The office is all decorated in snowflakes, icicles, and snowmen... a contradiction to what the weather is like outside. So my thoughts turn to winter themes. I will try to not repeat my previous posts: Fun Winter Books & Let It Snow.
I have discovered a few new crafts this year that I hope to try, mostly thanks to Pinterest:
- Salt dough snowmen (found at dollarstorecrafts.com)
- Snowglobe with clear plastic plates (pinned from Tori's Teacher Tips)
- Doily Snowmen (found on Happy Holiday House forum)
New Books (new to me anyway):
Snow Globe Family: This book is about a family living in a snow globe (that mirrors the family in the book). The snow globe sits on a shelf ignored by all in the big house except for the baby. The little family (in the snow globe) longs for someone to shake the globe and create a hill for sledding. Finally the baby gets the globe and shakes it for them. It has plenty of snow related activities in the book: snowmen, snowballs, snow angels... But more interesting is that it can launch the discussion of "what if I were in the snow globe". My plan is to use the clear plate snow globe activity and have the kids draw a picture on blue paper of themselves (pictures) in the globe. Another variation on the craft would be to glue two clear plates together with a snow scene inside. I will address any goals the kids may have in therapy: articulation, language, grammar, sentence structure, written expression, story telling, etc. This activity is particularly suited to verb tenses.
It is also a good activity for those working on Social Thinking (Michelle Garcia Winner) activities involving "wondering" about things (developing curiousity, speculation, empathy). It can also be an activity on "perspective" and "empathy".
- How would the world look to someone in a snow globe?
- What would it feel like to be in the globe?
- How did the family feel when the baby shook the globe? Were they afraid? Why not?"
Snowmen at Night: This book examines the secret life of Snowmen, who come alive at night and have all sorts of fun adventures. Crafts: any snowman craft would be great. There are tons of snowmen crafts. Just pick your favorites: paper plate, dough, cotton balls in bottles, white paint, snow paint (shaving cream and paint), floam, doilies, marshmallows.... Crafts are great activities for following directions, verbal expression, processing, etc.
This book would be great for launching more perspective taking discussions:
- What does the boy see in the morning? (disheveled snowman)
- Does he know what happened to the snowman? (no, it happened when he was sleeping)
- What might the boy be thinking?
- What might the snowman be thinking?
- How do the snowmen feel?
- What else could the snowmen do?
- Do you think snowmen should be drinking hot chocolate? Why/why not? What else could they drink? (milkshakes because they are cold...)
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