I love the crafts of January. In my classroom there is not enough January time to cover all the cute crafts I have in my filing cabinets. My favorites are Snowmen, of course. They have been done a gazillion different ways over the years. Last year we did this same craft only using white painted circles on light blue butcher paper. This year we tried something new, and I think they turned out really cute!
First we started with 3 different kinds of circles. I found this cute snowman head. It is a 5 inch circle.
The middle white construction paper circle is 6 inches and the bottom circle is 7 inches. Then I showed them how to fold them 3 times and cut out triangles on each side of their “cone” to make snowflakes.
Some kids added a pattern to their hat using 1/2 inch squares. Then they added a scarf to their snowman using a pattern of 1/2 inch squares. Then we added arms and “fingers” on either side of the arm. Cute!
Lastly, we used some paint stamps or foam stampers I got from Oriental Trading. If you want to check it out, go HERE They used white, washable poster paint in paper plates to stamp with and I just layed a little sheet of wet paper towel in each to kind of soak up the paint. Then they chose 3 different snowflakes to “paint” onto their picture. We sang some songs about snowmen, like the ones below.
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| Sing this cute song to Itsy Bitsy Spider! |
They turned out great. I’d have added some fine, white glitter to the painted snowflakes when they were wet if I had some at school. Next year I’ll remember to add that to the snowflakes! After we were done, we sang a few songs and read some poems. This one above is to the tune of Itsy Bitsy Spider
Then of course we had to do Snowman stories! We named our snowmen, talked about where they lived and what they liked to do for fun. We wrote “sloppy copies”, edited them, then rewrote them on nice, snowman paper. These kids are so talented. I really enjoyed reading their snowmen stories.
I like to give kids more help than just the word wall when we write so I have a monthly word bank. Here’s the one for January. And guess what? It’s a snowman! Go figure. It’s 18 degrees outside most days! EEK!
Adorable! Here is my cute bulletin board. Makes you want to pour a cup of hot cocoa, pull up an recliner chair, and “read the papers” NOW DOESN’T IT JUST?
