This Snowman Paper Bag Craft is a fun and easy craft idea! Keep reading to download the template so your class can make some of their own!

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WTIH

Supplies Needed For The Craft

• A white paper bag for each student – I found mine at Walmart
• Glue sticks
• Scissors
• Black Sharpie, marker, or crayon
• Crayons
• Printed Template – you can find it at the bottom of the post.

To make the Snowman Paper Bag Craft

First, have the students start by coloring all of the pieces on the printed template. Next, they will cut out all of the pieces. They can then glue them all onto the white paper bag creating their snowman! Super easy, and cute to make!

These snowman paper bags would make a fun addition to your winter class party! The students can make it as a craft during the party and then can use it to bring home all of their goodies from the party. Another fun idea would to have the students make the snowman paper bag and use it as a gift bag to wrap up a gift they’ve made for their family. Our snowman ornaments would be a perfect fit if you need a quick and easy idea!

You can download the template by clicking the green box below.

Let us know if you have your class make these adorable snowman paper bags!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Snowman Paper Bag Craft appeared first on Primary Playground.

I LOVE making hats for little learners to wear! They are always such a fun, engaging activity for the kids, and they just adore wearing them around school. They are always a great conversation starter to share with their families what they’ve done at school. Today I have a fun Free Printable Snowman Hat that can be used in many different ways!

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WTIH

There are so many fun ways you could use this hat! Here are some ideas:

• Have you class make the snowman hats. Then, read your class a snowman book. There are so many fantastic ones to choose from! To make it even more special, sip on some hot cocoa too!

• Make the snowman hat as part of your winter party! You can start your party with the activity or use it as one of the stations the students will visit during the party!
• Have your students make their snowman hats, and watch The Snowman on Amazon Prime.

• Have your students make the snowman hats and spend an hour playing Winter Minute To Win It games!

• The students can make their snowman hats and then read one of our suggested read-alouds and make the literacy snack to go along with the book. You can check out All You Need for a Snowman here.

• Lastly, add it to your student’s experience of the activity of How To Build A Snowman. This is a fun way to incorporate many different learning standards. In this pack, the students are learning writing, sequencing, retelling, life skills, and much more. It’s a great hands-on activity to get the students excited to learn. The hat goes along perfectly, as there are different items for the snowman that the students can color on the back strap of the hat.

Free Printable Snowman Hat

To make the snowman hat, simply print the 2 pages of the hat out for each student. You can use card stock to make it more sturdy or just plain paper will work just fine too. Have the students color the hat and cut out the 2 pieces.

Have an adult help them staple it together to form the hat. You could also have them attach it to a sentence strip or as another option if you need to make the hat larger for some kiddos, print out a few extra of the back strap pages and use them to extend the hats.

Click the green box below to download the Free Printable Snowman Hat.

Here are some of our other favorite snowman activities!

Bingo is always a hit any time with the kids! This snowman bingo is great since you can use it all season long!

These are such a fun addition to your winter centers! These activities are engaging, educational, and fun! They cover beginning sounds, CVC words, ten frames, number sense and addition to 10. Find out more about the Snowman Literacy and Math Centers Bundle here.

And if you’re looking for some great activities for the last few days before Winter Break with a snowman theme we’ve got you covered! Lots of great NO PREP math and literacy activities in this Snowman Activities Pack!

Do you have any other fun snowman activities you like to do with your students? I hope they enjoy these fun hats to make the day special!

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

The post Free Printable Snowman Hat appeared first on Primary Playground.

When I saw this adorable book, Ten Sparkly Snowflakes, I just knew it would be perfect to turn into a fun hands-on math craft. With this Ten Snowflakes Math Craft, we’re incorporating a hands-on activity and math to retell the book.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

I wanted the students to be able to make a fun math craft so I made this free printable. You can use it in a bunch of different ways.

Print it out and retell the story as a class. Have the snow on an anchor chart, and choose a student to come up and put the correct number snowflake in the sky and so on until the story is complete.

Or print it out in black and white and make it into a craft project for your kids. Use a piece of construction paper and have them cut out the snow scene and snowflakes and then glue them onto the paper. They can add additional details if they’d like.

Or draw a stick and give 10 students the snowflakes. As a class, read the book aloud and as their number is called, have the student stand up with their snowflake until the story is over.

Or you can laminate it and use it as a center for the students to practice counting and number sense one through ten.

These cute snowflakes make for such a fun and quick activity during this time of year. Let me know if you have any other ways you’re going to use them in your classroom!

Click the green box to download the free printable Ten Snowflakes Math Craft.

I hope your kiddos enjoy this fun activity!

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

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A couple of weeks ago I found these cute winter mini erasers at Target and knew I have to make a fun activity to use with them. So today we have a Free Printable Winter Spin and Graph for you!

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

This Free Printable Winter Spin and Graph is a fun hands-on activity to teach your little learners about graphing. This activity is perfect for math workshop, in small groups, or even as an independent whole group activity to introduce graphing and recording data. It is super easy to get ready! You can choose to have the kiddos use mini erasers or if you don’t have any, don’t worry! Simply have them color in a box to do the graphing.

the prep

All you need for each child is:

• a copy of the printable (below)
• a pencil
• a paperclip
• winter erasers or a crayon to mark

to play

The students will use a pencil and paperclip to create a makeshift spinner. Put the tip of the pencil in the paperclip, give it a flick, and see where it lands! They always love this part!

Once they land on a winter picture, they color or mark a square above that winter picture with an x. Have them play until one column reaches the top. That winter picture is then declared “the winner!”

You can download the Free Printable Winter Spin and Graph by clicking the green box below.

For more hands-on winter math fun, we practice counting to twenty with our Polar Bear Counting Mats. 

And practice making ten with our Winter Ten Frame Task Cards. 

What are your favorite ways to use mini erasers with your students?

See you next time!

Jenette

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this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

We love reading books about snowmen in January! We’ve already read and shared a literacy snack idea for Sneezy the Snowman and There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow. This week we’re adding another build a snowman read-aloud and we’ll be reading All you Need for a Snowman by Alice Schertle.

In this book, the kids build a snowman saying all you really need…. and it just kept building upon one another. It’s a great way to start them thinking about any other thing they may create or plan. All you really need is……imagination.

This activity works well with

For our Literacy Snack Build A Snowman snack idea to go along with the book, we’ll be building our own snowmen!

ingredients

each student will need

2 pretzel sticks

2 chocolate chips

3 large marshmallows

1 candy corn cut in half – I took candy corn and cut off the bottom yellow part. (Mine were from Target and only 2 colors, orange and yellow) Then I took the remaining orange part and cut that in half so it will give you 2 noses per candy corn.

Snack idea

To make the snowmen, have the students start with the head. Have them push the 2 chocolate chips into the marshmallow as the eyes. Then push the candy corn into the marshmallow as his nose.

Next, have the students push the 2 pretzel sticks into another marshmallow as the arms. They can then build/stack their snowman, and enjoy!

You can get as creative with these as you want, we just wanted to keep it simple so even the youngest could make them. But feel free to add buttons using mini chocolate chips, a piece of licorice ropes pulled apart to add as a scarf and you can even make a hat using a Nilla Wafter as the bottom and put an unwrapped mini Recees Cup on top to make a hat!

Build A Snowman Read Aloud Free Printable

I made a free printable for your little learners to work on while they are enjoying their snacks. They will get to draw a picture of a snowman, adding in everything that he needs just like in the book. It’s fun to see how different everyone’s are at the end!

You can download the Literacy Snack Build A Snowman free printable from my TeachersPayTeachers store by clicking the green box below.

If you’re looking to continue the topic of building a snowman, we have some fun activities that are perfect for you!

Our How To Build A Snowman Sequencing Activities is a fun way to incorporate many different learning standards. In this pack, the students are learning writing, sequencing, retelling, life skills, and much more. It’s a great hands-on activity to get the students excited to learn.  Click here to check it out now.

Here are some of our other favorite snowmen activities!

Do you have any other fun activities you like to do with snowmen? Let us know below!

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

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Do you need a fun way for your little learners to practice their ten frames? Grab some mini erasers and they can practice their countings and numbers with these Free Printable Penguin Ten Frame Cards.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

getting started

The set up is super easy for this activity. Simply download and print the Free Printable Penguin Ten Frame Cards by clicking the green download box at the bottom of this post. Cut them out and laminating the cards is suggested for durability.

We use mini erasers for this activity. These penguins pictures are from a couple of years ago, but I have seen a new winter pack this year that includes snowflakes, penguins, and polar bears which would be perfect to use too! If you don’t have mini erasers, small pom pom balls work well too. You can store them in a sandwich size bag or we like to use clear plastic 4X6 photo cases too.

to play

These Penguin Ten Frame Cards are a fun addition to your math center for the kids to work on counting, one to one correspondence, and even decomposing numbers. Each card has the number and the number word for recognition. Have the students fill in the correct number of squares for the penguin that match the number on the card.

Click the green box below to download the Penguin Ten Frame Cards from my TeachersPayTeachers store for FREE.

If you’re looking for another fun winter counting activity, you might like our Polar Bear Counting Mats too!

I hope your kiddos enjoy this fun hands-on way of practicing their numbers and counting!

See you next time!

Jenette

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this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

Truth be told, I’m kind of obsessed with reindeer at Christmas time. I mean aren’t they just ADORABLE?! So I love to do many fun activities centered around them. Today I’m sharing a super cute Free Printable Reindeer Hat.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

There are so many fun ways you could use this hat! Here are some ideas:

• After your students have made their hats, read aloud to your class, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer while sipping some yummy hot chocolate.

• Watch the Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer movie and have the kids color and cut out the hats while watching.

• Use the reindeer hats as one of your holiday party activities, We’ve made them from construction paper and google eyes, etc before, but these are soooo much easier and faster for the little ones to make.

• Have your students make the reindeer hats and spend an hour playing reindeer games!

• Have your students make the reindeer hat and then make reindeer food to go along with for them to sprinkle at home on Christmas eve.

Free Printable Reindeer Hat

To make the reindeer hat, simply print the 2 pages of the hat out for each student. You can use card stock to make it more sturdy or just plain paper will work just fine too. Have the students color the hat and cut out the 2 pieces.

Have an adult help them staple it together to form the hat. You could also have them attach it to a sentence strip or as another option if you need to make the hat larger for some kiddos, print out a few extra of the back strap pages and use them to extend the hats.

Click the green box below to download the Free Printable Reindeer Hat.

Here are some of our other favorite reindeer activities!

These reindeer counting mats are such a fun addition to your math centers during your reindeer week. Your students will practice counting by adding red pom pom balls, or Rudolph noses onto the paper and can then practice writing the number.

Or this reindeer craft with writing prompts is such a fun craft for the kids to make and looks ADORABLE hanging in the hallway!

Or maybe your class is working on their 2D shapes right now. We have a reindeer as part of our 2D shape crafts set. You can find out more about those here.

Do you have any other fun reindeer activities you like to do with your students? I hope they enjoy these fun hats to make the day special!

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

The post Free Printable Reindeer Hat appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

Have you seen these amazing little personal-sized mini crock-pots? It is on my list of must-haves for school! This little guy is perfect for your school lunches. It does not cook, it just reheats. Today I have 6 Mini Crock-Pot Lunch Ideas for you!

Take the mini crock pot home with you and fill it with your lunch. Bring it to school with you the next day and plug it in in the morning and by lunchtime, you have a nice hot lunch ready and waiting for you!

The mini crock-pot comes with an insert with a lid so you can take that home and bring it back with your food in it if you’d like.

Here are 6 ideas for lunches that you can bring in your mini crock-pot.

Soup

• Let’s keep this simple and quick here, a can of soup. Simply empty the soup into the mini-crock when you get to school and you have a nice and hot lunch ready and waiting for you.

Leftovers-freezer meals

• I don’t know about you, but I’m the only one that ever seems to eat leftovers in our house. I totally don’t mind because they make the best lunches! Just pot your leftover casserole you made the night before into your crock-pot, plug it in when you get to school and you’re all set for a hot lunch and no waiting for a turn at the microwave at lunch!

Tacos

• Everyone loves taco Tuesday right?! Add some cooked ground beef to your mini crock-pot to warm up and make yourself tacos for lunch! The already cooked shredded beef and pork that you can buy at the grocery store or Costco work great in here for making tacos too!

Chili

• What better way to warm up on a chilly day than a bowl of chili. Keep a few extra cans on hand in your room in case you forget your lunch one day. Always great to have a backup plan! If you rather, make a batch at home and freeze it in portion sizes for your mini crock-pot and then reheat once you get to school for a nice hot lunch. Quick and easy lunch to go!

Macaroni and Cheese or Spaghetti

• Another one of my favorites!  Bring your favorite macaroni and cheese that’s already made at home in your crock-pot and just rewarm for lunch. The same goes for spaghetti! Does anyone like spaghetti better the second time around than I do? Maybe I’m just weird!

Rice and Beans

Living in Arizona, rice and beans are a staple for us. Bring it to school in your crock-pot, plug it in and it’ll be ready for lunch. Any type of rice reheats well. Chicken and rice is another great one to bring along in your mini crock-pot.

Bonus idea – Oatmeal

It may not exactly be a “lunch” idea, but oatmeal is fantastic rewarmed in your mini crock-pot. Such comfort food any time of the day.

The only other tip I have is that I like to keep a small carton of milk in the fridge. When reheating things such as the macaroni and cheese and the oatmeal, it’s nice to add a bit more liquid to help it all come together as it reheats.

So what do you think? Are you ready to try one of these awesome mini crock-pots? Or if you already have a mini crockpot share with us any other ideas that you have for lunch in the comments below!

If you’re looking for more of my lunch must-haves you’ll want to check out this post here where I share my favorite lunch bags, lunch containers, and my newest favorite salad container!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post 6 Mini Crock-Pot Lunch Ideas appeared first on Primary Playground.

Winter brings so many fun things to learn about. We’ve been talking a lot about the weather lately, so this week’s book ties into our learning about snow. We don’t get snow where we live, so it’s always a fun treat to learn about snow and snowmen for our kids. For this week’s Literacy Snack Idea Snowman, we’re reading, “There Was A Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow!’ by Lucille Colandro.

“This time, the old lady is swallowing everything from snow to a pipe, some coal, a hat, and more! With rollicking, rhyming text, and funny illustrations, this lively version will appeal to young readers with every turn of the page. And this time, there’s a surprise at the end no reader will be able to guess!”

The surprise at the end is, of course, a snowman! So that’s what we will be making for our snack this week.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

ingredients

each student will need

1 mini-size bagel

a tablespoon of whipped cream cheese

2 pretzel sticks

6 chocolate chips

1 baby carrot

and 3 M&M’s or Skittles

Assemble

You’ll want to make sure all of your bagels are pre-sliced for the students. They may need a bit of help spreading the cream cheese on the bagels, so I usually just walk around from table to table helping with this step. After the cream cheese is on our snowman, the students get to add all of his details. I used the chocolate chips as his eyes and his mouth. The baby carrot for his nose. The pretzel sticks for his arms and the M&M’s for his buttons. Let the kids be creative and let them add them all as they like to build their snowmen.

Free Printable

While the students are enjoying their snowman snack, I made a free printable for them to work on. They get to remember back to the book and color in all the funny things that the old lady swallowed in order to make a snowman.

You can download the Literacy Snack Idea Snowman free printable from my teacherspayteachers store below.

If you’re looking for more snowman ideas to use during this time, the students love this snowman activities pack. It has everything from labeling a snowman to writing about how to build a snowman.

Or these snowman ten frame task cards are a fun addition to your math centers.

And our snowman real and nonsense word sort is fun for literacy centers or small group work.

What are some of your favorite snowman activities to do this time of year?

See you next time!

Jenette

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I love teaching the students about how different people celebrate the holidays this time of year. It’s so important for the students to know that everyone is different and has special traditions just like their own family. For our literacy snack this week, we have a Literacy Snack Idea Hanukkah Read Aloud,  Is It Hanukkah Yet? by Chris Barash.

“From snow on the ground to making applesauce and latkes to lighting the menorah, this sweet, lyrical story shows the seasonal and traditional ways we know Hanukkah is on its way.”

The book touches on traditions just briefly on each page, enough for you to reference back to help explain the traditions in more details afterward. I especially like to go back and talk about how the family played a dreidel game.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Our first graders in our school each year, sing Holiday songs at an assembly. The song they sing for Hanukkah is Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel, so I like to play this video for the students so they can sing along.

And then we watch a video to help us understand how to play the dreidel game.

At the end of the video, the dad gives each of them special chocolate gold coins, and that’s what we’ll be having as our snack today to go along with the book. They’re easy to find at the store, Target Dollar Spot, Trader Joes, World Market Place, tons of places. I give each student 2 gold coins.

While they’re enjoying their special treat, I made a free printable for them to work on. They get to draw in the nine candles on the menorah that they learned about in the book.

You can download the Literacy Snack Idea Hanukkah Read Aloud free printable from my teacherspayteachers store below.

If you are continuing to teach about other holidays around the world, your class may enjoy these Holiday Around the World bingo cards. It’s a favorite for us!

And here is a fun Hanukkah scavenger hunt to help celebrate too. . Click here for the digital version and click here to grab the printable version.

Do you have any other fun ways to teach about Hanukkah in your classroom?

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Idea Hanukkah Read Aloud appeared first on Primary Playground.

Our class had such a FUN time with our holiday class holiday sock exchange last year! Kids still come up to me months later and tell me that they wore their holiday socks they got just the other day. It’s one of the most memorable activities that we’ve ever done at one of our class holiday parties.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Supplies you’ll need

You will need one pair of holiday socks for each student.

wrapping paper and wrapping supplies

a book to read – I chose Santa’s Underwear

I chose to purchase all of the socks on my own but I’ve made a free printable note to send home requesting that each student send in a pair of wrapped holiday socks for the exchange. You can download the free printable at the bottom of this post. If you choose to do it this way, just make sure that you have enough backup pairs for any students that didn’t bring in a pair so everyone can participate.

To Play

I like to play this game to get our party starts so that the kids can wear their new holiday socks during the whole party.

You may have played a game similar to this before, but I changed it up a bit so anyone can play it easily. Normally you read a story and pass the wrapped socks back and forth when the words right and left are read. Instead, I chose a book that I wanted to read to the class, Santa’s Underwear. You can’t go wrong with a book like this, underwear is a magical word in any class as you know. So I read the book to the class, and every time that I said the word, underwear, they had to pass the wrapped gift.

Since I was the one who bought the socks and wrapped them all up, the students didn’t know what it was that they were passing around. I heard a few whispers that they were passing around wrapped underwear since they feel similar. Exactly what I was hoping for! When the story is finished, the students can open the gift they have in their hands. Everyone put on their socks and wore them for the rest of our party.

If you’d like to send home a flyer to have the students send in wrapped socks for the party, you can download the free printable below.

I hope your students love this holiday tradition as much as mine do!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Class Holiday Sock Exchange appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

This week we’re reading one of my favorite Abraham Lincoln read-aloud called Just Like Abraham Lincoln by Bernard Waber. It is a well-woven story about ordinary people who find themselves brought together by a common interest. It describes some of Lincoln’s good qualities and what he may have been like. The book is a great introduction to the history and unlikely friendships.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

For our snack, I thought it only fitting that the students get to make their very own log cabin!

Ingredients

A handful of pretzel sticks – that’s it!

Assemble

There is no right or wrong way to put the log cabin together. Let the students be creative in making their cabins!

Free Printable

While the students are eating their snack, I made a printable for them to work on. In the Abraham Lincocln read-aloud., Mr. Pott’s is compared to Abraham Lincoln. On the printable, the students will list three different ways they are alike.

Click the green box below to download the free printable from my TeachersPayTeachers store. 

As we’re continuing to learn about Abraham Lincoln this week, we’re also be making our very own Lincoln log cabin craft. Such a fun way to get the students excited about learning!

I hope your students enjoy this Abraham Lincoln read-aloud and making their log cabins!

See you next time!

Jenette

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This week we’ve been working on our hibernation unit so I have a Literacy Snack Hibernate Read-Aloud to share with you. One of my favorite books to read during this unit is  Bear Snores On, by Karma Wilson. Bear books are always a favorite with the kids and it ties in nicely.

“One by one, a whole host of different animals and birds find their way out of the cold and into Bear’s cave to warm up. But even after the tea has been brewed and the corn has been popped, Bear just snores on!
See what happens when he finally wakes up and finds his cave full of uninvited guests — all of them having a party without him!”

For this week’s snack, the students are making their own caves with Bear inside!

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

ingredients

Each student will need

1 full-size graham cracker

a tablespoon or 2 of shredded coconut

1 teddy graham bear snack

assemble

To assemble the cave, have the students break their graham crackers in half. Lean them against each other forming the cave. Have the students sprinkle their shredded coconut as the snow in front of the cave Last, they can put their bear inside of the cave to hibernate.

free printable

After the students have made their cave, I created a printable for them to work on sequencing from the book. They will number the boxes in the order they happened in the story and then color the pictures.

Click the green box below to download the Literacy Snack Hibernate Read-Aloud free printable from my TeachersPayTeahers store.

Hope your students enjoying making their bear cave snacks!

See you next time!

Jenette

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this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

Since much of the country is covered in snow right now, I thought it was a perfect time to bring out one of my favorite snowflake read aloud this week for our Literacy Snack. This week we’re learning about snowflakes and reading, Snowflake Bentley, by Jacqueline Briggs Martin.

It’s a beautiful biography that tells the true story of a boy who was mesmerized by snowflakes. He made it his life’s passion to study and take pictures of snowflakes.

For our snack this week, we are making our very own snowflakes.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Ingredients

1 large marshmallow

a handful of small marshmallows – approx 20 small marshmallows

To Assemble

Give each of the students their marshmallows. Have them create their very own snowflake using the marshmallows. The best part is that they will all be different, just like real snowflakes.

It’s wonderful fine motor practice for the students as they create their very own snowflake.

Free Printable

After they have made their snowflake out of marshmallows, I made a free printable for them to continue to be creative by this time drawing what they think a snowflake looks like to go with the snowflake read aloud. 

You can download the free printable below from my TeachersPayTeachers store. 

I hope your students enjoy their snowflake snack!

See you next time!

Jenette

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I don’t know about you but I LOVE the Olympics! I love watching all of the amazing athletes and learning about them and their road to get there. It’s always so inspiring!

To get us excited about the Winter Olympics, I printed out a bunch of flags from different countries that will be participating. I had the students color them and we’ll be hanging them up in the classroom.

My goal is to also keep track of the medal counts for the top few countries with the class this year during our morning meeting to keep them engaged.

I created a winter sports word search to introduce some of the games that some of the students may not have heard of or seen before. You could even send it home for the students to work on while watching the Opening Ceremonies and have them bring it back for a special treat.

You can download the Winter Sports Free Printable Word Search from my TeachersPayTeachers store by clicking the green box below.

I also have a fun winter sports scavenger hunt that you can have your students do as well!

You can find all of the other scavenger hunts I’ve shared here.

What is your favorite winter sport to watch during the Olympics?

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Winter Sports Free Printable Word Search appeared first on Primary Playground.

Citrus is a huge part of living in Arizona. In fact, it was part of Arizona’s core economy back when we became a state. Known as the 5 C’s, copper, cattle, cotton, citrus, and climate. Many residents have citrus trees in their yards and near where we live, there are many citrus orchards still today.  With this being said, I really wanted to incorporate this into a literacy snack for our students.

For this week’s Literacy Snack Idea, we’re reading, An Orange in January, by Dianna Hutts Aston. It’s a great book that shows the lifecycle of an orange and how it gets to the store for you to enjoy.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Snack Idea

There’s not too much to this snack this week, but after we have read the book, the students get to enjoy a cutie orange of their own. I choose cuties because they are easy enough for the students to peel them on their own and have no seeds.

I brought in a bunch of pieces of citrus that I had gathered from my own neighbors. We had oranges, lemons, and grapefruits. The students got to feel and smell them.

Literacy Snack Oranges Read-Aloud Free Printable

While the students are enjoying their juicy oranges, I created a free printable for them to work on. They will get to write and draw about what their favorite part about an orange is.

Click the green box below to download the Literacy Snack Oranges Read-Aloud free printable from my TeachersPayTeachers store.

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Oranges Read-Aloud appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

Happy New Year friends! I hope you’re well-rested from the break and glad to be back! For our first Literacy Snack for the new year, we’re reading a snowy read-aloud, The Snowy Day, by Ezra Jack Keats.

It’s a wonderful book that captures the adventures of a little boy on a snowy day in the city. My favorite part of the book is when he puts the snowball in his pocket and comes to find it has melted away. I just knew we needed to have snowballs for our snack this week.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Ingredients

Powdered donut holes – I did 4 per student

That’s it, just donut holes but oh boy, we had a fantastic time talking all about snowballs and playing in the snow etc to go along with our snowy read aloud.  There were some pretty great stories considering we just came back from break.

Free Printable

While they’re eating their snowball snack, I made a free printable for them to work on. They get to draw a picture of their favorite thing to do in the snow.

Click the green box below to download the free printable from my TeachersPayTeachers store.

We also got to watch the video of the story on amazon. If you have a prime membership you can watch it for free here. Have you seen it?

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And if you are looking for another fun snowball activity to go along with the book, we have a fun math center for you! The students just love using cotton balls to help them practice counting with these Snowball Counting Mats. Click here to check them out now.

We also have a bunch of fun winter snowball Minute to Win it ideas in this post here. So much fun!

What are some of your other favorite snowy read alouds to share with your class?

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Idea Snowy + Free Printable appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

For this week’s Literacy Snack we’re reading one of our Christmas favorites, The Polar Express, by Chris Van Allsburg. This is a fun Literacy Snack Idea North Pole Train read-aloud for Christmas.

“A young boy, lying awake one Christmas Eve, is welcomed aboard a magical trip to the North Pole . . . Through dark forests, over tall mountains, and across a desert of ice, the Polar Express makes its way to the city atop the world, where the boy will make his Christmas wish. “

The students are always excited about this one as am I. For our snack this week, we’re making a train just like the Polar Express.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

ingredients needed

for each student, you’ll need

1 graham cracker plus another small piece for the stack

4 mini Oreos – mini Nilla Wafers work well too

4 mini marshmallows

6 Christmas M&M’s candies

assemble

To make the train, the students will break one graham cracker in half. One of those halves will be the middle of the train. Take the other half and break it in half again. They will go on each side of the middle cracker. Place the last small piece on one of the end crackers as the stack. Use the mini Oreos as the wheels. They can use the marshmallows to make smoke and put the candies in the back of the train.

While they are working on their trains, I play the Polar Express soundtrack. Everyone always sings along to the hot chocolate song. So cute!

I also created a printable to go along with the book for them to work on while they are enjoying their snack and listening to the music. The students will number the pictures in the correct order as they happened in the book and color the pictures. It’s a great sequencing activity.

Click the green box below to download the Literacy Snack Idea North Pole Train free printable.

If you’re looking for more activities to go with the Polar Express book or movie, you might like our North Pole counting mats. Your students will get to practice their numbers and counting by collecting the correct number of jingle bells.

Maybe you need a literacy center too, your student can practice their  CVC words with this CVC word train sort.

And don’t forget the hot chocolate! See how we make it in the crockpot here.

You could really turn this into a full fun day of Polar Express activities, everyone wears pajamas, so many possibilities! I hope your students enjoy making the trains!

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Idea North Pole Train appeared first on Primary Playground.

Winter Break Bingo

With winter break quickly approaching, I created this bingo to send home with the kiddos.  Instead of homework over break, I wanted to encourage the students to read, play, and spend quality time with the families. I’ve included fun things like draw a winter picture, have soup for dinner, read in front of the fireplace, have an indoor snowball fight. Lots of different options for the students to choose from.

THIS RESOURCE WORKS WELL WITH

You can make suggestions too, such as if a student doesn’t have a fireplace, they have fire videos on Netflix or Youtube. Maybe you live in Arizona like us and don’t get snow, but you can still build a snowman out of play doh. Encourage the students to think outside the box and be creative. Winter break is a great time for us all to regenerate and take a break to get ready for the second half of the school year.

If the students bring back the bingo card after winter break with a, “bingo’, they get to take a trip to the treasure box. I’ve made the printable in both a color option and a black and white option so you can print what best fits your needs. You can download the free bingo below from my TeachersPayTeachers store. 

If you’re looking for more ideas like this to send home, we also have a free math bingo here, a free screen free bingo here, a free summer reading bingo here and a free reading bingo here. 

Wishing you a fantastic, relaxing winter break!

Jenette

The post Free Printable Winter Break Bingo appeared first on Primary Playground.

Happy Wednesday! It’s finally starting to feel like a little like winter here in Arizona, so I thought a snowman read aloud would be a perfect book to read this week. For this weeks’ Literacy Snack Idea, we’re reading, Sneezy the Snowman, by Maureen Wright.

“B-R-R-R-R! AH-CHOO! Sneezy the Snowman is cold, cold, cold. To warm-up, he drinks cocoa, sits in a hot tub, stands near a warm fire–and melts! But the children know just what to do to build him up again–and make him feel “just right”. ” The students love when  Sneezy attempts to warm himself with some silly results.

THIS RESOURCE WORKS WELL WITH

At the end of the book, Sneezy enjoys an ice cream cone when he’s feeling just right, so for our snack this week we’re having ice cream cones!

Snack Idea 

ingredients

ice cream flavor of your choice, I did peppermint to go with the holiday season.

ice cream cones

Give each student a scoop of ice cream in their cone. It’s a little silly and unexpected for the students being so chilly outside and that makes it so much more fun!

Free Printable

After they’re done with their cones, I made a fun worksheet for them to work on. They will recall the order of when the things happened in the story. I leave the book up front in case they need to go back and reference it.

If you’re looking for a little more snowman fun after reading the book, your students will love playing this Snowman Bingo! Click here to check it out now.

And you might like this other snowman read aloud snack idea that goes along with There Was An Old Lady Whoe Swallowed Some Snow. Click here to check it out now.

I hope your students love having an unexpected ice cream cone treat just like Sneezy the Snowman did in this snowman read aloud! See you next time!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Idea Snowman appeared first on Primary Playground.

Can you believe it’s already that time to start thinking about parent gifts? I found these cute wood slices at Hobby Lobby and just knew I wanted to use them for our gifts this year. They’re really simple to make and take less than 10 minutes. Keep reading to find out how to make this adorable Wood Slice Snowman Ornament

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

Supplies you’ll need

Wood slices – I found mine at Hobby Lobby in the wood section, they come in a bag.

Craft paint – light blue, white, black, and orange

Paintbrushes

Twine or ribbon

Hot glue gun

Sandpaper – you may or may not need this depending on how rough or smooth your wood slices are

First, make sure that your wood slices are smooth enough. If not, sand them a bit so they’re not so rough. The painting will go on much smoother and easier for the kids.

Using the white paint, have the students paint a half-circle.

Next, fill in the rest of the wood slice with the light blue.

Let it dry for just a minute or two at this point depending on how much paint the students used. When it’s dry enough, have the students use orange paint to make a triangle nose on the snowman.

For the eyes and the mouth, they will use the opposite end of the paintbrush. Have them dip it in the black paint and dab on the eyes and mouth.

Lastly, they add the white snow using the same method as the eyes and mouth with the white paint.

To hang them, cut 3 inches of twine or ribbon and hot glue it to the back of the wood slice and they’re done! All of them will look different and that’s the best part!

I knew I also wanted to have a fingerprint ornament, so we made those too. You’ll follow basically all the same steps, using the same color paints.

Paint the wood slice blue. Let it dry a bit. Have the student use their pinky to make the snowman and add in the extra little details like the other ornament.

If you’re interested in another ornament that your kids can make for the holidays, you’ll want to check out these paint stick ornaments. Your student’s parents will LOVE them!

They are all so cute, it’s hard to choose which is my favorite!  If you make them I’d love for you to share them on my Facebook page, Primary Playground.

Jenette

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The post Wood Slice Snowman Ornament appeared first on Primary Playground.

This article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

I love making hot chocolate in the classroom! I’ve been making it this way for years now and I promise it is super simple. No more hot water, opening packets, mixing, etc, and tastes sooo much better! This will make a full crockpot and should serve approx 30 students.

This article works well with these resources from Primary Playground.

Let’s get to the yummy part!

ingredients

1 cup of white sugar

1 cup of cocoa powder

2 cups of water

10 cups of milk

whipped cream and mini marshmallows

small Styrofoam cups

You can find a printable version of the recipe further down in the post. 

Instructions

You’ll need to do the “hard” part at home the night or the morning before. You’ll mix the sugar, cocoa powder, and water in a saucepan and bring to a slight boil. Let it cool and put it in a container to bring to school with you. When you’re ready to put it together in the classroom, pour your chocolate mixture in the crockpot and add in 10 cups of milk. Turn your crockpot on low. It’ll take about 2 hours on low for it to be hot. You may want to turn it off about 20 minutes before you start serving so it’s not quite as hot for the students. You’ll have a couple of cups of milk leftover, and if you’re getting low on the hot chocolate as your serving, you can add some of the leftover milk. It will still be plenty chocolaty.

After you make it this way, you’ll never want to go back. I even use the same recipe for Christmas at home too. Let me know if you try it!

If you’d like a printable version of the recipe click the green box below. It is a half sheet of paper, share the other with another teacher or a parent that comes to help!

One of our favorite activities to have hot chocolate with is when we’re working on our hot chocolate craft and writing prompts. They get to enjoy their hot chocolate while making their craft and writing about it. They look adorable all hanging up on the bulletin board!

And our Cooking Class How To Make Hot Chocolate is another favorite of the kids. Cooking class is a fun way to incorporate many different learning standards. In this pack, the students are learning writing, sequencing, retelling, life skills, and much more. It’s a great hands-on activity to get the students excited to learn.

I hope your students enjoy their hot chocolate as much as mine do!

Jenette

The post Making Hot Chocolate In The Classroom appeared first on Primary Playground.

I’ve made table tents that you can print as well with the game’s name on it along with the game’s instructions. It’s made it so much easier when I use these in the classroom. My parent volunteers can just read the back to get the instructions and it makes things so much easier for us all. You can download them for free at the bottom of the post.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Do You Want To Build A Snowman?

You’ll need popsicle sticks and mini or regular size marshmallows depending on how hard you want to make it. The students will put the popsicle stick in their mouth and try to build a snowman using 3 marshmallows on the end of their stick.

Snowball Race

You’ll need a few cotton balls and straws. The students will use the straw and try to blow the “snowball” to the other side of the table. You can make it more difficult by using some painters tape and making a square on the table that they have to try to blow their snowball into.

Snowman Bounce

You’ll need a paper plate paint stir stick, duct tape, and white balloons. Draw a snowman face on the paper plate and attach it to the stick using the duct tape. The students will use the snowman paddle to keep the snowball bouncing in the air for one minute.

Snowball Toss

You’ll need 2 cups per team and a bunch of mini marshmallows. There are 2 students to a team for this game. Have them stand on opposite ends of a table or 6 feet apart.  The snowball tosser will try and get as many snowballs into the cup as possible in one minute.

Snowball Scoop

You’ll need 2 large bowls, 2 bags of cotton balls, a large salad spoon or tongs and a blindfold. Place all of the cotton balls into one bowl and put it beside the second bowl on the table. Blindfold the student, and using the salad spoon, they’ll see how many “snowballs” they can move from the full bowl to the empty bowl using only the spoon in one minute.

Click the green box below to download the Winter Minute to Win It Games table tents with each game’s instructions on them for your volunteers.

Wind down with from the party fun with some hot chocolate in the classroom. It’s always a hit!

I hope your students enjoy playing these games as much as mine do. Are there any other winter games you enjoying playing in the classroom?

If you’re looking for more Minute to Win It games, click here to see our fall minute to win ute game idea and here for our spring minute to win it game ideas. We also share donut minute to win it games to play here. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

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