Winter

We don't get snow here, but it is cold at night (and always cold indoors!), so I thought we'd go with it and do a little winter theme for awhile and imagine ourselves to have the components of a winter wonderland.

A HUGE hit with both boys was making a snowman.  Now, as I said, we don't get snow here, but Isaiah had been really wanting to make a snowman, so when I saw this Life Cycle of a Snowman from The Frugal Teacher, I thought this was about as close as we could get.  She gives details instructions and a recording sheet, which I simplified a bit for our use (since hers is written for 2nd grade), but the basics are that I filled up three balloons with water and froze them and then used a little salt to help them adhere to each other.

We put some felt pieces on to decorate our snowman.

Meet "Cheekory"--our snowman!

 We measured the depth of the water in the tub throughout the day, and Isaiah was actually really excited about the measuring.  In hindsight, I would have tried to use a container that was not as wide but deeper to make the change in water level easier to observe.  I also realized as we started that all of our rulers have a gap before the numbers start, so just putting in the ruler didn't work.  We got out a drinking straw and marked the water level on that and then just put it up against the ruler, and Isaiah recorded on his sheet.

 I saw something on Pinterest about Katy and the Big Snow by Virgina Lee Burton.  Ezekiel loves all things with motors right now, so I decided to buy the Kindle version.  The Kindle version was a little wonky with the way it ended up displayed, but it was a fun book.  Isaiah actually ended up being more into the story than Ezekiel.
We got out some salt after one of our readings of the story and drew some shapes and letters in it.

Then, we made "Salt City Maps" by drawing a map with glue and sprinkling salt on it.  

 I had brought along a small packet of fake snow that you add water to in order to make it turn into this wet, fluffy snow-like stuff, so we had some sensory play with that.  It started off with construction vehicles, but Isaiah wanted to play with dinosaurs in his snow because of having watched an episode of Dinosaur Train about the Artic.

Somehow, the dinosaurs and vehicles all ended up in one big snowy adventure together!

 Ezekiel just loves doing what he thinks big kids do, so he always wants the papers and supplies I give Isaiah!  

We made snowman number stacks by gluing cotton balls above the numbers.  Ezekiel just explored a bit, but Isaiah enjoyed counting out and lining up his cotton balls.

 One of the favorite things that I just sort of stumbled on one of the first days was a "snowball fight"!  I had several bags of cotton balls ready to use for various activities, and for some reason, I just looked at them and spontaneously decided to let the boys dump them all over the floor and have a snowball fight with them.  They begged to do it again every day!

 We used the eBook Let's Explore the Arctic and Antarctic from 1+1+1=1 and read sections of it on a few of the days.  (We actually found a book on wegivebooks.org with a lot of the same information and greater detail that we pulled up several of the days as well.)
On the day that we read the pages about animals in the Arctic and Antarctic, I gathered our animals for some play.  We were heavy on the penguins, as you can see!

On the day we read about life for people in the Arctic, I decided to use one of the big moving boxes we still have in our house to turn into a dogsled!  Isaiah LOVED it!  I let him use my measuring tape as his whip as he shouted, "Mush!"  Obviously, I was the dog, and I am quite certain that we reinforced all certainty to our neighbors that these foreigners are a crazy bunch while I pulled him around the grassy area in the middle of our colony!

This configuration was funny but less than successful in actually moving very far!

My aunt Linda had just sent Isaiah The Hat by Jan Brett for Christmas, so I was thrilled to find some printables from 1+1+1=1 to go with it!  There was a beginning sound wheel and some story prop pictures and words.  The first day, I put up the pictures and words.  The second day, Isaiah put up the pictures, and I helped Isaiah find the words.  The third day, I let Isaiah put up both, and he did a pretty good job!

After reading the story with the props the first day, as we were talking about funny hats, he asked to get his stocking down and then hopped down with it on his head, pretending to be Hedgie and wanted me to be Lisa and chase him.  He then asked to play "the Hedgie game" every day after that!

 I saw an idea to make Edible Snowflakes out of tortillas.  Tortillas are quite expensive and hard to find here, so I thought we'd try it with just using sliced bread.  The sliced bread here is not terribly pliable, so it was hard to get very interesting shapes cut out of it.  I just had to try to cut some with a knife.  It was a fun project, and both boys were very proud of their efforts, but did not turn out so pretty!

  Isaiah did a snowflake matching activity from the Tot Pack at 1+1+1=1.  (Can you tell I love her stuff?)
I had intended to make it for Ezekiel, but I accidentally printed it out in black and white, which made it a bit more challenging and seemed a bit much for Zeke.  Isaiah did it very quickly, but he has always enjoyed matching activities, so he thought it was fun to do.

We made some white playdough with glitter in it to use throughout our winter theme, and a few of my kitchen tools (the first of which I have no idea what it is actually supposed to be used for!) found a new purpose!

We wrapped up today with Isaiah and I making a playdough snowman together, which he wanted to save in his room.