Who else is all about WINTER fun?! I am so excited to give you a look at some (so many more in the set here) of the activities included in our Pre-K Winter Themed set and can’t wait to see you use these ideas and activities with your littles. Bring on the snowmen, snowflakes, cocoa, and mittens!
This year I am planning our activities bingo board style! You can read more about how I plan our enrichment activities here. Basically for each theme, I jot down and prep about 20 activities and store them in a plastic bin for a quick pull, play, and learn time! We do each theme for about two weeks so I pull about 2 activities a day. This has been awesome because I’m only prepping twice a month then I’m set! I even store themed books in the bin so I’m we’re sure to read them.
There are so many awesome winter-themed books for littles, but these SIX top our list.
Let it Snow by Maryann Cocca-Leffler
Sneezy the Snowman by Maureen Wright
There was an Old Lady who Swallowed some Snow! by Lucille Colandro
Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner
The Magic of Friendship Snow by Andi Cann
What are your favorites? We’d love to know! Now time to dive in and check out some activities that are sure to get your kiddos chatting even more about winter fun!
WINTER SNOWMAN SENSORY BIN
This bin is a beauty! A mixed blue dyed rice filler (how-to video here), pompoms, snowflakes, glass gems, and plastic DIY snowmen made for an inviting scene. We read a story then I set it out and just let my girls explore, imagine, talk, and play. Over the week we tossed in various skills and they never got tired of it.
LOOKING FOR ANOTHER HANDS-ON SENSORY PLAY IDEA? DIY FAKE SNOW
CATCH A SNOWFLAKE – NUMBER RECOGNITION
I live in California so standing outside and catching snow on my tongue is not something I’ve experienced, BUT this counting activity is super fun and lets us all imagine. HA! Pick a card, identify the number, then count out snowflakes (#targetminierasers) to match. The activity includes a ten frame recording sheet too!
MITTEN MATCH – BEGINNING SOUNDS
Add a little winter twist to your beginning sounds practice with this mitten match activity. Cut apart the mitten pairs then invite your littles to pick a letter mitten, identify the sound the letter makes, and find a picture that starts with that same sound.
SNOWMAN NAME CRAFT
If you read Snowman at Night by Caralyn Buehner then this activity makes the perfect follow up craft! I gave my oldest the supplies and invited her to cut out all the basic shapes. She then worked to glue them on the page. We tied in some name practice by writing the letters in her name on the snowflakes then ordering them in the sky. So CUTE!
WINTER NUMBER PUZZLES- NUMBER RECOGNITION/SUBITIZING
It’s so fun to add a little puzzle making to the mix. These 3-piece number puzzles are a great way to practice number recognition with littles. Pick a piece and find the others to complete each puzzle.
SNOWFLAKE LETTER HOP
Time to get moving! Practicing letters (numbers, shapes, sight words, etc.) can definitely be done while working on fine motor skills and this is one way to do it. Write letters on foam snowflakes, toss them on the ground, then call out a letter as your little hops to it! Another idea is to turn it into a freeze dance game! Turn on the tunes, invite your littles to dance around, then when the music stops they hop on a letter and share its name and sound.
WINTER SYLLABLE STACK
This is an easy print and go activity! Print out the syllable sheet, pair with some stacking erasers, then clap the syllables and stack how many. Which snowflake tower has the most syllables?
ICE CUBE PAINTING – SENSORY PLAY
Have you ever used ice cubes for painting? This is a fun (COLD) way to paint! Fill an ice cube tray with water and add a drop of food dye to each cube. Freeze. When they are done pop them out and pair with a blank sheet of paper for painting. This one is all about exploring so definitely process art style.
WINTER PLAY DOUGH MATS – FINE MOTOR
I love pulling out themed play dough mats and adding them to our regular play dough time. Such a fun way to encourage winter vocab, but also gets littles to roll, smash, and create in a way they might not of otherwise.
Any of these ideas look like something you could use with your littles? I absolutely LOVE sharing themed activities with you all and hope to inspire you to play and learn with your littles each day.
Remember a little each day goes a long way! Check out this FULL WINTER RESOURCE in my shop. It’s jam-packed with fun and follow us on INSTAGRAM @ engaging_littles to see what we are up to daily. Happy day!
PIN FOR LATER…
No Comments