Frosty the Snowman

 

• Read “Frosty the Snowman” … The original Little Golden Book is one of our favorites. There are several versions available here and here. Check your library!

• Dangling Snowman Craft … a cute snowman from Family Fun
  1. Cut out three circles from white cardstock or white craft foam paper
  2. Glue or tape spaced out along a length of string (loop at the top).
  3. Use glue dots to attach buttons and a carrot nose.
  4. Add coal eyes and mouth with a marker or crayon.
  5. Tie on a ribbon scarf.

 

• Snowflake Counting … photo and idea from Making Learning Fun
  1. Print these great snowman counting cards from Making Learning Fun.
  2. Use wagon wheel pasta (you can spray paint the noodles white to look like real snowflakes)
  3. Count out the number of snowflakes to match the snowman’s number.

• Snowman Names … love this idea from Under the Big Top
  1. Make a simple snowman head from a white circle, black top hat and decorate with coal eyes and a carrot nose.
  2. Cut out enough white circles for each letter of your child’s name (first or last)
  3. Write one letter on each snowball.
  4. On a long blue paper, glue the snowballs stacked up to make a tall, tall snowman name!
  5. Or make a small version with white dot stickers and use as a bookmark!

 

• Snowman Snacks … a couple of variations
  1. Use three slices of banana (skewered or just on a plate)
  2. Add two pretzel stick arms.
  3. Use blueberries or mini chocolate chips for buttons & eyes.
  4. A small apple slice topped with a grape for a hat.
  5. A sliver of carrot for a nose.

• Frosty the Snowman Bagel … from Family Fun
1. Spread cream cheese on a bagel
2. Put a baby carrot in the bagel hole.
3. Add 2 black olive eyes (or grapes!)
4. Slice a red pepper stick to make a mouth.

Click here for more Snowman activities!

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.