Tot School: Winter Fun

Today I'm linking up with 1+1+1=1 to share some of the fun winter activities Isaac and I have done over the past few weeks.  I'm not going to lie...last Friday, when our high was 77, I felt a little ridiculous working on one of these snowmen projects with Isaac.  We'd just come inside from a bike ride and were trying to cool off! 

Oh well..I'm hoping that we at least get a taste of winter weather here in north Texas like we did last year.  But for now, this is the closest to snow that we're going to get!

I made this winter sensory box using a lot of our Christmas decorations.  Isaac's favorite part was the "nose" (snow) in the bottom of the box, which was just extra fleece I had in my fabric drawer.

 Isaac made these snowflakes out of marshmallows, which I found here on this fun blog.  I tried to have him "glue one, then eat one"--but I'm pretty sure he ate 10 for every one he glued onto the paper.  :)

Isaac also did stacking....

and patterning with the different sizes of marshmallows. 

(Has anybody else seen these giant marshmallows?  My mom bought them over the holidays to roast s'mores, but we never used them.  After Christmas, she "donated" them to us...and they somehow just don't seem quite right to eat!  I'm not sure why--it might be the size, the texture, or the slightly gray color?  So, I decided we'd use them for crafts instead.)

My friend Holly introduced me to these large tweezers.  I've taken them out occassionally in the past few months and tried to have Isaac work with them, but he couldn't quite get the hang of it.  Last week, though, he was mesmerized by them!  I think this project of tonging the cotton balls and moving them into the egg crate was the quietest he'd been in days.  I love how intent he looks!

Last week Isaac glued cotton balls to make this snowman.  My friend Meghan "interviewed" her kids about the snowmen they made, and I thought I'd try it too.  I'd never done anything like this with Isaac, and I was surprised at his answers!  Here's what he had to say...

What's the snowman's name? Frosty Snowman

What does he eat? Carrots--Frosty Snowman eat the carrots.

Who are his friends? Carson and Santa Claus

Where does he live? Colorado

What does he like to do? Frosty Snowman read books.

What's his favorite color? Red--no, the snowman is red.

What songs does he like to sing? "Holy God Mighty"

Where does he sleep? in a bed

What toys does he like to play with?  toys

We also made a Spice Jar Snowman (idea from here).  (This was a great excuse for me to clean out my spices as I tried to find spice jars to use, too.)  ;)

 

Stuffing the jars with cotton balls...

stacking...

the finished snowman!

I also ordered several winter books from the library.  Out of all of them, these two were definitely Isaac's favorite.  Millions of Snowflakes has such fun rhyming sentences.  After just a few times of reading it to Isaac, he could fill in most of the rhyming words.  And I love when Isaac does the bear's big sneeze in Bear Snores On...it's adorable!