Snowmen at Night Fine Motor Craft (with a Science Connection!)
This easy fine motor craft for winter is designed to follow up a read-aloud of Caralyn Buehner’s fun picture book, Snowmen at Night, but can really be used along with any winter picture book. With a little modeling beforehand, this snowman activity is simple enough for kindergarten students to complete it independently at a center. Read on to find out what you’ll need for this craft (and how to tie this winter activity into an engaging science lesson)!
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Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner
Written in rhyming verse, Caralyn Buehner’s Snowmen at Night (found here on Amazon) uses imaginative speculation to explain why a snowman built the day before looks so different the morning after. This sweet story with bright and playful illustrations invites children to use their imaginations!
Snowmen at Night begins with a description of a snowman that went from being round and tall to being disheveled and droopy. The narrator, a young boy, wonders, “What do snowmen do at night?!”
Through whimsical illustrations and rhyming text, the boy then describes the adventures of the neighborhood snowmen as they cavort throughout the night, drinking “ice cold cocoa,” skating, playing baseball, having a snowball fight, sledding, and more. The story ends with the snowmen returning to their yards, all tuckered out and a little worse for wear.
Teaching Ideas for Snowmen at Night
In addition to the wintry fine motor craft included in this post, here are a few other skills and concepts this read-aloud lends itself to teaching:
- Rhyme: Allow students to predict the rhyming word that concludes each verse. Make an anchor chart with rhyming pairs.
- Fiction vs. Nonfiction: Have students predict the genre based on the cover. After reading, have them check back with evidence that supports their claim.
- Compare Literature: Ezra Jack Keats’s The Snowy Day is a great comparison book to use with this one because both touch on what might happen to snow overnight. Because this book ventures to explain why something is the way it is, you might also consider comparing it to a “pourquoi story” such as How the Chipmunk Got His Stripes or Why Mosquitos Buzz In People’s Ears.
- Follow Up With Writing: Have students extend the story by writing about what else they think snowmen might do at night or have them work on creative writing that describes a different phenomenon.
Snowmen at Night is definitely a book worth adding to your classroom library, but here’s a video read-aloud you can watch while you wait for your copy to arrive!
Snowmen at Night Fine Motor Craft
This zip-top baggie snow scene craft is so simple, your students will be able to complete it as a center after you model it. It also includes a writing component that can be completed as a whole- (or small) group activity and added to the craft later. As part of this craft, students will use a hole punch to make lots of little white circles (the snow). This activity is great for strengthening fingers!
What You’ll Need
You’ll just need a few supplies for this Snowmen at Night fine motor craft. For each student, gather:
- one zip-top sandwich bag
- a pre-cut piece of black paper (sized to fit inside the bag)
- a pre-cut piece of lined paper
- a hole punch (the kids can share this)
- a strip of white copy paper (about an inch wide)
- crayons, oil pastels, or chalk for drawing on black paper
- a pencil for writing
Preparing Students for the Craft
After reading Snowmen at Night, engage your class in a retelling conversation to help them recall the various activities the snowmen took part in overnight. You may want to make a simple anchor chart with “Snowmen _____________________ at night.” written at the top. Instruct the children to think of and visualize one of the activities that they would like to draw and write about. Consider having them close their eyes for a moment to make a picture in their heads and then share their idea with a neighbor in sentence form. (This can help them remember their plan!)
You will also want to model drawing on black paper with whichever implement you’ll be having your students use. Tip: Try drawing and coloring the whole picture with white crayon (or chalk or oil pastel) first. Then, add details with other colors on top. The white base will help the other colors show up.
What They’ll Do
To create this Snowmen at Night sandwich bag snow scene, your students will follow a few simple steps.
- Draw and color a snowman scene on the pre-cut black paper.
- Write a sentence about the picture (and their name) on the lined paper.
- Use the hole punch on the white paper strip to make lots of tiny circles.
- Put the picture and writing (back-to-back) inside the bag.
- Put the tiny white circles in the bag, between the plastic and the illustration.
- Seal the bag, preferably with a little air inside.
- Shake and rub the bag to watch the snow fall!
Static Electricity Science Connection
When students complete their snow scenes, they may notice that some of the “snowflakes” seem to stick to the bag or even hover near the plastic rather than falling straight to the bottom. This happens as static charge builds up. Have students try rubbing the bag on their shirt (or even their hair) to increase this effect. Ask students if they have other experiences with static electricity. Some of them may have felt static when sliding down a plastic slide, taking a fleece jacket off, or walking across a carpet in their socks.
Here’s a video from SciShow Kids that does a great job of explaining static electricity on a kid-friendly level. (You may want to have a few balloons ready to blow up so your students can experiment even more with static electricity!)
More Winter Resources
Winter
I hope this Snowmen at Night winter craft comes in handy this season! Let me know how it works out for your class!
