1-2-3 Come Do Some Pussy Willow Activities With Me

"Fun With Pussy Willows" is another "From my Heart to your Hands" FREEBIE.

Spring is such a fun time to be outside, breathing in the beauty of nature, as things start to bud, bloom and grow.

Pussy willows are one of the first signs of spring here in Michigan, so I like to gather a bunch and bring them into the classroom for my kiddos to touch.

They exclaim at the softness of the little puffs, and can certainly understand how these lovely branches got their name.

With that in mind, I designed this "Fun With Pussy Willows" packet. I hope you enjoy the activities, as much as I did creating them.

The packet includes:

• 2 real photographs of pussy willows, in case they don’t grow near you. Use them to introduce your lesson, then later as part of your bulletin board display. 
  

     . 2, intersting legends about how the pussy willow got its name. You can read these as part of your introduction as well.

     . A pussy willow craft.  

Students can draw a few “twig” branches on their paper and create their own pussy willow pattern, or for younger kiddos, who need a bit of guidance, you can run off my pattern on construction paper.

A bright blue or gray blue color looks like a spring sky, but to add variety to your display, you could give children a color choice.

So the "branches" of the pussy willow stand out, have children trace a thick, brown line over them using a brown crayon.

There are two options for making a pussy willow picture, and both look stunning.

One is made by pulling a pinch of cotton from a cotton ball, then balling it up a bit, and gluing it to the oval sections on the branches. 

For less mess, I squirted a dollop of Elmers glue on a paper plate.

Children then dip their Q-tip into the glue and put a dab on the oval sections of their paper, then press the cotton in place.   Older students can simply use the glue bottle. 

I filled in the entire paper using just half of a cotton ball.  As you can see by the photographs, the wonderful 3D results are quite realistic.

The other option is to have children make a "keepsake" picture, by dipping their pointer finger into a dollop of white, acrylic paint, then pressing their "print" onto the oval sections.

For this picture, I added a 3D effect by gluing a real twig to the center branch of my pussy willows.

While the paint is still wet, sprinkling on a bit of opalescent glitter really adds a lovely finishing touch to the picture. 

I've included a little poem, inside of a heart, which children can cut & glue to the bottom left corner of their picture:

This pussy willow's special, as you can plainly see.  I made it with my fingerprints, with lots of TLC.  It's bringing springtime wishes, with love to you from me.

The packet also includes...

    . Letters that spell “Pussy Willows” to use as a caption for your spring bulletin board or hallway display.

I made the letters using background paper featuring various pussy willow branches.

       . Since April is Poetry Month, I thought it fitting to include a pussy willow poem, which you can use as the center of your display. 

I love the stanza "...and I'll rub spring across your cheek."  which provides th perfect opportunity to teach about metaphor.

Students can also try their hand at writing poetry,  by coloring, and filling in the acrostic poem worksheet.

An acrostic is a poem where the first letter of each line is used to describe that word.

Acrostics provide wonderful practice for descriptive writing and learning about adjectives & synonyms, as well as being a nice vocabulary builder.

Students can use just one word as I did (especially because the S & L letters are used twice), or they can use several words or even a partial sentence or phrase.

The letter I proved a bit challenging, so you might tell students that they can use the I as a pronoun, as in "I like pussy willows." However, the word Interesting also works.

Here’s an example of another acrostic for the word spring, where I used phrases rather than single words.
Splashing in puddles
Plants are blooming
Rainbows in a sunny sky
I see buds sprouting
Nests are being built
Gray clouds threaten rain.

No matter what grade I taught, all of my students really enjoyed writing acrostic poems. 

       .There are also 3 additional worksheets, which include a Venn diagram comparing pussy willows to kittens.

Any of these worksheets, as well as the acrostic poems, can be added to your bulletin board display, and look really nice hung with the pussy willow craft, topped off with the "Pussy Willows" lettering.

Well that's it for today. Thanks for stopping by.

I'm wishing you a fun-filled spring, touched by many soft & tender moments.

For more springtime activities click this LINK.

"Spring is a lovely reminder of how beautiful change can truly be."