1. Write each of the kids' names on a strip of paper. To make the game a little more exciting write their full name.
  2. Give then a cup of O-shaped cereal.
  3. Place a set of letter cards in a bag.
  4. To play, remove a card and let the kids announce the letter.
  5. The kids see if they have that letter and, if so, cover it with a cheerio.
  6. When all their letters are covered, they can call out "Name-O!" Clear the cards & play again!
• Play with a Hoola Hoop or make a simple Ring Toss game.
• Circle Shape Hunt
  1. Go on a shape hunt around the house and find as many different circles shapes as you can (clock, plates, balls, doorknobs…)

Snack Idea: a bagel with your favorite spread and decorated with Cheerios

Tangrams

When my oldest son was 3-years-old, he loved getting out the Tangram pieces and solving Tangram puzzles. I found a 6-pack of sturdy, plastic tangrams in great colors at a teacher supply store.
You can order a colorful set of four here. Or you can print and cut out paper tangrams on cardstock here.

   

• Tangram Puzzles
  1. Make several puzzle cards and laminate them.
  2. Before I gave them to my 3-year-old, I solved the puzzles and drew lines so they would be much simpler for him. Believe me, it really makes them think just figuring how to turn the pieces the right way to fit inside the puzzle.
  3. There are several shapes to choose from here (or click on the pictures above).

Read Three Pigs, One Wolf, Seven Magic Shapes by Grace Maccarone. Use tangram shapes to recreate the figures in the book to help the pigs solve problems they encounter! Amazon has the book herefor about $4 … a fantastic addition to your tangram unit!

Print out the shapes from the book here and solve the puzzles with tangram pieces. Includes puzzles for …

1. a duck
2. a house
3. a cat
4. a boat
5. a whale
6. a seal
7. a bear
8. a running man
9. a dog

Snack Idea: Cut a sandwich into tangram pieces

Shapes

• "Mouse Shapes" by Ellen Stoll Walsh is a great shape book and would work nicely to read before doing the activity below. Available here.

 

• Shape pictures
  1. Cut out a variety of shapes. I used different shapes, colors and sizes. Save these in a baggie.
  2. Give the kids a blank paper and spread several of the shapes on the table.
  3. Let them glue and create any kind of picture they want to.
  4. Use crayons to add detail and background.
  5. I did show them a few ideas before we started like how to make a train or face or house. It was fun to see how different they were.

• Shape Run
  1. Draw several different shapes on several plastic buckets (one on each).
  2. Place the buckets upside down in the yard a good distance from each other.
  3. Call out the name of one of the shapes, then blow a whistle & have the kids run to that bucket. Repeat!
• Shape Hunt
  1. Show the kids a circle cut-out then search around the house for things that are circle shaped.
  2. Then show them a square cut-out and search the house for square-shaped things.
  3. Use a triangle, oval, star, heart, etc. I'm always surprised how much they love this game!

Treat idea: S’mores!

Use a square graham cracker half, a couple small rectangles of chocolate, and a circle marshmallow. Melt in the microwave for 20 seconds (watch them, they puff quickly!). Smoosh together and eat.

Snack Idea ... Use circle Ritz crackers, square cheese slices and triangle/rectangle slices of meat for a yummy lunchable type snack.