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Winter Craft Projects & Activities Handprint Penguins Here is a new one for me. I guess I need to find a month for them on our handprint Calendar. Paint a white circle in the center of the palm and the rest of the hand black. When dry glue on eyes and beak cut from construction paper. I tried to paint the eyes and beak on but it looked awful. Might look better with a different kind of paint, perhaps a bright poster paint, but it didnt work for me. Construction Paper Penguins Learning to cut on a curve is a Kindergarten readiness skill. Here's a circle cutting project that is great for this practice. Trace a small circle on black paper, a medium size circle on white paper, a large circle on black paper for children to cut out. Give them the wing shapes precut out of black paper,a small orange triangle folded in half for the beak, and orange feet shapes (just cut triangles or rectangles if you cant cut feet shapes. These look great with wiggle eyes. Instruct them in assembling the penguins if needed but let them place the wings and feet as they see fit. This creates a unique penguin for each child and an animated display if you hang them on your wall or buletin board. Construction Paper Snowmen Another great project for scissor skills. Give children 3 white circles to cut out and glue onto a dark blue piece of construction paper. Decorate with a top hat, scarf, eyes, carrot nose, buttons, etc. Have children cut up white paper bits to make snow on the ground and all around. Dot the paper with glue and sprinkle some glitter for a glitzy snowy day. Snowflakes There are many websites that give detailed instructions to make intricate paper snowflakes but most are much too difficult for preschool aged and younger children. We used regular white paper cut into a square and simply continued to fold diagonaly until it was the size that We knew the child would have success cutting through. Do not make it too thick for very young children. The children then made the cuts, opened, glued to a piece of blue construction paper, and painted with glitter glue. Lots of fun and simple. Here is a good site for adults or much older children. Make some to encourage and impress your students and decorate your classroom. directions for paper snowflakes from highhopes.com 3d Snow Scene Snip packing peanuts into little bits and stick to glitter glue. We used the degradable kind like you get when you order from Discount School Supply. They stick together when wet. Use glue if you have the regular kind. "Ii" is for Ice Skates We called these our Ice Skate Puppets. I just drew these freehand, cut out and had the kids glue them to a craft stick and lace up with yarn for some indoor ice skating and to reinforce our letter of the week. "Ii" is for Ice Skates. "Ii" is for Igloo Draw a rough outline of an igloo on blue construction paper. Encourage children to cut square shapes out of white construction paper and glue inside the igloo shape. Write "Ii" is for Igloo. Gingerbread Houses Use graham cracker squares and royal icing to set up the houses in advance. I used a pastry bag to squeeze small amounts of royal icing at a time as the children decorated with small candies, cereal, pretzels, etc. Run Away Gingerbread Boys In a large mixing bowl blend 1/2 cup Sugar 1/2 cup Butter or Margarine 1/2 cup Mild Molasses 1/4 cup Water In another bowl mix together 3 cups Flour 3/4 tsp Salt 1/2 tsp Ginger 1/2 tsp Baking Soda 1/4 tsp Allspice Add to molasses mixture. Refrigerate untill chilled thouroghly. Roll out and cut cookies. Bake at 350. Read the story of the Gingerbread Boy while they are baking. Decorate when cooled. Watch them carefully as they do tend to run away and any animals nearby may try to chase after them. Icing for piping or spreading 4 cups Powdered Sugar 4 tbsp Butter or Margarine 2 tsp Vanilla 1/4 cup Milk "Gg" is for Gingerbread Boy Puppets Cut gingerbread boy cookie shapes out of brown construction paper. Cut white strips for "icing" with scalloped edge scissors. We stamped them with the letter G to reinforce our letter of the week. Group Time Activity 5 little Snowmen Felt Board Countdown 5 litle men made of snow 5 little snowmen standing in a row. Out came the sun and stayed all day (place sun next to one snowman) ...and one little snowman melted away. How many are left?(count) Repeat until all snowmen have melted away! Back to Themes, Crafts, and Activities Email Sheril! Return to Ceres Childcare & Preschool