Homeschool Theme of the Week(s): Winter!

I have not been posting as much lately, but I hope to catch up and get back into a routine soon!  Here's some of what we've been up to over the past few weeks with winter being our main theme...

A fun winter themed snack!

Snowman face:  peanut butter and marshmallow creme sandwich with a carrot nose, raisin eyes, and chocolate chip smile.  The scarf was made of kiwi and mini tomato slices.

Muffin cups 1 and 3 (sides of plate):  yogurt covered raisin "snowballs".

Muffin cup 2 (top):  vanilla yogurt "snow" with a dried cranberry snowflake design.

Muffin cup 4 (bottom):  More kiwi slices and dried cranberries for decorating the snowman further as desired.

Garnish: gumdrops.

One of our activities consisted of playing roll a blizzard!  To do this with your own child, have him/her draw a snow scene (or any sort of outdoor scene).  Throw two dice and add the numbers together to see how many snowflakes you will add to the picture.  Keep going until the picture is covered in snowflakes!  For younger children learning to count or learning about numbers, you may just want to roll one die.

For our blizzard picture, we used snowflake stamps and silver ink but using foam snowflakes, snowflake stickers, etc. would be other great options as well.

We also enjoyed some hot chocolate math with real marshmallows - I saw this idea on Pinterest (here is a link)!  To play this game, simply roll a die or draw from a stack of numbers to determine how many marshmallows you may add to your cup.  Then do it again and write a number sentence to show the problem and the solution.  (Optional:  eat one of your marshmallows after you finish each problem).

You can't go wrong with a classic, right?  I think the same holds true for classic school activities like practicing one's spelling in shaving cream "snow". 

Speaking of snow, we explored real snow (saved in our deep freezer from the last big snow) and made a miniature snowman indoors.

We also attempted to make an igloo out of ice cubes and snow outdoors (attempted being a key word).

At least if one does not do so well in the igloo building department, one can always explore one's strengths in other areas such as baking and decorating cookies.  These little snowman cookie faces (more on what we did with those later on a Friendly Friday post) were "snow" fun to make!  ;)

Snowball fight anyone?  Too cold to go outdoors?  Wellllll, then why not have one inside instead!  Simply gather up all your white socks, roll into balls, aim, and fire!

Needing a little winding down activity?  Try a crayon resist painting!  My daughter drew her snow scene with a white crayon on white paper and then painted over it with blue watercolor.  It was neat seeing the white snow scene pop out suddenly on the paper when blue was added!

One of my daughter's favorite activities for this theme was to open her own hot chocolate shop!  Great for reviewing money, practicing interpersonal skills, dramatic play and more - a pretend and play store is a wonderful hands on learning experience.  Sandwich shops, beauty salons, pet stores, mechanic shops, etc. - the sky is the limit for the different kinds of stores your child can own and practice running.  :)  I know our  family members were very willing to visit my daughter's store and to participate, purchasing their hot chocolate drink of choice and enjoying each sip.

And speaking of shops, here is a sneak preview of one activity we have planned for Valentine's week - a Sweet Shop where family members can come and secretly order some sweets for someone else and/or send a message or purchase a coupon for helping someone in the family (doing dishes for one night, etc.).  My daughter will help keep track of the orders and will be in charge of delivery on Valentine's Day.  Judging from the success of her hot chocolate shop, I think she will really enjoy this new venture!

Love this idea and want to make a Sweet Shop of your own?  I have posted a very simple version for FREE on my Teachers Pay Teachers website here.  The free set includes a customizable wording sign and matching write-in price tags.  A deluxe version is available here for $1.50 which includes TWO designs (hearts and one with dots which is more general for everyday use) and items such as sale signs, frequent shopper cards, receipts, and coupons (heart design only for the coupons), etc.  I hope that one of these sets (free or deluxe) will provide hours of fun and learning for you and your child!

So what do YOU have planned for Valentine's?

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