Make a Snowman Craft and Work Fine Motor Skills into your Lesson Plan

A Snowman that works Fine Motor Skills is the Perfect Winter Craft Activity for Preschoolers

This post is a special guest post written by Leanne from Sugar Aunts. This project focuses on fine motor skills for children ages 2-7 yrs. It is the perfect winter craft activity for preschoolers.

We love creative crafts that focus on Fine Motor Play.  A craft that pulls in developmental skills is much more than a fun activity.  While the kids are cutting, gluing, and creating, they are also working on so many skills essential to self-care, handwriting, and scissor skills!   
This Multi-Textural Fine Motor Snowman craft was a ton of fun to create and worked on many fine motor skills. The multiple textures added a sensorial bonus...and a great texture to our snowman!

This Fine Motor Snowman craft was a big hit with my daughters.  We started with a snowman cut from white contact paper.  This was glued to a sheet of blue construction paper and then taped to the wall.  I wanted the task to be done on a vertical surface to further challenge the fine motor dexterity. Working on an inclined surface such as an easel or wall encourages a tripod grasp when manipulating small pieces. An extended wrist (wrist bent back in the direction of the back of the hand) and a tripod grasp is necessary for an appropriate grasp on writing utensils. 

Big Sister (age 6) is in kindergarten and developing her scissor skills.  I pulled out a variety of textured materials.  We had strips of thin Styrofoam, foam packaging sheets, and tissue paper.  Strips of the materials had marked lines for her to snip.  Cutting small snips along a line is a great way to work on scissor skills and line awareness with a new scissor user. 

Snipping these different textures with scissors really encourages line awareness.  A thick bulky material like the Styrofoam requires was easier to cut.  Cutting the foam was very easy for Big Sister. (She asked for more foam to snip once we were finished!) 

 

Tissue paper is a very thin and flimsy material and requires great scissor control.  This was a fun material to try and the short cuts were just right for Big Sister!

Once all of our materials were snipped into little squares, we sorted them by texture. This was a fun way to explore the differences.

Next, we stuck the different materials onto the contact paper snowman. 

This part of the craft was fun for Baby Girl (age 2).  She loved sticking the different materials onto the contact paper and worked for a LONG time to fill up the whole snowman. 

Our multi-textural snowman was a fun way to practice scissor skills and work on some fine motor areas while creating a winter craft for kids!

 

The Sugar Aunts are three sisters who blog about all things creative in motherhood. They love playful learning, creative kid's crafts, sensory and fine motor activities, kid's party themes, DIY, and so much more. Between the three Aunts, there are 6 cousins (with more on the way!) who are around each other so often, they are more like siblings than cousins! You can see the action at www.sugaraunts.com.

Recommended Reading:

Hibernation Station Companion Book for Winter Crafts

Drama Activities for Kids


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February Holidays Calendar for Special Days to Plan Activities

February 2017 Holidays Special Days Calendar Helps Plan Winter Activities Curriculum

Our Pin it! Preschool Scavenger Hunt on Pinterest has ideas for crafts and activities to plan your 2017 February classroom or homeschool monthly curriculum calendar. Check out the special dates here and then hop over for fun ideas. Click here for January Holidays? Scroll down for free printable February calendar. Enjoy!

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.*

February Holidays printable calendar.

February 2 isn't just Groundhog Day - nope, it is also Hedgehog Day - actually, the Hedgehog had it first! Groundhog Day History

February 7 is Bubble Gum Day. Chew some gum for a charity.

 February 12 is Charles Darwin's and Honest Abe's Birthday.

February 14 is of course, Valentine's Day! You should have a great time with your Classroom Valentine's Parties, but don't confuse the good time you have and call it ValentiMe's Day. 

 February 15 is Gumdrop Day. Goody Goody!

February 17 Washington's Birthday. Abraham Lincoln's birthday is February 12.

February 20 is  President's Day and Toothfairy Day.

.

2017 Calendar Printable

Recommended Reading:

The Groundhog Day Book of Facts and Fun*

Pop!: The Invention of Bubble Gum*

The Night Before the Tooth Fairy*

ADS DISCLOSURE: We've partnered with some wonderful advertisers who may sponsor blog posts or send us samples to test. Some companies pay us to review their products.

*We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Tapinfluence, Google Adsense, SoFab, and Izea ads here. Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)

Snowman Activities for Preschoolers

These Snowman Activities will fill your Preschooler with Joy

Snow is beautiful, but some never get it and others get far too much! Whether you have none or tons, stay inside with your preschooler and make your own snowman projects. We've linked several snow ideas and activities from our site as well as a few of our favorites from Pinterest. Enjoy being warm while you build a snowman. Enjoy!

• How to make a snowman from a peanut.

Mini Peanut Snowman from Kids Creative Chaos.

• Make ice cream snowballs and build a yummy, cute snowman.

Edible Snowman from Kids Creative Chaos.

• Make your own Snowman Soup Recipe From 3rd Grade Thoughts.

Snowman Soup Recipe from Third Grade Thoughts.

• Make a snowman in a jar and keep him forever - no melting ;)

Snowman in a jar from Kids Creative Chaos.

• Printable Snowman Activity

Snowman Valentine Activity.

• Easy Snowflake Snowman 

Easy Preschool Snowflake Snowman.

Looking for Snowman Ideas for Winter Activities for the classroom? How about a companion snowman story by Mercer Mayer.



Recommended Reading:

Snowman Classroom Door Decoration

The Snowman Children's Book*

The Biggest Snowman Ever story*









ADS DISCLOSURE: We've partnered with some wonderful advertisers who may sponsor blog posts or send us samples to test. Some companies pay us to review their products.

*We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Tapinfluence, Google Adsense, SoFab, and Izea ads here. Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)

15 Obscure, Unusual, Unique Holidays January Calendar

January Calendar of Special Days and Holidays

We're always looking for obscure holidays to plan our blog ideas. Here is a list of January holidays to theme your classroom boards or craft activities. Scroll down for a free printable January calendar of holidays for the classroom. Enjoy!

Pin it! Preschool Scavenger Hunt is full of great theme ideas for special holidays and seasonal activities for preschoolers. Hop over, and check it out. Our Pinterest profile also has ideas for classroom bulletin boards and elementary room doors plus great ideas for homeschooling. No matter the special day, I hope you'll look around my site for more ideas for kids' activities.

January Holidays and Special Days Calendar 
to plan activities to do with kids.

• January 1 - while this day is known to everyone around the world as New Year's Day, it is also the birthday of America's beloved Betsy Ross maker of our U.S. flag. (1752) Click for Free American Flag Coloring Page Printables.
• January 7 - Harlem Globetrotters started as the Savoy Big Five. (1926)
• January 8 - National Clean Off Your Desk Day. Maybe if you tell the kids that, they will find it motivating?
• January 9 - National Apricot Day. So find some dried apricots or dry your own and make an apricot doll. Wait. They do that with dried apples. Well, do it anyway - invent that!
• January 10 - Volunteer Firefighter's Day, now that's a good day. It honors some brave folks. How about a little fireman appreciation. Do some crafting with Dalmatians or maybe make some hats or play fireman with an old cut up hose.
• January 11 - Got Milk? Well, you better get some because today is Milk Day. If you want a really obscure special occasion it is also my parent's anniversary!
• January 13 - The Frisbee was invented in Connecticut, because what would we do without the Frisbee really? I mean it was the original boredom buster, right. Dogs love it. I had a boyfriend once who loved it. And then, he got a dog so...
• January 14 - Speaking of dogs, the 15th is Dress up your Pet Day. You could dress your pet up as a Volunteer Firefighter or a Dalmatian; that'd be a hoot.
• January 14 - Speaking of hoots or birds anyway, It is Bald Eagle Day. Do not dress up your bald eagle today. I repeat, do not dress up your bald eagle today. Have you seen their talons. Yep, this is a bad idea.
• January 15 - National Hat Day. Hello, I've got some hat crafts. I can help you with that day! Peruse these walls or these frames, you will find many more hats for holidays.
• January 17 - Ben Franklin's Birthday. How about a fun science project for preschoolers to celebrate.
• January 19 - It is Archery day. No, kids it didn't start with the Hunger Games, it has been around a long, long, time. Why not paint a bull's eye in color wheel colors so you can learn two things at once. You know, kill two birds with one stone. Ahem. One arrow, I mean.
• January 20 - Penguin Awareness Day, although Penguins are birds please don't go throwing rocks or shooting arrows at them. You could color a coloring page for the letter P though.
• January 24 - Global Belly Laugh Day. Celebrate the gift of laughter! 1:24 p.m. (your time) Smile! Throw your hands in the air and LOL for real!
• January 28 - Daisy Day. I have a Daisy Hat Craft, so you can choose do you use it for Hat Day or Daisy Day? Maybe plant a flower seed instead.
• January 29 - National Puzzle Day. Put together a puzzle, glue it onto cardboard, and frame it. That sounds fun. Not. I dislike puzzles. #dislikepuzzles Have the kids draw a picture, glue it to a cereal box panel, let it dry, and let them cut it up. That sounds better; yeah go do that. Give them a baggie so they can take it home and show their Mom. I sure hope she doesn't feel the same way about puzzles that I do.  ;)

Click here to download: Free Printable January Calendar of Holidays.

Add some cool kids' books about snow to your winter activities curriculum. Well, that's all I've got. Want some February Special Days ideas? Oh. Try this page for companion coloring pages and free printables - that will help for now.  See you back in month!

Recommended Reading:

February Calendar of Special Days and Holidays

Children's Book-a-Day Almanac*

January's Sparrow by Patricia Polacco*

Buy a Puzzle for National Puzzle Day:
Melissa and Doug Pattern Blocks and Boards Puzzle*






ADS DISCLOSURE: We've partnered with some wonderful advertisers who may sponsor blog posts or send us samples to test. Some companies pay us to review their products.

*We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Tapinfluence, Google Adsense, SoFab, and Izea ads here. Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)

What Year is 2014 in Chinese New Year?

It is the Chinese New Year, Year of the Horse 2014

Looking for a meaningful horse quote for Pinterest or Facebook for the Chinese New Year? It is the year of the horse! When is the Chinese New Year? The new Moon on January 30, 2014 begins the year of the Wood Horse. Chinese New Year is a spring festival that begins on the second new Moon after Winter Solstice, with the Sun and Moon are in Aquarius. Last year, 2013, was the year of the water snake. Enjoy!

Horse quote by Ovid for the year of the horse.

In Chinese astrology, this year is considered fortunate, bringing luck and good things. The Magical Horse has supernatural powers, is heroic, strong, and can even fly! The horse is a hero in China because important battles were won due to its power and strength.

Here is a fun horse word search from homeschoolhelpersonline.com or how about a horse coloring page printable from onlinecoloringbook.net. We have a Chinese Dragon New Year printable.


Recommended Reading:

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Year of the Dragon

Bringing In the New Year (Read to a Child)*















ADS DISCLOSURE: We've partnered with some wonderful advertisers who may sponsor blog posts or send us samples to test. Some companies pay us to review their products.

*We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Tapinfluence, Google Adsense, SoFab, and Izea ads here. Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)

Wanting to have the best New Year's Eve Party Celebration with Kids?

Try these 5 New Year's Eve Ideas with Kids to have a fun and memorable Party Celebration!

There are so many fun ways to include your kids in the New Years Celebration! Here is a round up of some of our favorites New Year Party ideas you can use to have the best New Year's Eve Party ever with the kids. Enjoy!

Have the best New Year's Eve Party Celebration with Kids.

1) Double the Fun Parties wrote about her fabulous, kid-oriented, teal and silver New Year's Eve Party!

Silver and Teal New Year's Eve Party

She has fantastic ideas from the decorations to the food. She also includes some very fun activities - like "Name that Oreo." Her re-purposed coffee drink glass bottles as adorable milk bottles for the kids are my favorite! Seriously, how cute is this?! She has popcorn balls, veggie and dip cups, and other finger foods! The color theme with the clocks is just darling!

2) The Real Thing with the Coake Family posted this clever party plan! There are several variations online with other ideas but her plan is really cute and fun.

Here are some more party ideas for kids.

Ring in the New Year with Hourly Bags!

Each bag is labeled with an hour (she includes a free printable on her site) - to be opened on each hour leading up to midnight (or whatever you deem to be your "ringing in the new year time"). She has a clue for an activity and something in each bag - hop over to her site for more details.

So fun! If you are crafty and prefer a craft activity for each hour, check out these 16 ideas a clever New Year Activity with kids! 

3) The Crafty Crow shared some ideas and this one is especially awesome! The picture is form flickr by Art Yowza.

Memory Strings

What a great way to use art in helping your children to reflect on the activities, events, and favorite moments of the year. You can provide art supplies, perhaps some number printables, and string and let them go to town in creating a keepsake craft project!

4) Savvy Sassy Moms has a wonderful round-up of New Year's party ideas!

Fun DIY Hats for New Year's Eve.

Birthday ideas for girl's slumber party

This is an especially cute idea from their list - these festive and fun party hats made from poster board. Pair these with little goodie bags filled with noise makers and you will have a rockin' party! All of the instructions are over on Spoonfull for these diy NYE hats for kids.! 

5) (cool) progeny has perhaps my very favorite theme - New Years Around the World!

Ideas for New Years Around the World,

There are several countries with their New Year's traditions listed! It would be such a fun way to incorporate a little history and geography into an evening of fun! You can find printable maps and coloring pages online as well as traditional recipes. Perhaps include traditional costumes or a learn a greeting in another language. You can compare when they ring in the New Year compared to where you live and perhaps celebrate several New Years!

However you decide to celebrate - we hope that it will be a memorable and fun time with family and friends! Be creative in including your children - there are so many fun ideas! 

We would love to hear your ideas for New Year's Eve for kids. Do you stay up until midnight? Try this Midnight Care Package for your New Year celebration. Do you let your kids stay up? Any traditions that you must absolutely include?



Recommended Reading:

Paper Crafts for Chinese New Year *

P. Bear's New Year's Party: A Counting Book*


Find more ideas for New Years Eve.

ADS DISCLOSURE: We've partnered with some wonderful advertisers who may sponsor blog posts or send us samples to test. Some companies pay us to review their products.

*We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Tapinfluence, Google Adsense, SoFab, and Izea ads here. Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)

Free Printable Christmas Tree and Santa Coloring Pages

Christmas Tree Printable Coloring Sheets

Looking for Christmas Trees to color or Santa activities to do with kids? We have tons of Holiday and Christmas decoration ideas to make and free printables too. We use media fire to host our free printables, just click the image or the link to go there. You can also right click and save, but they may print out wonky. If you head over to our MediaFire page you will see all of our free printables and activity sheets for kids. Enjoy!

Christmas Tree to color.

North Pole and Snowman winter scene to color.

Santa with bag of toys.

Happy Holidays, Y'all :) xoxo - Lora


Recommended Reading:

The Night Before Christmas: Coloring and Sticker Fun! (Dover Holiday Coloring Book)*

Zolocolor! Christmas Doodling*

Christmas Tree Cards







ADS DISCLOSURE: We've partnered with some wonderful advertisers who may sponsor blog posts or send us samples to test. Some companies pay us to review their products.

*We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Tapinfluence, Google Adsense, SoFab, and Izea ads here. Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)

Fun Free Printable Coloring Pages for Boys: Including Minecraft

Free Printable Coloring Pages for Boys: Minecraft, Star Wars, and Batman!

We know as you get busy with holiday prep you need quick activities for the kids to do. So, each week, we'll be offering some fun, FREE printable (colouring) coloring pages for kids.

This week, we'd like you to meet Kid Batman, an RC Car Darth Vader, and a Minecraft Skin to design anyway you want. For boys? What they hey? My daughter likes all these too. Oh yeah? So does mine. So print them out for her and chill out. The SEO gods like "for boys" and I like the SEO gods. Get it? Got it? Good ;) Thanks for using our site for finding free printable coloring sheets. We like you too!

Kid Batman Coloring Sheet for Boys.

Darth Vader RC Car to color.

Color and design your own Minecraft style Skin.

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Recommended Reading:

Minecraft Puzzle Kit

Call of Duty Coloring Pages for Teenagers

Minecraft - Pocket Edition

Minecraft Birthday Party Ideas and Activities

8 Best Christmas Holiday Games for Parties for Adults and Kids

8 Activities for Christmas Parties

Looking for Holiday or Christmas Party Games for your Office or School Event? These are some of the 8 BEST EVER holiday GAMES for Parties. Even Santas like to play holiday games and do fun Christmas activities when they get together... And eat. They also like to eat. Scroll down for more of the best holiday games. Enjoy!

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.

Here are some more of the best CHRISTMAS games ever! You can play them in a Banquet Hall, outside in warm weather, (or cold if you like) and in your living room.  

We were busy planning a fundraiser for Santa's Elves of Indy, when we partnered with Oriental Trading Company to help raise money to purchase Christmas gifts for local families. Chick-fil-a of Avon, Indiana was kind enough to donate a banquet tray to help feed our volunteers and the Santas. 

Before the big day, we practiced by playing many silly games like Elf Bowling and Soccer. We used some of the games on this list of Christmas party games to play with the kids .  

We like games that can translate to preschool, elementary, teens, and adults with little tweaks and variations. If you enjoyed our post "Have the best Christmas party ever," you'll like this one as well.

Christmas and Holiday Games for Office Parties or Family Get-togethers.

Fun Games for Holiday Parties

• Group Scavenger Hunt 

Divide into teams: Team Rudolph, Team Dasher, Team Frosty, Team Elf- you get the idea. 

Make a list of things to find and return to Santa (you) to win the game. Look for things around the office, school, house, where ever you hold you hunt and make a list, check it twice, and then print out a copy for each team. Teams can be of 2-6 players.

• Christmas Ornament Bowling

Need a fun ice breaker or silly game to get great Instagram shots 

or You Tube videos? Try ornament bowling! To set up th 

game: Use rolls of wrapping paper. Unroll them to form each 

"bowling" lane.  Use miniature Christmas Trees or Decorative 

Santa Figures as the bowling pins. These Christmas decorations 

are the perfect theme for this holiday party game.

• Icebreaker Game for a Party

How about this Sticky Note guessing game: Who am I?

Write one holiday thing or decoration word on each sticky note. Choose words like: Snowman, Christmas Tree, Santa Claus, Sleigh, Rudolph, Menorah, Danny Kaye, Elf on a Shelf, Bing Crosby, or Yukon Cornelius, even movie titles.

Players go from party guests and ask one question. The answer must be a yes or no answers. "Am I alive?" "Do I wear a red hat?"
Play continues until each player solves the mystery of "Who am I?"

Instead of sticky notes or paper taped to people's backs, try writing names on Dollar Store Santa Hats with Glitter Pens. Guest can keep them as party favors!

Fun hats make for silly games and fun pictures with kids and adults!

• Santa Belly Limbo? Office Party

Add a Holiday or Christmas twist to a fun icebreaker game for the office. Have each player describe two of the worst Christmas gifts they ever received. Make sure one is true and one is a lie. Now, have another player guess which one is true! This is a fun way to get to know co-workers.

• Candy Canes Game

Have you ever played the game spoons? Try using candy canes instead! The kids will like this game. Winner eats all!

How to Play Spoons

• Fill the Stocking Race

Find the largest Christmas stockings you can (I found mine at Dollar Tree). Fill it with empty wrapped boxes. Have players race to unwrap them all. The first one done wins! 

Play the race to wrap game first, and then you won't have to do any upfront prep! See, what I did there? Yeah, my lazy meter is always on guard.

• Hot Christmas Potato Game for Adults

Each guests bring one wrapped item from a Dollar Store. $1 limit! Play hot potato to Holiday Music. When the music stops everyone unwraps the gift, and shares what they got with the crowd.

• Snowball Contest

You need baskets of new socks in all sizes. Each team rolls their basket of socks into "snow balls".  When all of the socks are rolled into balls let the snowball fight begin. 

Use a table or chair with a white table cloth to serve as each team's home base hideout. 

You can also make a snowman, and use his belly button as a bull's eye. The team with the most bull's eyes wins!


I sure hope you have the best Christmas office party ever with these fun holiday games!  Happy Holidays :)  from KCC

Recommended Reading:

Holiday Games and Recipes for Parties

Games for Youth

Melissa and Doug Christmas Box Of Questions Game