TIP SHEET: Alternative Winter Activities
Holidays are wonderful times for celebrations. However, many holidays are based around religions that not all of the children celebrate in our Playspace Program. We want to help all children feel respected and valued in the Playspace, and therefore we avoid celebrating any holiday that does not represent all religions. Instead, we celebrate Seasons! Here are some ideas to keep the festivity in the Playspace this winter, while respecting all cultures.
Tissue Paper Snow Paint
Create your own winter wonderland inside! For this project, you will need to combine white paint, white glue, and glitter. Mix in small pieces of tissue paper for the added snow effect. This will create a textured paint that will be interesting for the kids and that would look more like real snow than regular paint. Let the children stir up the paint mixture and allow them to paint with brushes and their hands on a blue piece of paper to create a blizzard on paper! Reference: http://mynearestanddearest.com/tissue-paper-snow-paint/
Winter Words Discovery Bottle
A great activity for all ages, this craft promotes literacy and words in the Playspace. Start with a clean, dry plastic bottle. Fill it about three-quarters full with tiny shredded paper or tissue paper. Add craft embellishments like small white pompoms, cardstock snowflakes, silver glitter or anything else you might have that fits the winter theme. Write a list of winter words (such as icicle, snowflake, winter, mittens, frozen, ect) on heavy cardstock. Be sure to print each word on both the back and front of the cardstock. Put them into the bottle and twist the cap on tightly. Let the children shake up the bottle and say the words that they find inside. You can have the kids write the words down on a separate paper and draw the word also. Have fun discovering words!
Reference: http://www.cbc.ca/parents/play/view/winter-words-discovery-bottle
Counting Snowballs Math Game
Gather fifteen white pompoms and 6 small foam snowmen. If you don’t have foam snowmen, you can also have the children help you cut them out of white paper. Number each snowman 0-5 and place them in order. Have the children add the appropriate number of snowballs over each snowman’s head. Have them count all the snowballs as well. For older children, take away one snowman for practicing subtraction and add one back for practicing addition.
Reference: http://www.fantasticfunandlearning.com/counting-snowballs-winter-math-activity.html
Snowflake Stamp Art
You will need pipe cleaners, blue paint (or the colors if you want to be creative!) and white paper for this project. Twist the pipe cleaners into “snowflakes” with one piece sticking up as the handle. Dip the pipe cleaner stamp into the paint and press onto paper. Create a scene of different colors and overlap the stamps. Be creative and have fun!
Reference: http://www.sugaraunts.com/2014/12/winter-snowflake-stamp-art.html
