Winter

Winter Topic for Aistear 

Our Winter topic roleplay is this cardboard igloo. You can order it from cardboardtoys.com here, but beware that they do not deliver to Ireland; I got mine via parcel motel, a little extra hoop to jump through but one worth jumping through. I’ve used my igloo for two years now and I should get another few years out of it meaning it’s a sound investment. It’s really easy to make – it comes in 3 big parts – and the kids love it! I got the snow blanket in Woodies; they stock them every Christmas.

We had loads of activities to keep the kids busy during the topic roleplay. They had animal spotting forms and sketch pads to record what they were seeing on their adventure. There was also some activity cards which gave the children ideas for roleplay such as ‘you have found an injured seal and you need to get him to a vet’. Most of these activities you can download from Twinkl.

Small World

Our Winter small world was made with fake snow and some small animals and Eskimos.

The fake snow is so easy to make and really does feel like the real thing! It is made with bicarbonate of soda and white (usually coconut) hair conditioner. You will need lots of bicarbonate of soda but not too much hair conditioner in comparison. I would estimate about 10 parts bicarbonate soda to 1 part hair conditioner. Just put it together and mix! It feels like real snow, minus the cold, and it makes your classroom smell beautiful to boot! We always use the left over bicarbonate of soda tubes to make penguins there is no waste. The background scene setting is again sourced from Twinkl. I ordered the miniature polar animals from Amazon and the snow mobile and Eskimo is from WOW toys.

Painting With Ice

Painting with ice was a great way to explore freezing and melting. These painting cubes were made with poster paint and water and put in the freezer over night.

The night before, I mixed a small bit of poster paint with water in the section of an ice cube tray. I secured lolly pop sticks into each section with the help of a piece of card. The following day and took them out and the kids loved making designs with them as they melted