Winter, a light-night Festival Season

Don't Stay Home

Winter is a great time to be outside - if you wear the right clothes and don't stay out too late. Although not common practice, there is a growing body of research claiming getting out and moving, even in winter, is healthy and wise. Bowden in "Nature For The Very Young" inspires with her colors in winter play!

National Library of Medicine - boost immune system by being out in the cold.

What is Red? Poem

First five seconds cardinal calls cheer and whistle

Activity! Bake With Kids After you eat some sunflower seeds, how about making some Apple Crumble

Activity! Roasting Nuts

Activity! Hot Drinks!

• Mulled Cider: Made with apple cider simmered gently with cinnamon sticks, this delightful drink offers a cozy and festive experience.
• Things you can add: Orange and lemon slices; sliced apples, pears, or peaches; cloves, star anise, and allspice berries; fresh ginger root, rosemary sprig or thyme; honey or maple syrup
• Hot Chocolate: whole milk, semisweet chocolate, and a touch of sugar
• Things you can add: Dark chocolate or a combination; If you prefer a thicker hot chocolate add cornstarch; Cinnamon, chili powder, and a hint of cayenne pepper for Mexican hot chocolate; Top with whip cream and sprinkles or marshmallows

Snowflake templates

Activity! Snow Maze!

If you get a lot of snow, try this in your yard or in a park. Flat or built up, create a snow maze for your kids to follow. If you decide to build up the walls, kids are great at moving snow around.

Activity! Shell Candles Simple version

more complicated version

Activity! Ice Mobile

Go on a hike - ask child to collect small bits and bobs from the walk in a collector's bag (give child collector's bag, same as a field bag). At home ask child to fill recyclable containers with water a finger below the top. Put in their collected leaves, pebbles, twigs and feathers. You can add food dye, which is safe for animal consumption, but can leave a mess when it runs as the ice melts - so take this into consideration. Add a string loop in the water, and a long enough string out of the water, that will be tied to a tree branch. Leave containers outside to freeze (if it gets to below freezing or in the freezer if not).

Activity! Marshmallow Prints Use the circular marshmallow shape as a stamp with some melted white chocolate and a small amount of food coloring. When finished stamping, place on microwavable plate a graham cracker and one stamp marshmallow. Microwave 15 seconds. Place another graham crack on top and enjoy.

Activity! Who-done-it? Looking at the way an animal eats something, can tell you which animal it was! Find some nibbled pine cones and see if you can figure out who was the nibbler!

Activity! Pine Creatures Collect pinecones and make your own creatures

Activity! Lodge Game (from Games of the American Indian) Put sticks in pile. Use a master stick to separate pile. Must say how many sticks you will take out without having the whole pile crash down.

Activity! Beaver Breath Race Child takes a deep breath, and starts running. When they run out of breath, stop. Mark the spot. If there is another child, other child does same. Who ever goes the furthest is named Beaver Lungs!

Activity! Terrarium

Activity! Feed the Birds If you are making a stew for dinner, cut some of the fat and save it for making bird food - it must be rendered, unsalted. When it is cool enough to touch, mix with bird seeds and let kids shape the mixture into donuts (any shape, with a hole to hang on trees later). After the mixture is completely cool, tie the 'donuts' to trees outside for the birds to feed on!

Activity! Build with Snow

If temperatures get down to freezing, with or without snow, consider building a small igloo.

Activity! Igloo Cream Pies

• Whip 2 egg whites
• Add 3/4 cup of sugar gradually and keep whipping until the peaks stand on their own.
• Preheat oven 200C (400F)
• In a small bowl that is the size of the round biscuits you will use, place some ice-cream.
• Place the ice-cream on the biscuit
• Cover the ice-cream with the whipped egg whites - leave no gaps
• On a bake-able plate (not metal - it will be too hot), place biscuit, ice-cream and whipped eggs in the oven
• Bake for 1-2 minute of until the meringue is browned From Home Lab by Winston

Activity! Snow Globe

Clean a jar, no label. Clean seashells, sand and small toys. Distilled water (to avoid things growing in the globe). Add three drops mineral oil (will float around and look pretty). Add sparkling glitter. Glue the main figure to the top of the jar. When the glue dries, screw the top on, turn over and watch the beauty swirl! example here from do it now!

Activity! Wrapping Paper Prints

• Grab some leaves off the ground (various shapes, but not too dry).
• Paint on a plate (one or two colors works best)
• Place on the paper you will use to wrap with (not too thin, so the paint's moisture doesn't tear it)
• Let dry, best a day

Activity! Wrapping Paper Rubbings

• Grab some leaves off the ground (various shapes, but not dry - they will fall apart otherwise).
• Place under the wrapping paper you will use, not too thick, so it easy to make a rubbing (not too thin, or it will tear when rubbed)
• Use crayons or pencils - with repeated back and forth motion to create rubbing.

Activity! Geometric Construction

This particular example is cardboard- which can be hard to cut for young children. Instead, try making it from construction paper, allowing child to construct anything they fancy (not necessarily a building - construction paper doesn't build like cardboard). Child can fold paper and cut half a shape out or layer two papers together and cut one shape out of one or more colors. On each side, ask child to cut slits - that is where you connect shape to another shape.

Activity! Shape Bugs

Don't throw away the shapes after child loses interest. Don't throw away the little bits either. You can cut out some antenna, paint patterns on the wings, use paper or pipe cleaners for legs.

Activity! T-shirt Transfers

For younger artists, the crayon and iron transfer method is perfect. They can create their own designs with bright crayons on sandpaper, then magically transfer them onto a t-shirt with an adult's help using an iron.

Activity! Stencil T-shirt For older kids who can handle scissors safely, freezer paper stencils offer more precision. They can design a stencil on freezer paper, secure it onto the t-shirt, and then dab fabric paint through the cut-out sections to create a customized masterpiece.

Activity! Portable Sketchbook Craft your own using sturdy cardboard, fabric scraps, and a binder ring system. Decorate the covers with your favorite patterns or designs, or keep it simple. Gather any paper you like for drawing and cut it to a size that fits snugly inside the cardboard covers. Punch holes through the aligned spines of your covers and paper, then secure them all together with the binder rings. Example of portable sketchbook

Activity! Winter 4 Senses Scavenger Hunt (by CBC)

Activity! Rainbow Cookies?

• Preheat 375 F or 190 C
• Cream together butter (2 sticks/ 1 cup) and sugar (1 cup) until light and fluffy – a perfect task for little helpers with a spoon.
• Then, crack an egg in and mix it with some vanilla extract (1 teaspoon) for added flavor.
• In a separate bowl, combine flour (2 1/2 cups), baking soda (1/2 teaspoon), and salt (pinch).
• Slowly add these dry ingredients to the wet mixture, taking care not to over mix.
• Add sprinkles and M & M
• Consider adding sunflower seeds!
• Roll out the dough and use cookie cutters to create playful shapes
• OR roll it into a log and slice it for classic round cookies.
• Bake for 10-12 minutes

Activity! Stain Glass Cookies!

• Preheat 350 F or 176 C
• Cream together butter (2 sticks/ 1 cup) and sugar (1 cup) until light and fluffy – a perfect task for little helpers with a spoon.
• Then, crack an egg in and mix it with some vanilla extract (1 teaspoon) for added flavor.
• In a separate bowl, combine flour (2 1/2 cups), baking soda (1/2 teaspoon), and salt (pinch).
• Slowly add these dry ingredients to the wet mixture, taking care not to over mix.
• Crush hard candy (like fruit flavored life-savors) in a zipped or closed bag.
• Roll out the dough and use cookie cutters to create playful shapes - Using a small bottle cap or small cookie cutter, cut out a center space (where the candy will go)
• Place wax paper on cookie sheet
• Place cookies on wax paper
• Place broken candy inside each hole (in each cookie)
• Bake for 8 minutes
• When cool to the touch, hold up to the light to see the effect!!
• You can use these in the windows of your candy house

Activity! Colorful Stories

Place four different colored papers on different places of the wall. Have the child tell you a story, trying to use the colors in the narrative. As they say the color, as part of the story, they run to that color and touch the paper and then run back to the center, sit and finish telling the story.

Activity! Pasta Rainbow

• Start by creating a "flour volcano" (2 cups all-purpose flour (plus extra for dusting) pinch a salt) and then crack (2) eggs into the center – a great opportunity to practice careful cracking!
• After a bit of mixing and kneading (fun for little hands!), the dough gets to rest for a bit. Split into how ever many colors you want -
• Red: Beetroot (roasted and puréed) or paprika (for a faint pink)
• Orange: Carrot (roasted and puréed) or sweet potato (roasted and puréed)
• Yellow: Turmeric (powdered)or saffron (be aware, saffron is expensive)
• Green: Spinach (blanched and puréed) and/or kale (blanched and puréed)
• Purple: Red cabbage (boiled and strained water)
• Dust your work surface and rolling pin with flour, and let your child unleash their inner baker as they roll out the dough thin. Feeling creative? Use cookie cutters or a knife to transform the pasta dough into playful shapes, or get fancy with a kid-friendly pasta machine. Finally, cook the pasta in boiling water for just a few minutes, toss it with your favorite sauce

Activity! Colors Together

What happens to the colors when you spin the tops? You can make penny spinners (here are some to download and color penny-spinners) or you can use a colorful pencils in the middle, with it's tip sharpened. You could spin it on paper to make swirls and patterns! One more alternative - Thread string in the middle and spin the colors to see them merge.

Activity! Trick the Bloom At the end of winter, right as spring is around the corner - find some closed bud trees and bushes.

Activity! Cake in an Orange! You need a box of cake mix for this, oranges, tinfoil and a fire. Scoop out the orange content, you can eat it or juice it. Mix the cake mix and pour into the orange peels. Wrap in tinfoil. Place in the coals and turn often. Unwrap and enjoy

Activity! Fire Fire (A Team Game)

(from Play the Forest School Way)

Set out a rectangular boundary. Pick two parallel sides to be "safe." One person is the 'fire' in the middle. The other children are asked - what animals live in this environment (where ever you are playing the game). They might answer rabbits, butterflies, sparrows, owls... etc. Choose four or five (depending on the amount of children playing). The children choose an animal and form groups of animals. They all stand on one 'safe' side and the fire in the middle calls out an animal group, ie owls, and the owls try to run to the other side without being caught by the fire. Consider talking about fire safety after everyone has spent their energies.

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