Move Around the Snowman

Last week for Large Group, we reviewed the "s" sound and sang songs about "snow".  

We played a game called Move Around the Snowman.  We put a snowman in the middle of the rug and we chose how we were going to move our bodies around the snowman.  As we moved around the snowman, we sang this song:

(To the tune of Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush)

This is the way we skip (dance, march, walk) around, skip around, skip around;

This is the way we skip around the snowman in our classroom.

We moved around the snowman in many different ways; we clapped, we stomped, we tiptoed, we snuck, we walked backwards, we walked sideways, we skipped, we hopped, we jumped and we ran.  As we were doing the action, we also worked on using "ing" to describe actions.  So we would say, "We are skipping etc..".

For this activity, we also worked on understanding  the concepts of around and in the middle.

You can play this same game with your family at home.  Have your child draw a snowman on a piece of paper.  Put the snowman in the center of the floor and do different actions as you move around the snowman.

Snowball Snowball Cold and Round

This week in Large Group we talked about snowballs.  We pretended to make snowballs with our hands.  We held our pretend snowball up high and down low.  We held our snowball in front of us and behind us.

We played a game called "Snowball, Snowball Cold and Round".  To play this game, we all closed our eyes and Teacher Heidi hid a snowball under one of the colored mittens.  When we opened our eyes, we tapped our knees with our hands while we said...."Snowball, snowball cold and round.  Under which mitten can you be found?"  We each took a turn guessing what color mitten we thought the snowball was hiding under.  

As we played this game, we worked on identifying our colors, answering "wh" questions, using "yes and no" to answer questions and understanding the concept of "under".

You can easily play this game at home by cutting out a white circle for a snowball as well as some colored mittens.

Shake the Snowballs

This week for Large Group we played with the parachute.  We took some pretend snowballs and dumped them on the parachute and said a rhyme while we tried to shake the snowballs to the ground.

The rhyme went like this:

Snowball, snowball cold and round.

How many shakes til' you hit the ground?

We each took a turn telling the class how many times we should shake the parachute to get all the snowballs to fall to the ground.  We counted each shake together.  After we shook the snowballs to the ground a few times, we played another game where we counted so many shakes and then went under the parachute to keep from getting wet in the snow.

We took turns telling our friends how many times we would shake the parachute before we went under.

We had a lot of fun going under the parachute!!!

This activity helped us follow directions and use words in phrases.  We also worked on understanding the preposition under, answering yes/no questions and answering "wh" questions.

You can play parachute games at home by using a sheet or blanket.  You can ask your child how many times you should shake the blanket before you go under.  When you are under, point out that you are "under" the parachute to work on understanding the concept "under".

"S" The Snake Sound

This month we will be talking, singing, playing and reading about the "s" or the snake sound.  We make this sound by putting our tongue behind our teeth.  You can play a fun game at home to work on saying the "s" sound that will also work on using words to describe objects.  You can play the "I See Something" game.  You play this game by saying "I see something that...." and then describe an object that you see and have your child guess what it is.  You can take turns and have your child describe something they see and have you guess too.