winter

Winter Wreath Paper Plate Craft

January 20, 2020 by Annette Kaminsky Leave a Comment

Winter wreath craft made from a paper plate and recycled cards. A low-cost art project suitable for all ages to do.

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This winter wreath craft made from recycled cards and a paper plate is easy to assemble and displays well. It is gentle on the wallet too.

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Supplies To Collect

winter themed Christmas cards
paper plate
white wired ribbon
glue stick
scissors
glue gun
circle paper punches

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Paper plate winter wreath craft supplies. Circles cut from winter themed Christmas cards are the highlight of the art project.

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Save winter-themed cards from Christmas, and ask family and friends to pass on cards too. Keep an eye out for white ribbon on discount racks after the holidays. Purchase paper plates at a dollar store. If you manage all of the above, you will collect supplies for an economical fee and have leftover cards, plates, and ribbon for other crafts.

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Making The Winter Wreath

Cut or punch various sized circles from cards.

Cut a big circle out of the center of the paper plate.

Snip off a 24-inch piece of ribbon.

Invite your child to glue circles around the edge of the paper plate using a glue stick. An open spot should be left at the bottom or top of the plate for a bow.

Fold the ribbon into a bow. Use a glue gun to attach the bow to the wreath.

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Paper plate winter wreath craft using recycled cards. A low-cost art project suitable for all ages to do.

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The theme for this paper plate winter wreath can be snowmen, snowflakes, or polar animals. The ribbon you select may be patterned, or a different color altogether. The choices are yours!

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Winter Playdough Recipe

Spray Paint Snowflake Silhouette

Blue Candy Cane Science Experiment

Igloo Camping Pretend Play

Winter-themed Treasure Blocks

Polar Bear Small World

Winter Sensory Trays

Painting Ice and Snow

Ice Drum Musical Instruments

Frozen-Inspired Shadow Box

Scissor Skill Snow Cutting Activities

Kid’s Winter Wonderland Play Tablescape

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Snowman Sensory Play

January 17, 2020 by Annette Kaminsky Leave a Comment

These snowman sensory play ideas can be explored any time of year – winter or summer. When it’s super cold out and there is real snow on the ground, I’d rather play with these activities indoors!

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Snowman themed sensory play. Rice bins, sensory tube, and ten frame activities for early learners. Free printable included.

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Snowman Sensory Play Supplies

Collect these supplies for the activities that follow:

clear chunky gems
silver snowflake confetti, bead garland strips, and balls
white pom poms
orange beads, pom poms, and pipe cleaner pieces
black buttons and beads
snowmen buttons, ice cubes, and bottles
silver spoons

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Loose parts and snowman themed supplies to use in a sensory tray or tube.

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Snowman Sensory Tray

The materials are sprinkled on a white rice base in a square metal tray. The snowmen bottles are the find I was most excited about.

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Snowman sensory tray with a rice base and loose parts. Snowman bottles, ice cubes, and buttons are the highlights of the tray.

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An easy alternative to themed bottles is to draw snowmen’s faces on clear cups with black and orange permanent markers. Design some extra faces for snack cups…a dandy idea featured on a post from passionforsavings.com.

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Snowman sensory tray with a rice base. Clear cup snowmen, themed buttons, and snowmen ice cubes are included along with clear, orange, and black bits and baubles.

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Funnels, dessert cups, large white pom poms, and snowmen erasers would also make great additions.

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Ten Frame Activities

Ten frame activities are perfect for this snowman sensory tray. The frame makes it easy to introduce counting and adding challenges.

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Include this ten-frame printable (downloadable below) in the center and have your child find …

seven snowmen buttons
five ice cube snowmen
six orange beads and four black beads
five black parts and five orange parts
ten objects of any kind

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Snowman themed ten frame activity using rice bin supplies. Snowmen buttons and ice cubes with loose parts sprinkled in are ready to count in this math prompt.

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Ten FrameDownload

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An egg carton with two sections trimmed off transforms into a ten frame. A bonus is that the cups easily contain the supplies.

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An egg carton with one section cut off makes a perfect ten frame for counting snowmen buttons and ice cubes and loose parts.

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Snowman Themed Sensory Tube

Extend play possibilities by adding these snowman-themed materials to a sensory tube. You can get by with less of each supply, and variety is always nice!

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Snowman sensory tube with a rice base and loose parts. Snowman ice cubes and buttons are the highlights of the tube.

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You can never go wrong with a snowman theme, for any age! I hope these snowman sensory play activities enhance your child’s hands-on learning opportunities with this beloved topic.

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Magic Creamer Color Experiment

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Igloo “Glamping” Pretend Play

March 10, 2019 by Annette Kaminsky 1 Comment

Igloo camping center with fur, sequins, fishing gear, and polar animals.

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It’s been said that you should buy beautiful things you are drawn to, even if you are not sure how they will fit into your decorating color scheme or wardrobe collection.

When I purchased a narwhal-themed sequin pillow, I wasn’t sure how I would use it in preschool play. I loved seeing color and shape change sequins in children’s clothing and thought a sensory item like this would be nice to explore in the classroom.

Then I saw some “Glamping” pretend play posts on social media and knew this pillow would be perfect for an igloo “glamping” pretend play center.