1-2-3 Come Frolic With Me: Winter Craftivities, Bulletin Boards and Games

I was really on a creative roll yesterday.  All one needs to do is spend a little time on Pinterest and your brain will shoot into over drive!  So many ideas and not enough time in my life to do everything I'd like to.  Sound familiar?

While browsing, I found a wooden snowman used as a countdown to Christmas.  I found versions of this idea all over, so not sure who was the originator, but I thought the moveable carrot nose would be perfect for the classroom. 

It was fun designing a paper snowman face that can review upper and lowercase letters and numbers to 20.  I've included a face for skip counting by 2's, 3's, 5's or 10's.  

You can also simply make one for your calendar center and countdown the days in January.  

These make a quick and easy way to whole-group assess too. 

Call out a number/letter and have students move their snowman's nose to that position or... move your teacher sample to an uppercase letter, and have students find the matching lowercase letter on theirs. 

For added pizzazz I ran the carrot noses through my crinkle machine.  My Y5's called this the "Cruncher Muncher."  It provided great fine motor practice as students turned the crank to get the paper through the rollers. 

Poke a hole at the end of the carrot and use a brass brad to fasten the nose to the snowman.   Click on the link to view/download the Snowman's Nose packet.

For more letter and number practice, have your students put together these winter pine tree puzzles.  They can be done as an independent center activity, or you can make copies for your students. 

Children cut the green number/letter tiles and then glue them in appropriate order on the boxed grid.  For that extra bit of pizzazz, run the template off on blue construction paper and have students dot on "snowflakes" with a Q-tip. 

If you celebrate 100 Day in January, this is a wonderful "craftivity" that makes a cool bulletin board.  Caption:  Mrs. Henderson's Kinders Are Doing Tree-mendous Work!  Click on the link to view/download the Pine Tree Puzzles

Another awesome bulletin board for January, features a New Year's writing prompt. 

Basketball, soccer and football are all sports where players score goals, so I thought it would be fun to have students write what their goals were for the New Year on the ball of their choice.  

I've included a poster that you can put in the center of your bulletin board as a caption. 

Besides the balls, there are also 2 writing prompt pages for journal writing, which includes one with a hockey theme.   Click on the link to grab the New Year Goals Packet. 

Another New Year's activity you can have your kiddo's do, is see how many words they can come up with, using the letters in Happy New Year.   I've included a list of 267 words. 

When students are done, share your list to see if there are any words that they aren't familiar with; have them write them on their paper and look them up.   Click on the link to check out the How Many New Year activity.

Since the fact family houses have been such popular downloads, I designed an igloo "Frosty Fact Family Fun" packet.  Choose whatever number you want your students to work on. 

They write it in the center of the snowflake and then write all of the equations that they can think of, on the outer sections of their snowflake, to show that number.  

Do one each day; to make their booklet, have students glue their snowflake to an igloo-shaped page.  Add their photo for that finishing touch.  Click on the link to view/downlaod the Frosty Fact Family Fun packet.

For More number fun, I think you'll enjoy the snowflake number cards.  Use these for your word wall, a bulletin board, flashcards, games, or an independent center. 

Print; laminate and cut into puzzles for even more ideas.   I've also included 3 sets of snowflake tiles so students can sort, pattern and make groups/sets to match the number on the cards.  Click on the link to grab the Snowflake Number cards.

Finally, I had a request from Karla out in Vermont, for penguin alphabet and number cards. 

She wanted something small that her pre-schoolers could manipulate.  She only needed numbers to 10, but I included a blank template for you to program with more. 

There's also a list of ideas you can use the cards for, including games like "Kaboom!"  Click on the link if you'd like a set of these mini-penguins.   

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away.  My "Pin It!" button is at the top.  As you can see I design and blog daily, so I hope you can stop by tomorrow to see all the newest FREEBIES, created by this brain that needs a shut-off button!

"Celebrate what you want to see more of." -Tom Peters

1-2-3 Come Do Some Winter Craftivities And Games With Me!

Did you ever have one of those days where you might as well have stayed in bed?  Well that was yesterday! The reason there was no blog article was that our main server (in Texas) crashed. It seemed everything techno in my world went on the fritz, from my e-mail, to the printer and even my favorite design software was having glitchy hiccups. 

I apologize if you tried to visit us and got an error-connection message.  I'm back to being a happy camper with lots of FREEBIES to share.

Keep review of upper and lowercase letters, numbers and skip counting fresh and interesting, by making these puzzles.  Laminate for an independent center (I've included a blank grid for kiddo's to place the pieces on), or have your students pick one, run them off and then they cut and glue them to a blue or black sheet of construction paper. 

If you're doing the alphabet, have students think of a word that starts with that letter on the puzzle piece, and then write it on the appropriate tree-strip.

Remind students to leave a little gap inbetween the pieces.  You can add a bit of pizzazz by dipping a Q-tip in glue and then dotting on "snowflakes."  For an awesome effect, sprinkle with white or silver glitter.

These make a lovely bulletin board too. Caption: Learning About Letters and Numbers Is "Snow" Much Fun! or "Look At All Of The TREE-mendous Work From Mrs. Henderson's Kinders!"  Click on the link for the Snowman Tummy Puzzles or The 13 Merry-Making Tree Puzzles.

Since the Silly Shaped penguins and Owls Shape Up "craftivities" continue to be in the top 10 downloaded items from my site, I decided to design a Shapely Snowman, as well as a Gingerbread set, with plans to make special shape pals for all of the months. (i.e. pumpkins for October and butterflies for April!) 

You can make the gingerbread heads a game, by running the bow pieces off on red construction paper.
Instead of gluing the shape words inside the bows and then gluing them to the gingerbread head, glue only the bows.  Keep the shape-word circles separate.

Students place the shape word on to the matching shapely gingerbread's bow.  To make a girl gingerbread, glue the bows to the top of the head. Glue it as a bow tie under the chin to make a gingerbread boy. To add a bit of pizzazz, I used white puffy paint for "frosting."  Click on the link for the Shapely Gingerbread packet. 

There are also several things you can do with the Shapely Snowman templates.  Make a laminated set for a bulletin board, or use as puzzles for an independent center activity. 

For a center matching game, do not glue the hats on the snowmen.  Instead make only one hat with interchangeable hat bands.  Students pick a shape word-hat band and place it on the hat, then they look for the matching snowman and place the hat on his head.  Play continues 'til the child has used all of the hat bands and snowmen.  Click on the link to view/download the Shapely Snowman Packet. 

Another popular winter activity is the Snowman Glyph.  Each one turns out a bit different so this too makes an adorable bulletin board.  Click on the link to view/download the Snowman Glyph.

Practice addition and subtraction with Dominic the Snowman Domino-Dice game.  Click on the link to grab it.

That's it for today.  Thanks for visiting.  I hope you can stop by tomorrow for even more FREEBIES.  My brain is on over-drive again, and since the weather outside is "frightful" I might as well have a "delightful" time inside designing away.  Feel free to PIN away!

"Snowmen fall from Heaven unassembled." -Unknown