At 6 a.m. this morning I ventured outside to harvest icicles. The task was made that much more interesting with the -13F temperatures! I filled our large cooler half full of the icey beauties. I suppose I could have woke up my kids to help, but let's just say I wasn't feeling quite that adventuresome.
So why would I go icicle harvesting? Well, my lesson today for Nature Preschool is about ice. What better way to explore ice but by bringing real icicles inside to explore!
If you want to explore ice with your children, check out the ideas at this website: http://www.suite101.com/content/preschool-activities-about-ice-a86579
Friday, February 4, 2011
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Happy Groundhog's Day
Despite Phil's prediction of an early spring we had a HUGE snowstorm today. The whole family ended up being home for a snow day, which rarely happens in Vermont. So we spent the day eating good meals and spending quality time together.
Our outdoor 'nature time' focused mainly on the adults shoveling while the kids played. At one point my son lost his toy shovel down a steep bank and went to retrieve it. I had a scary feeling that an avalanche might occur because we had piled a large amount of fresh powdery snow in that area and it seemed unstable. Luckily he got up the hill unscathed.
His next project was making new sledding runs in front of the house. Despite his best efforts he kept sinking into the powdery snow. So I had to put down my shovel (boohoo) and use his sled to pack down the runs. It's great to have an excuse to stop all productive work in order to help your child sled. After a bunch of laughs, since I too would occasionally sink down, we agreed that getting a foot of snow in just a few hours is a lot of fun...but then again Daddy was the one left doing most of the shoveling today!
Our next outdoor project --- build a snow shelter. Hopefully we will make it this weekend!
Our outdoor 'nature time' focused mainly on the adults shoveling while the kids played. At one point my son lost his toy shovel down a steep bank and went to retrieve it. I had a scary feeling that an avalanche might occur because we had piled a large amount of fresh powdery snow in that area and it seemed unstable. Luckily he got up the hill unscathed.
His next project was making new sledding runs in front of the house. Despite his best efforts he kept sinking into the powdery snow. So I had to put down my shovel (boohoo) and use his sled to pack down the runs. It's great to have an excuse to stop all productive work in order to help your child sled. After a bunch of laughs, since I too would occasionally sink down, we agreed that getting a foot of snow in just a few hours is a lot of fun...but then again Daddy was the one left doing most of the shoveling today!
Our next outdoor project --- build a snow shelter. Hopefully we will make it this weekend!
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Thermometers
Winter is a great time is teach our children about temperature! How detailed you get with your "temperature lesson" will likely depend on the age of the child and their knowledge of numbers. My five year old has recently learned to count to 100 so I felt pretty confident that he'd be successful in learning to read a thermometer. Granted our current temps have been below zero quite a lot lately and he doesn't grasp the concept of negative numbers. (For that matter, I am not sure that I can fully comprehend -23F but I try to!)
To get us started I made a fun project "paper thermometers'. We made these by printing out a thermometer template onto card stock (see link below). We added red & white curling ribbon that could be moved up and down. The red portion of the ribbon is the part to read, which made more sense to my son when we looked at a real thermometer. Then we practiced reading the temperature in increments of 10. We were looking at just Fahrenheit for now. I left the Celsius markings on our models since the rest of the world uses C and one day I will teach my son C as well as F. :)
Then to make sense of what the different numbers mean we read a mini book called "Watching the Weather". This does a good job describing the four season and explains the weather associated with each. The book also has pictures of thermometers in it to show the tempature. As we read the book my son adjusted his paper thermometer to reflect that temparture. (Unfortunately I can't put a link or copy of the book in this blog, but if I find something similar I will post it in the future.)
Likely a younger child would not understand that the white ribbon isn't meant to be read. I suppose clear fishing line would be a better substitute for the white curling ribbon. Either way, younger children would enjoy moving the ribbon up and down! This could just be an simple intro for them.
Another activity that works well are "Temparture Sequencing Cards" (see link below). The child puts the cards in order based on the temperature (coldest to warmest). This clearly illustrates what would happen to a snowman as the temparture rises. {A couple of tips on using these is that you may want to enlarge them on a copier to make the numbers appear larger. Also, don't include the directions card because it confuses the child as to why there are two cards with 30F.)
Other extensions:
*Purchase a zipper pull type thermometer. My son has one with a wistle and he enjoys using it when we are on our outdoor adventures.
* Purchase an indoor/outdoor thermometer that has a picture of person and illustrates how to dress for certain temperatures.
*Practice simple temparture experiments with cups of water and ice cubes. (I'll be posting some of these soon.)
* Keep a nature journal and log occasionally what the temperature is!
For a free printable thermometer -- go here:
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/measurement/printable/44638.html
For free snowman sequencing cards -- go here:
http://www.makinglearningfun.com/themepages/SnowmanTemperatureSequencing.htm
To get us started I made a fun project "paper thermometers'. We made these by printing out a thermometer template onto card stock (see link below). We added red & white curling ribbon that could be moved up and down. The red portion of the ribbon is the part to read, which made more sense to my son when we looked at a real thermometer. Then we practiced reading the temperature in increments of 10. We were looking at just Fahrenheit for now. I left the Celsius markings on our models since the rest of the world uses C and one day I will teach my son C as well as F. :)
Then to make sense of what the different numbers mean we read a mini book called "Watching the Weather". This does a good job describing the four season and explains the weather associated with each. The book also has pictures of thermometers in it to show the tempature. As we read the book my son adjusted his paper thermometer to reflect that temparture. (Unfortunately I can't put a link or copy of the book in this blog, but if I find something similar I will post it in the future.)
Likely a younger child would not understand that the white ribbon isn't meant to be read. I suppose clear fishing line would be a better substitute for the white curling ribbon. Either way, younger children would enjoy moving the ribbon up and down! This could just be an simple intro for them.
Another activity that works well are "Temparture Sequencing Cards" (see link below). The child puts the cards in order based on the temperature (coldest to warmest). This clearly illustrates what would happen to a snowman as the temparture rises. {A couple of tips on using these is that you may want to enlarge them on a copier to make the numbers appear larger. Also, don't include the directions card because it confuses the child as to why there are two cards with 30F.)
Other extensions:
*Purchase a zipper pull type thermometer. My son has one with a wistle and he enjoys using it when we are on our outdoor adventures.
* Purchase an indoor/outdoor thermometer that has a picture of person and illustrates how to dress for certain temperatures.
*Practice simple temparture experiments with cups of water and ice cubes. (I'll be posting some of these soon.)
* Keep a nature journal and log occasionally what the temperature is!
For a free printable thermometer -- go here:
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/measurement/printable/44638.html
For free snowman sequencing cards -- go here:
http://www.makinglearningfun.com/themepages/SnowmanTemperatureSequencing.htm
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
What's your lowest temp?
After a few days of indoor play, I am SO excited to get the kids outside later this morning. We survived an "Arctic Blast" for the last four days but the kids are starting to climb the walls. Today the high will be 31F so we will take full advantage of the 'warm' temperatures!
What's your lower limit for taking your kids outside? For Nature Preschool we say 15F but for my own kids we venture out in 10F. I find that as long as there isn't wind our winter gear keeps us toasty for at least 30-45 minutes of outdoor play.
Besides our Queen is very good at letting us know when she is cold. She rips off her gloves and screams. We know that we immediately need to head inside. Luckily we play mostly in the woods behind our house so that we can quickly head inside.
Well...enough blogging for today. The great outdoors is calling.
What's your lower limit for taking your kids outside? For Nature Preschool we say 15F but for my own kids we venture out in 10F. I find that as long as there isn't wind our winter gear keeps us toasty for at least 30-45 minutes of outdoor play.
Besides our Queen is very good at letting us know when she is cold. She rips off her gloves and screams. We know that we immediately need to head inside. Luckily we play mostly in the woods behind our house so that we can quickly head inside.
Well...enough blogging for today. The great outdoors is calling.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Hibernation Games
Baby it's cold outside! This has been the coldest weather we have had all winter and we have spent an unusual amount of time indoors. So I decided to plan some fun indoor games for the kiddos while we hibernate.
1. Indoor snowballs - masking tape and tissue paper are all it takes to make an arsenal of snowballs. Just the making of these took my five year old about an hour! Then we played snowball basketball, snowball toss, and a not so successful round of snowball bowling! (Rolled up socks or large white pom poms can make great snowballs too!)
2. Ice Fishing - I had made a fishing game last fall for my son's "Camp Out" themed birtday party. Last night I gave it a winter make-over.
I took a large flat box and covered it in cotton quilt batting, then I used hot glue and few staples to secure. To make it seem more like ICE fishing we added a penguin made from construction paper, tongue depressor snowflakes, cotton balls as snowballs, and the ice pieces from the game "Don't Break the Ice". The sign I painted was supposed to say "Ice Fishing" but I sort of ran out of room for the 'ing', but I still liked the effect of sprinkling coarse salt on the wet painted letters.
We got to take this game to a friend's birthday party and it was a big hit. We discovered that two fishing poles were the most that should be used. Tangled fishing line and stealing each other's fish seemed less of a problem when just two folks were fishing!
3. Mitten Toss Game - I covered another piece of cardboard with the cotton quilt batting but this time I cut three holes in it. Then I took a few pairs of outgrown mittens, added pillow stuffing, and sew them shut. My son suggested making each hole worth points so we cut numbers from glittery felt and hot glued them to the batting. To make the game stand up we tied it to a milk crate and put it up on a desk so it was easier to toss into. ~~ This game also went to the birthday party and it seemed enjoyable for both the 2 year olds and the 5 year olds. Though the latter seemed to enjoy hitting each other with the mittens than tossing them through the holes.
4. Snowman Dress Up - we pulled out of box of winter accessories and took turns dressing each other up as snow people. Some left over black top hats from New Year's Eve made us look like the real Frosty. For buttons we cut circles from sticky backed foam, but they are a one time use since they lose their stickyness quickly.
6. Indoor Igloos - think fort building but with white sheets and winter clothes on. Before we began building we looked at the book "How to build an Igloo" so inspiration. Building a real igloo is on our "winter to do list" but hasn't happened yet.
My son also made a cute Igloo craft using crepe paper pieces and blue& white paper scraps. He drew 12 snowflakes for others to find!
7. Indoor Skating - with pieces of wax paper under our feet we tried skating on the carpet but my 5 year old found it too difficult. After a few different attmepts, he found that plastic pot scrubbers held on by rubber bands were much more fun on the tile floor. He even put pot scrubbers on his knees so he'd look like a hockey player! Too funny!
1. Indoor snowballs - masking tape and tissue paper are all it takes to make an arsenal of snowballs. Just the making of these took my five year old about an hour! Then we played snowball basketball, snowball toss, and a not so successful round of snowball bowling! (Rolled up socks or large white pom poms can make great snowballs too!)
2. Ice Fishing - I had made a fishing game last fall for my son's "Camp Out" themed birtday party. Last night I gave it a winter make-over.
I took a large flat box and covered it in cotton quilt batting, then I used hot glue and few staples to secure. To make it seem more like ICE fishing we added a penguin made from construction paper, tongue depressor snowflakes, cotton balls as snowballs, and the ice pieces from the game "Don't Break the Ice". The sign I painted was supposed to say "Ice Fishing" but I sort of ran out of room for the 'ing', but I still liked the effect of sprinkling coarse salt on the wet painted letters.
We got to take this game to a friend's birthday party and it was a big hit. We discovered that two fishing poles were the most that should be used. Tangled fishing line and stealing each other's fish seemed less of a problem when just two folks were fishing!
3. Mitten Toss Game - I covered another piece of cardboard with the cotton quilt batting but this time I cut three holes in it. Then I took a few pairs of outgrown mittens, added pillow stuffing, and sew them shut. My son suggested making each hole worth points so we cut numbers from glittery felt and hot glued them to the batting. To make the game stand up we tied it to a milk crate and put it up on a desk so it was easier to toss into. ~~ This game also went to the birthday party and it seemed enjoyable for both the 2 year olds and the 5 year olds. Though the latter seemed to enjoy hitting each other with the mittens than tossing them through the holes.
4. Snowman Dress Up - we pulled out of box of winter accessories and took turns dressing each other up as snow people. Some left over black top hats from New Year's Eve made us look like the real Frosty. For buttons we cut circles from sticky backed foam, but they are a one time use since they lose their stickyness quickly.
We decided that snowmen MUST have carrot noses so we took toilet paper rolls, cut and rolled one end to a stubby point, and then used paper mache to give it some shape. Once the first layer dried, we added a layer of orange tissue paper which saved the step of having to paint them. The first one turned out so cute that I decided to make one for each of the kids at Nature Preschool!
5. Snowman Circle Match - We raided our recycling bin for anything that was circular. We traced snowmen onto white paper, cut them out, and glued them onto file folders. The object of the game is to match the recycled item, lids in our case, to the snowman. The game is really simplistic but since my son made the game he has been enjoying playing the game over and over again.
To make this a bit more fun, add more pieces to accesorize the snowmen. Buttons, googly eyes, popsicle stick arms, and felt scraps would be exciting.... but with our little 20 month old on the loose we are going to skip the extra choking hazards for this year!
6. Indoor Igloos - think fort building but with white sheets and winter clothes on. Before we began building we looked at the book "How to build an Igloo" so inspiration. Building a real igloo is on our "winter to do list" but hasn't happened yet.
My son also made a cute Igloo craft using crepe paper pieces and blue& white paper scraps. He drew 12 snowflakes for others to find!
7. Indoor Skating - with pieces of wax paper under our feet we tried skating on the carpet but my 5 year old found it too difficult. After a few different attmepts, he found that plastic pot scrubbers held on by rubber bands were much more fun on the tile floor. He even put pot scrubbers on his knees so he'd look like a hockey player! Too funny!
8. Hot Cocoa -when all else fails, make hot cocoa and read some good winter themed books -- but that's a post for another day. I need to get back to my indoor igloo!
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Snow Mazes
Each year I make a snow maze for my kids. We have a large back yard that is flat, so making the maze is as simple as putting on my snowshoes and packing down a winding path. Pictured above is the simple maze we made in January 2010. Every time we had friends over they were excited to take the meandering path, especially when they realized that there was buried treasure at the end!
This year we are working on a bit more complicated maze that connects the front & back yards and even travels down to the stream in our woods! We are making it wide enough for the wooden sled so the Queen can be pulled along. To make it even more fun we added dead ends and few speed bumps to slow down anyone traveling too fast on our maze. We also decided that drawing up a map would help us explain to friends the best path to take & highlight some of the special attractions that are not to miss. Hopefully we get a couple of more dumpings of snow so that the maze lasts for several more months!
Another simple way of making a maze is to fill a large storage tote with snow to give it some weight. Then push the tote around the yard to pack the snow down. I did this last week with several kids at Nature Preschool and they were amazed at the results! Of course the kids thought it was a chasing game so as I pushed the tote they were hot on my trail trying to catch me!
Either the snowshoe or tote method work well because they pack the snow. If you shoveled the path it would not last as long because on warm days (what are those?) your maze would melt and disappear. Besides shoveling is too much effort!
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Snowball Maker
A Christmas gift to myself this year was a Snowball Maker. I'm not sure why but it's something I have wanted for several years. I just felt too silly buying one for myself. Now that my son wants to have snowball fights, I had a perfect excuse to buy one!
I also bought a "Snofling" but that has somehow disappear. It will likely resurface in the spring when our snow drifts melt! For now we will just take turns with red snowball maker, which makes the most beautifully round snowballs you could ever want!
Sometimes simple little toys like this one make spending time in nature just that more fun!
~~~ oh and while I'm thinking of it...we did establish some ground rules for snowball throwing:
1. Absolutely no snowballs thrown at the Queen (our nickname for my daughter)
2. Snowballs only thrown at people with their permission.
3. No snowballs thrown at a person's face.
4. When someone says they are done playing then you must stop throwing snowballs at them. :)
Note: The Flexible Flyer Snowball Maker is available through Amazon for about $9!
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