homeschoolinginwinter

How to Make an Easy Build a Snowman Kid’s Game (free printable cube)

December 8, 2018 | Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Whether you’re looking for a fun activity to do indoors to keep ~~you~~ the kids from going stir crazy or looking for an easy activity to go with a winter unit study, you’ll love this build a snowman kid’s game.

This game can actually be done many different ways depending on the ages of your kids.

Look at these suggestions below on how to do this latest fun activity I have for you.

Roll the cube, and have an older child cut out cardboard and draw, color or paint each piece as he builds the snowman.
Roll the cube, and have a younger child cut out card stock and draw, color or paint each piece as he builds the snowman.
Print two pictures of the cube or die on card stock. Have your child cut out the pictures on one cube and glue the pictures on cardboard or paper. Use other cube for game playing.
To teach a preschooler shapes, make the snowman parts different shapes. Octagon for the body, circles for the buttons and cone for the nose will have him practicing geometry skills.
Of course, you can just have the child color the picture as he rolls that part of the snowman on the cube.
Another easy tip is to cut out the snowman on the download below and put him back together as your child rolls the cube.

Build a Snowman Cube Game @ Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Snowman Kid’s Game

Although a game like this is fun, it also teaches many skills. Preschoolers strengthen fine motor skills by both coloring and cutting.

In addition, you can expand this game by writing down words that correspond to the pictures on the cube. And children learn to take turns as they play together.

Another way to make this game fun for your artsy kids is to have them roll the cube and draw their own parts for the snowman and build it as they go along. Designing their own snowman builds creativity and strengthens the imagination.

A game like building a snowman is also a fun activity to do with a group of kids in a homeschool co-op. Each kid can design their own snowman and learn to play together.

One more idea is to have your children work together to build a giant snowman on butcher block paper. Collaboration is a skill that a child uses on to high school.

What ideas do you have for building a snowman?

DOWNLOAD HERE Build a Snowman printable page and cube

Look at these other fun winter activity ideas that I know you’ll love:

Hugs and love ya,

Colorful Winter Bird: Northern Cardinal Lapbook & Unit Study

January 20, 2018 | 6 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I have several awesome things today for you. First, I have a fun hands-on unit study and Norther Cardinal lapbook. Also, I’m co-hosting for our first the nature book club link up. More on that fun in a minute.

Colorful Winter Bird Northern Cardinal

It’s easy to see why young and old fall in love with studying the Cardinal for nature.

The Northern Cardinal bird is such a beautiful and bright bird during winter and because it doesn't migrate, it's a great bird to study really anytime. Click here to grab this free Northern Cardinal Bird Lapbook and Unit Study!

It’s such a beautiful and bright bird during winter and because it doesn’t migrate, it’s a great bird to study really at anytime.

Here are some things you’ll love to enhance your unit study.

Grab this one page pdf with helpful information to study about the cardinal.
Grab this four page pdf with facts and information.
Introduction to nature journaling 16 page nice download.
Northern Cardinal coloring page.

Northern Cardinal Lapbook

Upcycled Hanging Bird Feeder.
Life in a Nest.
Free printable cardinal craft.
Another coloring page.

Yarn wrapped cardinal.
Cardinal in the winter hand art.
Free bird nature study printables.
Step by step easy tutorial to draw a cardinal.

Free coloring page of a Northern Cardinal that would make a great cover for your lapbook or just for fun.
And one more great coloring page.
Black and white clip art to add to the outside flaps of your lapbook or to add to your notebooking page.
Craft – make a cardinal in a pine shadow box.

Northern Cardinal Field Guide.

And these are the two books we used which are Wild Bird Guides Northern Cardinal and Cardinals.

Also, we have been using this Beautiful Birds Unit Study. I know you’ll love it.

Look at these other fun things!

How to Download the Lapbook.
It’s a Subscriber Only Gift.

From time to time, I do Subscriber Freebies only. This lapbook is a subscriber freebie. I do this to show my appreciation and because I want you to follow me and give me a chance to make a difference in your homeschool.

Too, when you join my email list, you get access to my Subscriber’s Only Exclusive Library of Freebies.

This is how you get access to this form quickly.
1) Sign up on my list.
2) Go to to your inbox and confirm your email.
3) Look for the automatic reply giving you the password to the private subscriber’s area. You should have it soon.

IF you are already a follower/subscriber, PLEASE do NOT email me asking how to find it. You may not want to wait on me replying since I get bombarded with emails.

IF you’ll find the MOST RECENT email from me, the password and link to the Subscribers Area are ALWAYS at the bottom of every email. Look for the most current email since I change the password frequently.

Here are a few more ideas.

Toilet Paper Roll Bird Feeder Craft.
Birds Printables.
Bird communication 22 page pdf download.

I think you’ll love these other unit study ideas

The Nature Book Club is brought to you by these 15 nature loving bloggers which are your co-hosts! Are you following them? If you don’t want to miss anything, be sure to follow each one.

Here are the co-hosts, their choices of books, and activities for the month.

Something 2 Offer
Birds, Nests, and Eggs Nest Scavenger Hunt

The Usual Mayhem
The Boy Who Drew Birds Free artist study set (John James Audobon)

Preschool Naturally
Whose Nest Is This? Nest Building Activity

Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus
(Backyard Bird Series) Cardinals – Free Northern Cardinal Unit Study & Lapbook.

Rule This Roost
Fine Feathered Friends: All About Birds – DIY Bird Feeders

Hide The Chocolate
Those Darn Squirrels Fly South – Free online book club.

The Homeschool Scientist
Birds, Nests, and Eggs – Make a Suet Feeder

Forgetful Momma
Snowy Owls Snowy Owl Craft

Table Life Blog
A Nest is Noisy – Art Project.

Eva Varga
Ravens in Winter: Nature Study Activities and Lessons for Teens – Winter Bird ID

Wind in a Letterbox
Birds for Beginners in Southern Africa – Nature Journal Entry

Rainy Day Mum
Coming Home – Needle Felted Robin

Handbook of Nature Study
Backyard Birds Field Guide for Young Naturalist – Backyard Bird Nature Study

The Playful Scholar
Backyard Birds of Winter – How to Make Hanging Suet Ornaments

Freshly Planted
Nests – Nest weaving

How Animals Cope With the Cold (Easy Nature Study)

December 29, 2017 | 2 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I was given this product free because I asked for it and couldn’t wait to use it. ALL opinions are my own and for sure I will always tell you what is on my mind. When I do accept a product it’s because I’m giddy to tell you about it. Read my full disclosure here. Now on to the fun stuff!

Winter is a wonderful season for learning about animals with kids. Animals go through so many different behavioral changes to adapt to cold temperatures and, when you can study those changes in your own backyard, it really makes scientific concepts come alive.

So I was excited to try the NaturExplorers ebook “Coping With the Cold”. I’ve been wanting to add in nature studies to our homeschool but didn’t need anything that requires a lot of fuss.

NaturExplorers ebook “Coping With the Cold” is a Charlotte Mason-inspired nature study program for learning about how animals adapt to winter temperatures. And it’s loaded with simple DIY projects, science activities, and plenty of notebooking pages too!

Take a look at what all is included in this excellent science curriculum!

NaturExplorers Review: Coping With the Cold

Since NaturExplorers is a Charlotte Mason-style program, the curriculum includes plenty of nature study activities and hands-on learning ideas for studying winter animal behavior.

And, along with all the printed activities for kids to complete, there are loads of notebooking pages and drawing prompts so they can record what they observe outdoors.

What I really like about NaturExplorers is that the program encourages kids to spend plenty of time outside in nature, finding out what animals do for themselves.

For example, the activities about bird migration were really informational and geography-based too.

Did you know that birds actually follow “flyways” – a version of bird highways? I didn’t!

This migrating animal research planner was such a neat idea, because it’s a great way to help children plan a research topic, organize their ideas, and outline an essay.

This is an excellent activity for middle school language arts.

By the way, these are just some of the notebooking and journaling activities in the program!

Easy Nature Study!

Charlotte Mason strongly encouraged art and journaling and NaturExplorers does a fantastic job of prompting kids to draw what they see and note what it tells them about animal behavior.

It’s art and science in one activity!

And, because I always love to encourage reading, I was thrilled to see that the program featured an activity for kids to complete using a nonfiction book about winter animals they choose from the library. (My favorite place!)

Even if you can only observe one or two different kinds of animals (depending on where you live), the idea of adaptations is so thoroughly covered that kids will be able to spot other adaptations in animals they read about.

Some of the other notebooking pages include questions for kids to answer, based on their own observations, and charts for them to fill out.

I also loved that NaturExplorers is so open-ended. There’s no weekly schedule or layout included, so you can pick up and pause as you need to. It’s a very relaxed curriculum and you adapt it to your own schedule.

Perfect for us eclectic homeschoolers!

I’ll be sharing a few of the NaturExplorers activities in upcoming posts, but – trust me – this is a fabulous winter nature study program that you’ll love as much as the kids do!

How to Purchase It.

►Product Name: Coping With the Cold.
►Website: Our Journey Westward.
►Type of product: Ebook instant download.
►Ages: Multiple grades 1st to 8th grade.
►Price: $12.00

See even more ways to include hands-on science in your homeschool!

Hugs and love ya,

Hands-On Math: Fun and Easy Snowflake Geometry

December 15, 2017 | Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Easy Snowflake Geometry

With the onset of winter weather, we’ve experienced the first few snow flurries in our area. Just the mention of the word snow and kids of all ages get into a tizzy that brings delight and happiness. I really wanted to bring that feeling of magic into our lessons, so I began hunting for ideas for my older kids.

When my kids were younger, we did a lot with crafts. Crafts are a great way to make lessons hands-on and fun.

The more ways you can make math an art activity, the more kids can connect with the concept. It’s also nice to connect other subjects and make lessons more efficient and engaging.

Hands-On Math: Fun and Easy Snowflake Geometry. With the onset of winter weather, we’ve experienced the first few snow flurries in our area. Add a bit of math and science together to make these easy snowflakes and study a bit of geometry too. CLICK HERE to make this easy hands-on math craft!

Because my kids are older, we’ve fallen away from crafts. However, it had become my goal to find a learning craft to tie into both math and science for the winter season.

The following craft was the perfect lesson to review angles and geometrical shapes.

To get in our science skills at the same time, we learned a little about the science of weather.

Winter can be a hard time to keep focused with lessons, so this activity can be a great way to keep up your schooling stamina.

Hands-On Math: Simple Snowflake Geometry

Break out the smocks, paint, and craft sticks!! It’s time to get crafty! Here is a fun DIY decoration for your kids to make for their rooms, for a friend, or for a party.

For this craft, you will need the following materials:

craft sticks
protractor
liquid glue or a hot glue gun
any color of paint
paper to cover work space
paint brushes
decorative ribbon
double stick foam tape

We began this lesson by reviewing the different types of angles. We measured out and drew a 30 degree angle using the protractor.

Then we used 6 craft sticks to glue together a star shape. We were careful to make sure our angles measured at 30 degrees.

Next we added the points to our star in the form of diamonds or rhombuses.

At this point, a few of the kids got off of their measurements which resulted in the creation of their own shapes.

The kids then chose a color of paint to paint their snowflakes.

You’ll love these living books for winter which bring learning alive when your kids hit the doldrums.

Winter NaturExplorers 940x788 (Facebook)

There are many ways to extend this activity:

Use the book Snowflake Bentley to learn about the man who studied snowflakes and invented the photomicrographic technique.
Research the science of snowflakes. Learn how snowflakes are made and what determines the shape of snowflakes.
Learn the seven shapes of snowflakes and then identify all of the shapes found in each snowflake type.

Add more math learning fun to your winter studies with these hands-on activities!

16 Ways to Make Homeschool Memorable During Winter

December 7, 2015 | 10 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Forget the homeschooling naysayers that tout familiarity breeds contempt and cozy up with the kids to enjoy the cold days of winter.

Look at 16 ways to make homeschool memorable during winter.

Baby, It’s Cold Outside

Winter time doesn’t have to be all work, take time to savor the season.

Who knows maybe you and I both can even sneak in a learning moment or two.

1. MEMORIZE SOME BEAUTIFUL WINTER POETRY.

2. CHECK OUT HISTORY MOVIES ON NETFLIX.

You know how I feel about history so it’s always the subject that we want to lounge around and learn more about.

3. MAKE SOME HOMEMADE HOT CHOCOLATE.

I have tried numerous recipes through the years, but we all absolutely love the recipe by Pioneer Woman. Do you have any favorites?

4. MAKE HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES.

Again, chocolate chip cookie are my sons’ favorite though we seem to try different recipes each time.

5. STOP EVERYTHING AND DO ONE OF MY FREE LAPBOOKS.

Check out the one about Winter and about the Arctic & Inuit.

6. BOARD GAMES ARE ANOTHER FAVORITE OF MY BOYS.

Whether you use any of the free ones I have listed here or buy some, it is a fun way to change the day and add a bit of education too.

7. VISIT A MUSEUM. If the weather is warm enough, head to a museum to help avoid cabin fever.

8. ROCK CLIMBING (INDOORS). The boys have a coupon to try a rock climbing wall nearby that is indoors.

I’ll update you on how they like it, but I think it’s a great way to add some exercise in for active kids.

9. SEE A MOVIE. We love to go see movies during the winter and especially during the day.

Oh sure, you could stay home for a movie night, but my boys love going to the theater.

10. CREATE A WINTER BUCKET LIST. What would your list include?

11. MAKE PAPER SNOWFLAKES. Does your child know the science behind 6 sided snowflakes?

12. GO ICE SKATING. My boys have not been in a while and I think this would be great to do this year to soak up the season.

13. MAKE A FIRE AND ROAST MARSHMALLOWS. We may have to do this inside this year since we don’t really have a place to do this unless we go camping.

14. HAVE AN ALL DAY PAJAMA DAY. My boys loved this one. Wait! Don’t we do this anyway as homeschoolers? I won’t tell.

Have littles? 15. MAKE A GINGERBREAD HOUSE. They aren’t as easy as some of them look.

My favorite! 16. HAVE AN ALL DAY READ DAY. Nothing else, just read without being rushed and read whatever you want to.

What would be on your list?

Want some more ideas? Grab more below:

Follow my Winter Pinterest Board

Follow Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s board Winter ♥ on Pinterest.