Groundhog Day and Shadows

I know we are a week early, but since next week has 2 holidays (we'll be learning about China for Chinese New Year) we had to split it up a bit.  I was going to discuss the weather along with Groundhogs, but there was way too much information to fit into one week.   Our weather themed is moved to next month; I'm especially excited about the cloud activities that we'll do.

Tracing Shadows

Shadow Play

I asked the kids what a shadow was.  We were sitting at the table in the shade.  Gavin hops down and says 'I need to run to the sun to show you!'  The kids were trying to see who's shadow was taller.

Shadow Tag

Yes, you are suppose to tag their shadow, not their body.  We're still working on that.

Identifying Shadows

We got a bunch of different items around the house and held them in front of a flashlight to see what kind of shadow they made.

Pretend Play

The box of course has been the burrow.  The kids have taken turns hibernating and popping out to see if they can see their shadow.

Making Licking Stickers

I saw this idea on a blog and knew the kids would love it.  It was really easy to do.  We made the sticky paste (2 Tablespoons boiling water and 1 Tablespoon of jello).  The kids painted the paper.  We then let it dry for about an hour since they painted it on so thick.  I thought about letting the kids practice cutting our their own stickers, but we were running short on time.  I cut them all out and let them lick and stick.

Ellie liked licking the stickers to much she wanted to keep doing it, which is why she covered up her number 4 and kept filling up the box.

Groundhog Cupcakes

You could probably think of a lot of different toppings to make it look more 'groundhogish'.   Ellie's version is the one on the yellow plate.  It made me smile.

Groundhog Puppets

I've seen some cuter versions of this craft, but this is what the kids did at library storytime about Groundhogs day.  You use the stick to pull the groundhog's head into the cup as his burrow and then pop it out.

Books

Groundhog Books

The favorites this week have been:

Gregory's Shadow by Don Freeman--Ellie and Gavin seem to like that Gregory is scared of his shadow when he thinks it is a ghost.

Go to Sleep Groundhog! by Judy Cox--one of the pages has Santa Claus.  Ethan loves when we get to that part because he yells out 'Ho, Ho, Ho!'

Double Trouble Groundhog Day by Bethany Roberts--cute illustrations.  I think Brielle likes it because the twins bickering is kind of like Gavin and Brielle's relationship

Shadow Books

I love the poem by Robert Louis Stevenson.  This is one that my Mom gave to Brielle and it is a classic.

Field Trip

LA Zoo

Ellie was really hoping to see a groundhog at the zoo.  They didn't have any.  I showed her the prairie dogs and the meerkats, but she was not fooled.  She has been quite interested in burrows however and when she sees a hole in the ground when we're walking on the riverbed she says we need to be quiet because the groundhogs are still sleeping.

 Seeing Animals up close

 Getting the chance to brush the goats

 But what could be more fun than playing hide and seek?

 Peek-a-Boo!

Forget the animals, Ethan found a grate to push rocks and sticks through.