January Winter Projects

Our theme for January is winter and snow. Here are some of the things we are worked on this month.

Snowman Collage
The children used cotton balls and cut up paper strips.

Bubble Wrap Prints
We used light and bright blue paint.

I cut pieces into rectangles and used packing tape to close up 2 of the ends. It made the perfect bubble wrap mitt for the children's hands. This was the large bubble wrap and I'd love to try it with the tiny bubble wrap as well.

It started getting very blue so a little purple and lavender was in order.

Look at how nice the pattern looks at the end.

Marshmallow Prints
We used large marshmallows and left over paint from bubble prints.

There was a range of creating from organized to overlapping.

Ice Painting 

We use water and food coloring in ice cube trays to make 'paint'. I add cut pieces of drinking straw so that the kids don't freeze their fingers.

Wood Stick Snow Flakes

Ice Melting

We use an ice block, water tinted with food coloring, salt, and eye droppers for this science exploration. The children learn that ice melts in different ways and can see the variations using the colored water. Teachers sprinkle salt on top of the ice block to speed some of the melting process and create channels in the middle of the cube for the water to run down. Our first group used blue water and our second group used red so we also learned about color mixing too.

Rain Clouds

We made these using construction paper, various blue tissue paper, and cotten balls.

Snow Play

Ok, so we don't live in an area where it snows. The next best thing? Shaving cream! The children painted and sculpted with our version of snow.

Gingerbread House Party

What better type of Christmas party for children than a buffet of candy and frosting made out of sugar! With the help from parents, each student was able to build their house using a standard school lunch size milk carton, graham crackers, and homemade royal icing that acts like glue. Once the structure was set in place, candy was then added for decoration.

The self-serve candy station. Families donated all sorts of candy. We used individual bowls for each child to hold their candy selection and a spoon for them to scoop the loose candy with.

First the roof and walls were placed on using icing.

Then the edges were frosted to help support the structure.

Then the candy was added!

We used sandwich sized zip lock bags filled with royal icing as piping bags. Just a tiny  little cut in the corner does the trick.

Older students learned about squeezing out their own icing.

Younger students enjoyed adding the candy pieces.

Of course what Christmas party wouldn't be complete without hot coco and snacks.

Some of the finished houses.

The Gingerbread Man

During the month of December we spend a week reading "The Gingerbread Man" story and have a few fun activities that go along with the book.

We take time to finger paint a gingerbread man cut out.

We make a really really BIG gingerbread man of our own using gingerbread cookie dough. Its hard to make one free form so a shape is traced onto parchment paper and we work on pressing the dough inside the lines.

After all the dough is pressed in we add a few decorations for his eye, nose, and buttons. Then into the oven he goes.

It took a long time for him to bake and he was starting to smell really good. So naturally we checked on him. When we opened the oven door we were shocked to see that he was gone!

After following the flour trail he left all over the school, we finally found him out back playing near the sandbox. He was 'chilling' out and having some fun.

We quickly caught him and brought him inside.

He didn't put up to much of a fight and was a really yummy snack.

Since it was so much fun catching the gingerbread man, we decided it would be nice to make a hat with him on it.

Now we can pretend to be a gingerbread man too.

Christmas Holiday Fun

Red and green marble paint.

Christmas collage wind socks.

Popcorn Santa hat.

Decorating Christmas trees.

Thanksgiving

Toward the end of fall we began preparing for our Thanksgiving feast.

We strung colorful necklaces using cereal.

We decorated vests with colorful paint.

We put heavy cream in a jar and shook it to make butter.

We formed dough into biscuits for our potluck meal.

And we got all dressed up to share our feast.

Pumpkin Junction Field Trip

Our field trip started off with a train ride around the grounds. We saw a reindeer, a pond, peacocks, and lots of other fun things. This train was just our size too.

Next was a ride on the 2 story carousel. The older students had fun riding on horses that moved up and down.

Some of the younger kids and I rode in a carriage seat that was a little more safe.

Next we walked through the maze. One stop in the maze was to decorate an old piece of farm equipment with sidewalk chalk. Everyone enjoyed drawing pictures and writing their names.

Then we walked through the tunnel.

Another stop was at this maypole game. It was a little hard for us to coordinate holding on and walking in the same direction. It was a lot of fun trying this out.

After the maze it was movie time. We learned about how pumpkins grow from seed. Then we got to hear a story about a square pumpkin.

Once the movie was over, it was finally time to pick our own pumpkins to take home.

Next we went to the sleuths to pan for special rocks.

We each got a small bag of shiny rocks to take home.

After a morning full of activities we were able to stop and have a special popcorn snack and color some scarecrow pictures. Then we grabbed our pumpkins and headed back to school for lunch and a nap. It was such a fun a special day for all of us.