The Center’s Family-Snow-Fun-Kit
We are so happy to be able to give you this kit of materials designed for your family to enjoy an afternoon of fun with snow. This kit was paid for by a grant from Copper Mountain, through the Lake County Community Fund’s grantmaking program. The grant was originally intended to support our Learn-to-Ski program. Since ski lessons are not possible this year, we are making a different kind of snow fun.
Your kit includes:
*Child sized snow shovel
*Craft kits
*Cat in the Hat book
*Hot chocolate mix
Your child may recognize the shovel as just like the ones we have on the playground here at school. They have such fun with them during their outside time. The kids really love having something that they see grown-ups using, but in their very own size. It seems like there are lots of opportunities to shovel snow all winter long, so take a day to get bundled up and take care of it as a family. There are lots of ways to promote your child’s learning while still getting the chores done.
You can count how many shovels full of snow it takes to go all the way down the driveway. Maybe you can alternate big shovels scoops and little shovel scoops to practice making patterns. You might be able to make letters in the snow to spell your name. You can talk about how shoveling helps build strong muscles and maybe catch some fresh snowflakes on your tongue. Don’t worry if the walk doesn’t look as perfect as it does when you do it by yourself, or if the snowplow buries the end of your driveway. It’s just about being together and enjoying the fresh air.
When the shovel is finished (or when you get chilly), you can go back inside and try your hand at some cute crafts. The kits have everything you need to make a few fun snowflake crafts. Not only are art projects fun to do, they help exercise the small muscles in your child’s hands. Again, don’t worry if the snowman’s eyes aren’t perfectly even or if his arms ending up being pasted to his head. Your child’s masterpiece is just that – THEIR masterpiece. It is beautiful and unique just like they are.
Then, you can make some hot chocolate and cozy up together to read The Cat in the Hat. This classic book has a fun story and is great for teaching kids about rhyming. It’s lots of fun to think of as many words as you can that sound the same, like cat-hat-sat-mat-that. The version of the book in the kit has English and Spanish on every page, so you can also practice in both languages.
We hope that this little kit gives you some big happy times. Feel free to follow the plan or make up your own activities as you go along. It’s all up to you to make your own kind of outdoor snow fun. If you want to, you can even send in some pictures for us to put in the newsletter.