Snuggle Up And Hibernate
With the arrival of colder days, it’s just about time to pull out the winter gear – snuggly blankets, soft warm sweaters, and winter boots. On those really ‘crisp’ days, you might even wish you could just curl up and hibernate! Turn frosty days and winter warmth into themes for craft projects with the kids. Try these ones to get started:
Frosty Tinfoil Etching:
Supplies: 8 ½” x 11” flat piece of cardboard (such as from a cereal box), tin foil, glue, cotton balls, icing sugar or flour, pencil or crayon, tape
Directions: Cover cardboard with tinfoil, using glue or tape to secure foil edges on the backside of cardboard. Use a cotton ball to carefully cover tinfoil with a layer of glue (dip the cotton, and dab onto foil, repeating until covered). Sprinkle icing sugar or flour over glue, covering completely. Tip cardboard to remove excess. Let dry for a few minutes. Using a dull pencil or crayon, ‘etch’ away through the icing sugar, to reveal a shiny frosty looking drawing.
Did you try this craft? Send us your comments and photos!
Reader’s Paper Chain Book Log:
How long is winter? Measure it by keeping track of all the books you’re reading together!
Supplies: coloured construction paper or paper, crayons, glue, 2 paper plates, stapler
Directions: Make a bear’s den that doubles as storage for your paper chain links: draw a bear on the face of first plate, or use construction paper circles to make bear face and ears, gluing bear to first plate. Cut second plate in half, and glue it to first plate, facing inward and matching edges of both plates. Now the bear is resting in his den. Make chain links: cut paper into equal size strips that are long enough to glue end to end to become a ‘link’ in the chain. Make first link by folding one piece of paper in half and stapling or gluing it to bottom of den. Store remaining link papers inside bear den. Every time you read a book, write the title on a piece of paper and make a link in the chain, adding it to the end of your chain.
Did you try this craft? Send us your comments and photos!
Kitchen with Kids – Collecting Seeds
Squash soup is a yummy cold weather meal, and the kids can help in the kitchen by gathering and cleaning the seeds for planting in the spring. Buy a sugar pumpkin or other squash and cut it in half, scooping out the seeds to ready the squash for roasting. The kids can sort the ‘muck’ from the seeds, and then wash the seeds, letting them dry on a paper towel. Once the seeds are completely dry, they can be stored for the winter, ready to sprout in the spring!
Simple Science – Measuring Volume
It seems that November brings either lots of rain or lots of snow, so turn the wintery weather into a little science experiment. Find three containers of similar size, but with different shapes. You could use a bowl, a cup, and a jar or storage container. Place the containers outside where they will get rained or snowed on, and make some guesses as to which one will fill up first. Was it the tallest? The widest? Which one holds the most and which one the least?
Five Minute Fun – Connect The Dots
Draw a dotted outline of a picture for your child so that they can connect the dots. They’ll get some practice holding a pencil, and they’ll be excited to see what you drew together! Take turns, letting your child place some dots for you to connect. For older kid, you can even number the dots if you like, but we found it was fun just to splash dots on the page randomly, and watch to see which way they got connected!