We explored some of these ideas with little wooden mushrooms and our daughter wanted to recreate them with snow people for her younger brother. These activities allow children to explore some basic math concepts, to develop their fine motor skills and to experience how to play a game with handmade materials! Materials Blank wooden snow people (We purchased ours online from Bear Woods Supply Company https://www.woodparts.ca/wooden-crafts-christmas.html) Acrylic paint Paint pens (We like Posca) Wooden circle plaques (We purchased ours on Amazon) Drill (to be used by an adult) Small sign picks (We have bought these at both Michaels and Dollar stores) Ruler Pencil/eraser Permanent marker Cotton stuffing or cotton balls/ glue *Optional Direction signs *Optional. You can purchase these at dollar stores, craft stores or online often in wedding sections. We always find these items useful too: Directions Paint your snow people with a thin coat of acrylic paint, We used paint pens for the hats, creating 5 of each colour. You could add more colours or more of each colour if you like. You could also add details with your paint pens should you like (faces, buttons etc.) Tic-Tac-Toe Paint your wooden circle plaque to look snowy. Allow it to dry. With your ruler and your pencil, sketch out 9 squares (3 X 3), trying to get them relatively the same size. Trace the lines with a permanent marker. We decided to glue some artificial snow on ours with some cotton stuffing, but this is optional. You could outline the lines with glue and silver or white eco-glitter if you wanted too. Using your snow people, pick 5 of one colour for each person and then start playing! Take turns, trying to form 3 in a row. Sorting Paint your wooden circle plaques to look snowy. We went with 4- one for the main area with all the snow people and 3 to sort the colours onto, as we had 3 colours of hats. Allow them to dry. We wrote the directions for the activity on a little sign, using a paint pen. Place your snow people on your main base and see if your students or children can figure out how to sort them. Once the children have mastered one attribute to sort by, you could use more complex ideas such as putting different numbers of buttons on the snow people that they sort them by, the direction of the snow person’s nose etc. See what your students might come up with to challenge each other! Counting Write the numbers that you would like to work on your little sign picks with a paint pen. (We went with 1-10) Allow them to dry. We popped them into a jar for storage, so that they could be easily changed. In one of your wooden plaques have an adult drill a hole (we didn’t go all the way through) the same circumference as the picks on your signs. Have your child/ student select the number that they would like to work on, out it in the hole and then challenge themselves to count out that number of snow people. Use your voice as you count to articulate one-to-one correspondence. You could extend this into addition using different colours of hats (how can numbers be represented (4 +1=5 and 2+3=5 for example), you could also represent the numbers on the signs in written form e.g., Two if you wanted) Patterning Write the challenge, “Can you create a pattern?” on your directional sign and see what the kids come up with! We used colours in a basic ABC form, but you could extend this into AABB etc. types of patterns, increasing the complexity. You could also use size if you purchased different sizes of the snow people or various other attributes if you added them. Stacking Use your motor skills, hand-eye coordination and ability to balance to see how high you can stack your snow people in different ways! Pin this idea See the mushroom version http://make-it-your-own.com/magical-mushrooms-for-learning-and-play/ More Snow People Ideas Snow people ornaments (You could make these into necklaces too!) http://make-it-your-own.com/silvery-snow-snow-person-ornament/ Snow people cards http://make-it-your-own.com/handmade-cards-make-your-own-snowperson/ Snow ball gift bags http://make-it-your-own.com/silvery-snowballs/ Peg Doll Snow Globe http://make-it-your-own.com/silvery-snow-peg-doll-family-snow-globe/ Purpose Developing one’s math skills (representing numbers, developing patterning etc.), fine motor skills and ability to strategize and take turns within a game. Safety Notes We suggest that you use a tray and a smock to protect your clothing and surfaces. Use a glue gun with care and direct, adult supervision. A drill is intended for adult use. Be sure to store safely when not in use. Small items can be a choking hazard, therefore be sure to keep them out of the reach of children ages 0-3 years of age or those that tend to put things into their mouths. Please like & share: Leave a Reply Cancel Reply Your email address will not be published. Name* Email* Website Comment Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email.
