Winter Science Activities for Preschoolers

By Hollie Barattolo

Whether your weather is snowy or sunny, exploring ice and snow is always in season. There are plenty of great winter weather crafts out there for the preschool classroom, so keep reading for unique ways to encourage inquiry learning for your students during the winter months with these fun winter activities.

 

Winter Activities for Preschoolers:

 

Ice Sculpting

Wild Winter

"Snow" Activity

 

Books About Winter for Preschoolers:

 

Nonfiction:

All About Animals in Winter by Martha E. H. Rustad

Goodbye Autumn, Hello Winter by Kenard Pak

All About Winter Weather by Kathryn Clay

No Two Alike by Keith Baker

Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messner

The Story of Snow: The Science of Winter’s Wonder by Mark Cassino

The Secret Life of a Snowflake: An Up-close Look at the Art and Science of Snowflakes by Kenneth Libbrecht

Snowflakes in Photographs by W.A. Bentley

Curious about Snow by Gina Shaw

Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline B. Martin and Mary Azarian

 

Fiction:

The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats

Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson

The Hat by Jan Brett 

Annie and the Wild Animals by Jan Brett 

A Loud Winter’s Nap by Katy Hudson

The Winter Train by Susanna Isern

Brave Irene by William Steig

Tracks in the Snow by Wong Herbert Yee

Lemonade in Winter by Emily Jenkins

The Red Sled by Lita Judge

Cat on the Bus by Aram Kim

The Snowman by Raymond Briggs

The Mitten by Alvin Tresselt

Tacky the Penguin by Helen Lester and Lynn Munsinger

Acorns Everywhere by Kevin Sherry

Leaf Trouble by Jonathan Emmet

 

Winter Resources:

National Snow and Ice Data Center: Snow and Animals
https://nsidc.org/cryosphere/snow/animals.html 

 

SciJinks: How do snowflakes form?
https://scijinks.gov/snowflakes/ 

 

ESP Science Time: Animals in Winter
http://www.espsciencetime.org/AnimalsinWinter.aspx 


SciShow Kids: Science of Winter Compilation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwdkg5eFaHs 

 

Winter Science Webinar Recording

 

 

Winter Science Presentation

Download the Seasonal Science Winter Webinar here.

 

Standards & Alignments

The activities and resources outlined here align with many early learning standards.

 

ECERS-3

 

  1. Children have a natural desire to explore, to build, and to question. Through open-ended exploration, children interact with materials in nature and scientific materials/tools to explore and learn about their world.

 

PA Early Learning Standards

 

  1. Children have an innate desire to experiment and investigate while gathering data to make conclusions.

  2. Children’s immediate environment and daily surroundings provide the best context for science learning. Some ways they do this include observing, measuring, investigating, sorting, and comparing. 

  3. Adults scaffold children’s thinking by asking open-ended questions that encourage problem-solving and critical thinking.

 

Head Start

 

  1. Children first construct scientific knowledge by using their five senses to interact with the environment.  That is how they make sense of their world.

  2. Young children’s incli­nation to be curious, explore, experiment, ask questions, and develop their own theories about the world makes science an important domain for enhancing learning.

  3. Problem-solving skills, children’s reasoning, and their representation of their learning becomes more complex as they gain new abilities to ask questions, gather information, and think critically.   

 

CLASS

 

  1. Adults facilitate activities to promote students’ higher-order thinking skills, such as problem-solving, predicting, comparing, and classifying.

 

ALL

 

  1. Adults facilitate children’s development of those skills that support discovery and inquiry while promoting their natural curiosity.

Share Your Winter Activity Photos with us!

We'd love to see how these actvities worked out for you and your students. Tag us on Facebook or Instagram!

Hollie Barattolo Head ShotHollie is certified K-8 teacher who has been educating in the informal education field since 2005. She has developed and implemented countless exciting STEAM programs for families, classrooms, and teachers focused on the natural world, the scientific process, and ancient life. Her professional passions are inquiry, whole family learning, experiential learning starting in early childhood, and the intersection of literacy and science instruction.

She has recently developed a community-based program that encourages families to use dramatic play to learn science, increase literacy skills, and have fun together for which she received the Drexel University Presidential Award for Civic Engagement. She is most proud of her work on a popular science storytelling program for preschool families and classrooms that combines a book club format with engaging programs, innovative curriculum, and a hysterical puppet storyteller.