Theres nothing like the smell of fresh pine while walking in the woods. Watching the sparkling snow gently fall as you watch from in doors while sipping on some tea. These are just a couple of the many aspects I love about winter. I always wanted to harness these special moments with my family, and these activities below I hope will help in doing so:
Peppermint Play dough
I was inspired through Habitat school house, but I used my own play dough recipe, instead I just added some peppermint essential oil.
Ingredients
1 cup of flour
1/4 cup of salt
3/4 cup of water
3 tablespoons of lemon juice
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
Peppermint essential oil
Wax paper
Food colouring (optional)
Directions:
1) Add wet ingredients (water, oil, lemon juice and peppermint oil) to a non stick pot and heat to medium low heat. Liquid should just be hot and not boiling.
2) Combine salt and flour into a separate bowl and whisk so ingredients are blended well.
3) Once water is hot, add the dry ingredients to the pot. Mix with a spatula or wooden spoon. Keep mixing until combined well but make sure not to over cook the mixture.
4) Once everything is mixed well, remove play-doh onto wax paper. If mixture is still too sticky add a few sprinkles of flour and keep kneading until well combined.
Wreath
Materials:
Pine and cedar tree clippings
Hot glue gun
Cardboard cut in the shape of a ring
Any personal trinkets or decorating pieces you wish to use! I used dried oranges, cinnamon sticks and small bells.
Directions:
Heat up hot glue gun and add on the tree clippings. Then spread out other materials and trinkets to you're liking, hang and enjoy!
Salt Dough Ornaments
This recipe was from Habitat school house. It is simple and perfect for the holidays, plus it smells amazing while baking.
Ingredients
2 cups flour (plus extra in case mixture is too sticky)
1 cup salt
1 cup water
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground glove
1 tablespoon nutmeg
Holiday cookie cutters
Directions
Pre-heat oven to 250 degrees. Combine all dry ingredients together and wisk. Slowly add the water a bit at a time, making sure the dough is not sticky. Using a rolling pin, flatten out the dough. Use the cookie cutters to create different shapes. Place your shapes onto a parchment paper and place into oven. Let them bake for 2 hours (flip them half way). Once done, remove from heat and let cool completely. Once cooled, you may paint with safe acrylic paints you choose.
Painted pine cones and wood pieces
Materials
paint
paint brushes
pine cones
Directions
Simply have your littles paint on the pine cones and wood pieces. Once dry, you may hang them onto your Christmas tree!
Polar animal sensory
This will keep your littles entertained for quite some time! A simple and fun "snow" play activity!
How to make snow:
1/2 cup conditioner
2 1/2 cup baking soda
Mix together with hands and enjoy!
I added in some polar animals, scoops, bowls, and polar animal info cards! Alternatively, you can read about polar animals and engage in this activity afterwards as a fun mini lesson. (Scoops, polar animal toys can be found here. The polar animal cards can be found here).
Sponge painted snow men
Another simple activity that will keep the littles busy while you can finish your coffee!
Materials
sponge cut in shape of oval
cardboard piece cut in shape of hat
paints
paper
fine tip paint brush
Simple dip your sponge in white paint. Then dip the hat in black paint.With paint brush, paint on eyes, mouth and carrot nose! Be creative and create other animals and winter themed pictures!
Reindeer soup
In this sensory play, we created a more Christmas themed water play experience that the kids loved! Making soup for the reindeer is all the needed to hear! They played for over 40 minutes straight! This water play includes fresh cranberries, orange slices, pine branches, scoops with pots and pans, and we put smocks on the kids.
Pine needle tea
I was inspired by "Raising up wild things, Foraging in the winter" lesson. My son and I went on a beautiful winter nature walk in search of some fresh pine needles! Learning and exploring between the safe and harmful spoils nature brings, we ended off the day by making yummy pine tea. This was the perfect start to the winter solstice.
Instructions:
Boil water. Put in pine needles and let steep for 20 minutes (water should turn pale yellow). Once done, remove needles and serve with honey and lemon and enjoy the spoils of nature!
Orange bird feeder
Another wholesome winter activity from "Raising up wild things, winter booklet." We learned about birds and how some migrate and some adapt. We then read on ways we could take care of them in the winter months, one way creating a bird feeder (no nails needed)!
Materials
orange
bird seed
twine string
spoon or scoop
Directions
Cut orange in half and scoop out the middle leaving the skin intact. Then poke holes on sides of emptied orange half and tie string. Fill up orange with bird seed and hang outdoors!
Dried Oranges
This versatile activity can be used to create garlands, ornaments, used for crafting and more!
Directions
Use regular sized oranges.
Slice about 1/4 inch thick slices.
Place on parchment paper.
Heat oven to 250 degrees.
Bake for 4 hours
Let cool completely before using
Hibernation lesson
If you want to teach a mini lesson on animal and hibernation, these resources can aid with that! In this lesson I used:
