🎓 Skills Your Child Will Develop
- 🖐️ Fine Motor Skills — Manipulating small objects, tools, and materials during hands-on activities builds the hand strength and finger dexterity children need for writing and self-care.
- 🌈 Sensory Exploration — Safe exploration of varied textures, temperatures, and materials helps children build a rich sensory map of the world and supports self-regulation in children with sensory processing differences.
- 😌 Emotional Self-Regulation — Managing the feelings that arise during activities — frustration when something doesn't work, excitement, disappointment at the end — builds the self-regulation foundation that distinguishes emotionally ready kindergarteners.
- 🧠 Executive Function — Planning an activity, following multi-step directions, and seeing a project through to completion builds the executive function skills — working memory, cognitive flexibility, and inhibitory control — that are the strongest predictors of school success.
Dec. 21,
The Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year and marks the beginning of winter in the Northern Hemisphere and the beginning of summer in the Southern Hemisphere. It is at this time when the Earth is tilted away from the sun (if you live in Northern Hemisphere). The days become longer after this day. At the solstice itself, however, the sun appears to stand still in the sky for a few days before and after. The word solstice comes from the Latin for
sun + to stand still.
People from many different cultures have held solstice celebrations for many years. Man, for many years, who was dependent on hunting, gathering, and growing, the seasons and the weather played a pivotal role. In the Northern Hemisphere, passing the winter solstice meant the return of the sun, which seemed to be disappearing. Many religious and cultural traditions celebrated the rebirth of sunlight after this dark period.
Many preschool activities can center around the Winter Solstice -- children can learn about the weather, planets, time and distance, and about maps of the world. They can also make tasty treats that will remind them of winter.
Featured Winter Solstice Preschool Activities
Don't Throw These Snowballs CookiesNothing is more exciting to make during the winter than snowball cookies. This easy family favorite allows your preschooler to have fun making a tasty treat.
Kitchen Makeover -- Winter WonderlandThis new twist on an old favorite allows you and your preschooler to transform your kitchen into a winter wonderland by using existing cabinets and ceiling lights to house some beautiful homemade snowflakes.
Around PreschoolRock.com
Homemade Bird FeederDoes your preschooler love animals? Make a with your preschooler and attract birds to your yard! Preschoolers are overjoyed by the responsibility of feeding the birds.
Around The Net
Make-A-FlakeSnowflakes.lookandfeel.com offers you a chance to make your own virtual snowflake by using "scissors" and creating your own design.
Source:
Barss, Karen. "Understanding the Winter Solstice." Pearson Education, Inc. Retrieved 28 $1.
http://www.factmonster.com/spot/winter-solstice-for-kids.html
I'm
Mary Beth P. Adomaitis, the Preschool Activities writer and associate editor for Preschoolrock.com. As a mom of a preschooler, I love hearing from other parents and teachers of preschoolers. If you have any preschool activity ideas, suggestions or questions, feel free to
contact me.
High-energy preschoolers benefit most from activities that have a physical component: outdoor obstacle courses, dancing, chalk activities, nature scavenger hunts, and water play. When indoor time is required, use the whole body: yoga poses, freeze dance, and rolling/throwing activities in a hallway. Matching the activity intensity to the child's energy level prevents meltdowns far better than expecting stillness.
Preschoolers benefit from both self-directed and adult-guided activities. Self-directed play produces the most creative and deeply personal outcomes. Adult-guided activities introduce materials, techniques, and concepts children wouldn't discover independently. The ideal balance is roughly 2/3 self-directed and 1/3 adult-scaffolded. The worst approach is constant adult-direction of all activities — it eliminates agency and creative thinking.
