Children Interacting with Snow

“There’s just something beautiful about walking on snow that nobody else has walked on.”

Carol Rifka Brunt

Winter Trees

  

Explore Sunny Snowy Places

Being in a snowstorm is not fun, but afterwards when the sun shines, exploring places where children have not walked before is great fun.  Look for evergreens. They offer a variety of sights, sounds and smells. Search for cones on the ground and some that are still on the trees. Without mittens find some sap on the cones and rub it on your fingers. Is there a smell and taste? Children can rub needles together and smell. Do different kinds of conifers like pines, cedar, and spruce trees smell different? Don’t worry about the sticky fingers.  A little butter rubbed on the fingers and wiped with a cloth will take it off.  

  Show the kids that white pines have five leaves (needles) and red pines have two in a cluster.

You can cozy up to a tree and look for whorls of branches. Count the whorls going up the tree to estimate the age of evergreen trees. Notice all of the needles under the trees.  Children may think that they do not lose their needles. Point out that is not true. Most conifers lose about one third of their needles every fall.  Larch, bald cypress and dawn redwood are called deciduous conifers because they lose all needles every year.

Get to Know Your Animal Tracks

 You can talk about how the trees can give shelter to animals. It is also a quiet a cozy spot for a snack. 

Winter Critters 

  There might be some some tracks you can identify around the tree. Children can learn more about the animal species that stick around the winter months by making pine cone-  feeders for them. Tie a string around a pine cone. Slather a mixture of peanut butter, cornmeal, and oats with a spoon. Roll the coated pinecone in a small bag of birdseed until completely covered. Then hang the pinecone feeders in a tree that can be easily watched. Children can keep a notebook and draw pictures of what visits the feeders. They can check library books for more information.  

Freezing Bubbles

Freezing Is a Winter Decoration

 Blowing bubbles is not only for summer. If the temperature is below freezing outside with no wind, put some soap bubble solution in the freezer for up to 30 minutes. With patience, children can blow some bubbles outside and watch as they crystalize in the three layers before their eyes. Some people stir in a little sugar before placing in the freezer. The bubbles will also roll around on dry pavement instead of popping immediately. It is a great way to talk about the science of molecules slowing down and freezing from liquids to a solid and crystals. For more see grandparentsteachtoo.blogspot.com and wnmufm.org/Learning Through the Seasons.  

Photos: Fran Darling, fdarling fotos

Simple Activities Fun in Snow

“To appreciate the beauty of a snowflake it is necessary to stand out in the snow.”  Aristotle 

   

Make Your Own Path in the Snow

Dashing around for twenty minutes or holding hands and making your own path in a snowy yard is a welcome break for children and adults in winter.  The fun makes the hassle of bundling worth it.

Quick and Easy

  One simple activity is making snow faces on tree trunks. Even if snow doesn’t pack well preschool children can press hands full of snow on trees to sketch eyes, nose, ears, and smiles. They also make good snowball targets. If the snow doesn’t pack well take a plastic tub of snow into the house for 20 minutes to increase the temperature and make the snow packable. Hula hoops placed flat in the snow or leaned against a tree are also good targets for snowball toss games.

  Children can make snowballs and turn them into small 

Make Snow Faces on Tree Trunks

snowmen villages with houses, cars, dogs, trees, flowers, mountains, and rivers. Fill up some spray bottles with water and  a little food coloring. The children can add color to their villages scenes. They can make decorations or modern art paintings with stripes and geometric shapes around the back yard. You can also take cake pans packed with snow into the house and children can paint with water colors and small paint brushes.  They will blend together and make beautiful art as they melt.

Camera Action 

  You can bring a camera outside and take close ups of icicles and tree branches. Then go inside and draw with pencils on white paper or chalk on black paper. 

  Turn a cardboard box into a sled. Break it into a rectangle shape and duct tape the sled.  If there are no long hills in your yard, make one from a pile in your yard. Young children don’t need much of a decline. You can take smart phone videos of children sledding and running around for relatives 

Take Photos and Draw Icicles and Branches Later

who are far away. Teens will show you how to send them.

Snow Maze

  Turn your yard into a snow maze. Stomp down lanes of snow with dead ends. Kids can  blow bubbles and let one freeze on a wand. Can they carry it through the maze before it breaks? The maze might end at a snow house safely made out of snow balls and filled with snow furniture.

   Almost any game like tag, baseball, tennis, and catch played in the summer can be played in the winter for a short time before heading inside for hot chocolate

For more see grandparentsteachtoo.blogspot.com and Google wnmufm.org/ Learning Through the seasons live on Tuesdays at 4:30 during the NPR news break and Saturdays at 8:30 am, plus pod casts on the station’s web site. 

Photos: Fran Darling, fdarling fotos

Helping Kids Tackle Cabin Fever

Outdoor Fun in Lots of Crusty Snow! 

This in-between-time may be the most difficult days of the year. One day we get a tease of sunshine. The next few days may be cold and snowy. Children and care givers can feel they absolutely must get outside and run around even for a short time. Here are suggestions for short bursts of outdoor play with crusty snow.

Snow Chunk Relay

  Since snow rarely is really good for snowballs, loosen snow chunks from crusty snow. Make a pile of about ten snow chunks for each player. Designate an area to drop off the chunks and follow a path to go back and forth until all of the chunks are moved to the new spot and a new geometric shape. If many adults and children are involved set up a course in the backyard for teams to run and pass a chunk of snow to each player. Each player runs along the course and hands the snow chunk to the next player. Tamp down the snow for little legs or hold hands with young ones so they won’t fall.

Snowball Roll Contest

   The object of the game is to make the biggest snow chunk during a designated time or when the players can no longer move their snow. Team up small children against adults or place one adult with each child. Show children how to use their boots to break up crusty snow. Arrange largest to smallest, if possible.

Snow Pile Hurdles

  Make piles of snow.  Then run and jump over the  piles.  Help young ones over the piles so no one is left out. When young children don’t need to use their hands to grasp 

So Many Games to Try

something, try putting warm adult mittens on their hands and over their jackets.  This will keep the snow off their wrists.

Snow Obstacle Course

  Make snow piles again and set up a course path so children may jump over, run around, crawl through, roll, walk backwards, and hop around the next.  Help little ones so all are successful.

Snowball Target Throw

  Provide some real targets for snowball or snow chunk throwing.  Draw a target in the snow, lay down a hula-hoop, throw into a large plastic storage container, or aim at a tree. Let children know that they can choose their distance to be successful.

Buried Treasure

Many Treasures to Look Out For

 This is a good game just before returning inside for a snack. Make a pile of snow. Designate one person to hide 10 colorful plastic objects in a pile of snow that has been shoveled for the purpose.  This kind of pile is easy to dig through. Kneel in a circle around the pile and dig until all of the objects have been found.

For more see grandparentsteachtoo.blogspot.com and wnmufm.org/Learning Through the Seasons.

Giving Kids Sense of Place

Take a Walk: Give Children a Sense of Place

As the weather improves, families find it easier to get outside to give children a sense of place. Most children no longer have the experience of playing freely outside in the neighborhood. They interact with impersonal places like stores or with technology and virtual environments instead of their natural environment.  National Geographic reports researchers found that 70 per cent of Mothers played outside every day as children; now only 31 per cent of their children play outside every day in their neighborhood.
What is Sense of Place?
  According to geographers, a sense of place is understanding what makes a place special and unique.  It grows from identifying oneself with a particular piece of land.  It is a feeling of home, belonging, and attachment. It is the feeling when after being away one returns to the smell of trees, beautiful sunsets, sounds of wildlife or street sounds and realizing this is home. “I remember!”
  According to researchers Pamela Brillante and Sue Mankiw it is important to imprint children’s sense of place in the real world during an age of virtual reality video games. Children need to get back on track.
Real, not Virtual World
 Children do not develop this sense of belonging by themselves. They need adults to guide them. Families can take children outside for even a thirty-minute walk and make a difference.
  Walk somewhere—the library or around the block. Notice the trees.  Touch the different barks.

Use Your Senses: Smells, Touch, Read the Signs

  Smell the flowers and look at the sidewalks.  Are there anthills?  Are animals making sounds? Point out human and animal houses in the neighborhood.  Is there a fallen tree they want to climb? How deep is this mud puddle?
  Stop and talk to neighbors working in their yards.  Read signs.  Stop, look, listen, touch, smell, collect, and take pictures.  Give children the words they will later use to explain the experience.
  Take a walk downtown. Is there a bakery or coffee shop to visit? Describe what busy people are doing.  Are they delivering goods?  Are they helpers like police officers and fire personnel?
   Walk on a country road or visit a park. Check out plants growing.  Climb some hills or fallen trees. Children can use the ideas to draw pictures with labels when they get home.
  Children’s awareness of relationships between people in their environment and how the children fit in

Create Awareness of Surroundings 

is crucial. They will remember certain places based on sensory information and the words adults use. It is a sense of contentednessand belonging. These children see themselves as more capable social beings and ready for school. (YI-Fu Tuan) Good books include “The Listening Walk” by Paul Showers,“Alphabet City” by Stephen T. Johnson, “Around the Pond:Who’s Been Here “and “In the Woods: Who’s Been Here?”by Lindsey George, and “Sam and Dave Dig a Hole” by Mac Barnett. 
photos: Fran Darling:  fdarling photos
More Vocabulary Ideas and Activities....See the authors’ book “Learning Through the Seasons” at area bookstores and grandparentsteachtoo.org. For more help to prepare young children for success in school see the authors’
website: Also check our audio Podcasts WNMU Radio, 90; Youtube

Taking Winter Science Walks

Take Walks on Trails or at Home

When a warmer sunny winter day comes around, grab it, for there is fun and learning outside.
  Children also need vitamin D provided by sunshine, milk, and some juices. Vitamin D works with calcium to develop strong healthy bones. Families can plan on a twenty-minute time of exploring outside on sunny days. Remember to have children wear sunglasses in the bright snow, too.
   Talk while dressing for the outdoors.

Talk and Explore

Point out right and left boots.  Mark the right boot with an X or R. As you help with snow pants, jackets, boots, and mittens use “right” repeatedly. “Let’s put on your right boot.” Raise your right arm.”  “Give me your right leg.” You might sing a little “Hokey Pokey” about the right side only.
Keep it Simple  If children are not accustomed to being outside, an adventure might be very simple.  Young children can take a walk to the mailbox and follow a path you have made while they hold your hand.  They can drag a stick in the snow like the character in “The Snowy Day” by Jack Ezra.
  Young children can help shovel a bit of the porch or a little part of the sidewalk.  They can collect snow and watch it melt inside later. If they bring a pan of snow inside and place the loose snow in top of water will it sink or float before it melts? It is less dense with more air between molecules no matter how hard the snow is packed. Therefore, it will float.
 They can collect snowflakes on cold black paper to count the points on the crystals.
Be Science Detectives

Be Science Detectives

Once outside children explore and solve mysteries for a short time.  Take a short walk around the yard and look for animals and tracks. What made these tracks? What direction were the animals going? What were they looking for?  Where do rabbits, mice, and squirrels go when it is cold? Common small animals like ants, earthworms, bees, and butterflies are not around.  Where are they?
   If the snow packs, young children can make a small snowman family since big balls are too heavy. They may also like to stack ice chunks and make a small fort or dig into a small snow bank. 

Look for the Unusual

Look for plant skeletons that might be sticking up through the snow. Children can make a small bouquet to take inside.  Think small and a take few minutes for any activity as attention span is usually short and preschool children chill easily.  Their boots may get full of snow. Snow will get under their cuffs and even the best mittens don’t work well on very small hands.  Sometimes just a sled ride is possible. 
Photos: Fran Darling, fdarling fotos
More Ideas and Activities....See the authors’ book “Learning Through the Seasons” at area bookstores and grandparentsteachtoo.org. For more help to prepare young children for success in school see the authors’ web site: www.grandparentsteachtoo.org. Also check our audio Podcasts WNMU Radio, 90; Youtube video activities; and join us on Pinterest

Outdoor Winter Fun with Kids

fdarling fotos

Since many animals are nocturnal or scarce, children rarely see shy and secretive animals in the wild. But animals leave their tracks and mysteries for children.
  Take a walk in your own backyard in winter or along the beach in summer.  These tracks will tell a story.
  Observe human tracks in your yard. How can you tell which way the person is going?  What are they doing? Were they taking out the garbage or delivering a package? Look at the patterns of boots and shoes soles. Observe how they are different in size, tread, and walking pattern.
  Do family dogs and cats leave tracks in the snow? Being able to distinguish between domestic dog and fox footprints is important.

fdarling fotos

Making Tracks
   Make new tracks. Drag a stick behind like the child in the book “The Snowy Day” by Keats. Take some pictures or make drawings with markers in a science. notebook. Leave some seeds and check on the spot later. Did animals visit?
  Now can you find some wild animal tracks in your backyard, park, or trail? Try to identify them before the snow is too deep. Explain to children that most animals are nocturnal. They look for food at night and sleep during the day. Their tracks in the snow are often around their homes or trails where they can find food.
  Many free animal track keys are on-line and very helpful. The book “Animal Tracks of the Great Lakes” by Stall is also a handy book.
 Show children some common tracks in your area like rabbits, squirrels, deer, fox, birds, raccoons, chipmunks, shrew, bear, and skunks. Sometimes they will be trailing each other. Why?
Decode Tracks
  When you first find a set of tracks look for the most distinct print. Note the shape of the heel pad, and count the toes. Even though adults may already know the animal, make it a scientific game. Look at the animal track key, think out loud, and eliminate animals by looking at characteristics closely.
  Take out a ruler and show children how to measure a track. Is there evidence that you have several animals, perhaps adults and young ones? Note the habitat. Why are the animals there? Does evidence show animals visit this spot often? Why?  Look around for berries and seeds.  Is there evidence your animal is a tree climber because the tracks stop there abruptly?  Follow some tracks. Where do they lead? Did the animal dig, hop sideways, or run off suddenly? Note that rabbits’ long back paws lead the way because of how they hop.
  Although there is no substitute for first hand study, it is fun to watch trail camera wildlife videos on You Tube with children. View them alone first, however.
photos: Fran Darling, fdarling fotos
More Ideas and Activities....See the authors’ book “Learning Through the Seasons” at area bookstores and grandparentsteachtoo.org. For more help to prepare young children for success in school see the authors’ web site: www.grandparentsteachtoo.org. Also check our audio Podcasts WNMU Radio 90; Youtube video activities; and join us on Pinterest

Pop! Bubbles are Fun

Dry spring days are good for playing with bubbles:

What you will need:

 The ingredients for the following bubble recipe which you will mix gently:

1/4 cup liquid dishwashing detergent

 3/4 cup cold water

5 drops of glycerin (available at most drugstores or cake supply stores) or light corn syrup. This helps the bubbles be stronger. The solution gets better with age!

You will also need some objects with holes (or create your own) and a container for mixing as well as a flat shallow container.

What to do:

  Using the recipe for making bubbles, Gracie and I poured the ingredients into a container and stirred gently. We let the solution sit while we hunted for objects that had holes in them. We found a fly swatter, a colander, a slotted spoon, an apple slicer, a straw, and a spatula with holes. I dug up some pipe cleaners that we bent as well as an old hanger.

   Gracie helped me pour some of the bubble solution into a cake pan so we could dip the objects into the solution. We covered the container with the extra bubble solution to save for another day. Together we carried everything outside to the back yard. We dipped and waved each object. It was fun to watch Gracie as she experimented with each object. We made guesses as we used each object as to what size bubble or how many bubbles we would see as we waved the objects in the air. Then we wondered if we twirled would we get different bubbles. So then we experimented with that idea.

  We discussed the idea of trying to catch a bubble on an object or our soapy hands. We studied it until it broke. Gracie and I talked about the colors we could see in some of the bubbles. That led Gracie to ask if we could add color to the solution and so we added some food coloring. Different colors appeared. We played until the solution in the cake pan was gone. Clean up was easy as everything just needed water to be clean again.

How will this help children?

Experimenting is a great way to explore the young child’s world. It allows for mistakes, as well as successes. Experimenting also allows for rich discussion on what might happen, what did happen and why did it happen? That is science, after all. It is a great way to problem solve as well.

What else can I do?

You can visit the local library and look for books about bubbles. A few suggestions are: “Bubble Trouble” by Margaret Mahy and Polly Dunbar, ‘Bubble Trouble “by Joy N. Hulme and Mike Cressy,” Benny’s Big Bubble” by Jane O’Connor and Tomie dePaola, and “Bubble Bath Pirates” by Jarrett J. Krosoczka. 

For more great educational activities visit Grandparents Teach, Too web page and listen to WNMU Radio 90 Learning Through the Seasons Podcasts   

Photos:
Enright, John. 20121001_161951.jpg. 2012. Pics4Learning. 13 Jun 2013
Bonsall, Dawn. img_2127.jpg. June 25, 2007. Pics4Learning. 13 Jun 2013

Healthy Children have Fun with Exercise

Superheroes, fairy tale and cartoon characters can be an inspiration for imaginative play and large motor exercise with young children. Just think up a story and go outside for an hour of daily exercise.

  What is needed:

 park equipment, nature path, beach, YMCA, or children’s museum

What to do:

 Young children enjoy exercise more when it’s a fun game or imagination is involved.  They can imagine being stiff legged robots, galloping horses, soaring birds or characters with magical super human powers.  Phil, a personal trainer from Superior Fitness and volunteer in the Big Brothers program, sent these exercise ideas to promote heart health, balance, strength, flexibility, and endurance.

   To prepare, Phil suggests doing a some stretching first.Then act out a story your young children know from a book, legend, fable, movie or tv show. Perhaps there is an animal to rescue, but there are all kinds of obstacles in your way. There may be an invisible line, overturned log, or 2X4 to walk on. Play “Follow the Leader” to avoid getting stuck in the muck or some other danger. Throw a magic stone or stick at a tree to break through an invisible barrier.  Jump over a large stone or climb on a tree stump to look around. Gather sticks to make a safe path to hop on, or write a secret message with shapes and letters in the sand. Jog from one object to next, crouch behind it, and jog again.

  Grandpa Scott takes his grandchildren to the beach to skip stones in the water. Sometimes they pick up large rocks to make towers. They walk along the beach and hunt for rocks, sticks, and other beach treasures for art projects. While walking along a river path, children can drop a leaf in the water and race it down stream.

  Just about anything can be arranged for an obstacle course young children can walk, run, or ride around the yard. Set up a board as a balance beam. Roll a beach ball around, play soccer, catch, shovel in the garden, or sweep the sidewalk. Lay a rope on the ground for children to jump over or walk between.

   There are many active games to play. Young children love to play “What time is it, Mr.Fox,” “Red Light/ Green Light,” and many kinds of freeze or flashlight tag games.  When someone is tagged, the person says a cartoon or story character, color, letter, names a state, spells a word, counts, or anything else you’re working on.

How Does this Help my Child?

  Healthy children exercise for one hour every day. They use the large muscles of the arms, legs, and trunk to jump, hop, skip, kick, throw, catch, dance around, balance, push, pull, or jog.

For more math activities see the authors’ book “Learning through the Seasons” online at: http://www.grandparentsteachtoo.org/ and listen to this and many other activities at WNMU Audio Podcast 

Illustration: Mark Nowicki
Photo: Kock, Matthew. img_0929.jpg. June 15, 2010. Pics4Learning. 5 Jun 2013