My Winter Window Lesson Plan

What We Are Learning

winter season

evergreen tree, icicle

critical thinking

reading a diagram

Ezra Jack Keats’s The Snowy Day pairs perfectly with this issue! Show the cover, and ask children if this story is about a hot day or a cold day. How do they know? text pairing

Art: Paint Your Winter Window Scene

Materials: black marker, watercolors, watercolor brush, water, paper

Invite children to represent what they see outside their winter window.
Set up a table near a window so children can look outside. Put paper, watercolors, and markers on the table. If there’s no window available, walk with children to take a photograph outside.
Ask children to pick one thing they see outside to draw and paint. It is helpful to support children to focus on one thing, because trying to capture everything in a painting can feel overwhelming!
Invite children to use the marker to draw their object of choice. Then they can add watercolors.
Display the window paintings near the window with children’s descriptions of what they saw. observation

Materials: sensory bin, 10-15 lb. bag of baking soda, 6-8 cans of shaving cream, small toys

The winter fun won’t end with this “snow” — it doesn’t melt!
Tell children that you will be making pretend snow. Let them know that it will be different from real snow. Talk about real snow: What does it feel like? What does it look like? What happens when you bring it into a warm place?
Pour half of the baking soda into the bin. Allow children to feel it. Predict what will happen when you mix in the shaving cream.
Add the shaving cream a little bit at a time. Let children mix with their hands. “Snow” should begin to form! It is ready when you can form a “snowball” but it can still crumble and your hands are dry when you take them out. Adjust the recipe until you get this texture.
When it is finished, add some peg people and other small toys for children to imagine their own winter scene. sensory play