I'm excited to share a month of fun activities with you and the learners in your life! This month's calendar is all about "Winter Wonder". You'll explore forests, send snail mail, learn about celebrations of light around the world (and around the year), create cozy nooks, and get ready for 2020! These activities are designed to help you find joy and beauty in cold weather and to inspire hours of cozy indoor play when you're looking to mix things up! Here's a week by week overview:
Winter Forest: This week, you'll walk and gather materials to create process art. Use tape, salt, watercolors, and twig tracings to create your own wintery forest picture. Wind pine cones and prickly gumballs (from trees) in yarn, LED lights, or whatever you have on hand for props for small world play or table top decor! Some of my FAVORITE books are suggested for this week (The Wish Tree by Kyo Maclear and No Two Alike by Keith Baker.
A Letter A Day: Do you miss snail mail? Looking for a quiet-ish but really meaningful activity? This week is perfect :). Did you write a novel in November? Head back to last month's post for ideas for writing with little ones. This week, after looking at a piece of junk mail and talking about parts of letters, you'll write different themed letters each day. Remember, writing with kids is mark making on a surface. If your kid is ONLY interested in writing with a stick in the snow, take pictures, print and send those - andddd try something new. Try a new writing utensil (markers instead of crayons, paint instead of pencil) and write/draw/scribble/tell a letter :). Enjoy sending these! Ask family members and friends to send you mail in advance if you'd like the joy of opening and reading letters together! A great book suggestion for this week is Same, Same But Different by Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw which will also transition well into next week!
Festivals of Light: There are more festivals of light than I can name from different countries and cultures and from different faith traditions around the world. This week, we'll learn about some different light symbols (Did you know a menorah isn't used at Hanukkah? It's a hanukkiah!). Then, you'll create your own candle holders, pretend candles, and more! I chose to focus on lights as a symbol in different faith traditions to remind us, during a time of year where Christian traditions dominate the media, that there are SO many different faith traditions and there are so many similarities between them all :) (so... they're the Same, Same But Different :).
Cozy Nooks: One of the best parts of choosing to #playoutdoorsall4 is that it makes getting cozy so lovely :). This week, see how animals stay cozy through stories, creative tasks outside, and play. Find additional ideas for making cozy nooks outside here. Take a look here for ideas for feeding our animal friends. Our gardens may not look so colorful right now, so invite colorful and interesting animals to visit with tips and activities to create a wildlife habitat! Next, repurpose boxes (especially gift boxes and packaging) to build a cardboard fort, make a knock down tower, and then to create a dollhouse!
Ready for 2020: Wrap up the month by reflecting on 2019 and getting ready for 2020!
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Please share awesome moments from your month using #watchwonderbloom and tag us too @watchwonderbloom! We'd love to connect and learn with you!