Winter Animals

In the early winter we do a Winter Animals theme in our classroom. It is always a big hit.

We talk about animals that hibernate/adapt/migrate

We make a bear cave of course! I'm getting pretty good at making caves (if i do say so myself) We use large dark blankets and drape them over our tumble mats to create tunnels and caves. We fill it with blankets, pillows and little LED push lights so that our children can read inside.

We read The Bear Snores on...a class favorite

Last year we made a hibernation chart. I was shocked at how interested the children were and how much they remembered.

For those of you who don't know Jann Brett (who writes the Mitten and Hat books) has an awesome website with tons of free down loadable activities. Also if you write an e-mail to Jann, she sends you a big packet filled with goodies. We got ours in about 2 weeks!!
Our class loves the story The Mitten. We act it out using a big giant sheet (as the mitten) and the children climb in. To make this more fun i downloaded the animal masks from Jann Brett's site and laminated them for the kids to wear.

We also read The Hat and I set up a small clothes line with pegs and winter clothes clipped to it, so the children use the props during the story.

We also do a cute animal track matching game that i downloaded from http://www.kidssoup.com
(great site by the way....you pay for it but i think it's only 20 dollars for the whole year. TOTALLY WORTH IT)

Along with this activity i put out winter animals and brown model magic clay. We make footprints in the clay and set them out to dry for the kids to take home.

Kidssoup had this super cute song that we sang every circle time. It came all of the pieces that i downloaded and made into felt board pieces. I taught the children the song every day and by Wednesday they were able to sing it by themselves and use the felt board pieces correctly.
The song is to the tune of London Bridge

Geese are honking "let's fly south"
Let's fly south, Let's fly south
Geese are honking "lets fly south"
Time to migrate!!

Ducks are quacking "lets fly south"
Let's fly south, Let's fly south
Ducks are quacking "let's fly south"
Time to migrate!!

Robins are chirping "let's fly south"
Let's fly south, Let's fly south
Robins are chirping "let's fly south"
Time to migrate!!

Owls are hooting "let's fly south"
Let's fly south, Let's fly south
Owls are hooting "let's fly south"
Time to migrate!!