Learning about winter

 This week and next week, we are learning about winter!  After the painfully cold cold snap earlier this week, this couldn't come at a better time!

My Tuesday/Thursday kids helped me to fill balloons full of water that we froze and turned into a snow/ice man.  On Friday, the kids drew pictures of him at the beginning of the day and at the end of the day.  We talked about what makes water freeze and what makes it melt.  Ask them-they know!  Unfortunately, I completely forgot to take a picture of it after it had been melting for 4 hours...The poor guy's head had been separated from his body, and both eyes, his mouth, hat and one button were floating in a puddle of cold water. 

We also had an activity where the kids stuck their hands in plastic bags and then into ice.  One of the bags had crisco (fat) on the outside of it.  We talked about how the bag with the crisco on it protected our hands from getting cold as quickly and how God protects many animals with the fat to keep them from getting cold.

We spent some time "ice skating" in our socks (you're welcome for extra laundry!).   We also have been talking about how trees look in the winter-many have no leaves and will look white with snow or frost on them.   This was reinforced with an art project where they put ripped up pieces of masking tape on a piece of paper to look like branches coming off of a trunk.  It was painted over with blue paint and after it dried, we pealed off the masking tape to reveal a white, leafless tree.  Without knowing it, they were also learning about positive and negative spaces in art!