My little one was so tickled by the character, Olaf, who was a snowman that was hilarious in the latest Disney hit, Frozen. Upon watching the movie, she has been asking me to build a snowman just like Olaf.
Well, it doesn’t snow in Singapore, so I had to be real creative to make her little dream come true!
The Snowman Making Tray
I prepared the following materials and placed them nicely on a paint palette!
1. Round Cotton swaps
2. Little Twigs
3. Raisins or black beans
4. Eyes
5. Nose cut-outs with orange paper
Creating the Snowman
My little preschooler couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw the tray. She was over the moon when I told her she was finally going to make a snowman. She exclaimed,” Hooray!” She got started by first listening to my instruction of using the cotton pads to make the body of the snowman. Then without further instructions, she started placing the eyes and in the face. I asked her what was missing from the face, and she said, ” The nose!” She made the observation that the nose was very pointed like a witch.
She then used the raisins and put them on the body as buttons. She counted the buttons, using one-to-one correspondence on her own. I then prompted her, ” What else is missing from the snowman?” She looked at the palette and noticed she had not used the twigs. With much joy, she quickly completed the snowman by using twigs to make hands. She was so proud of her creation that she said, “I want to show Daddy my snowman!”
This is a great activity for children for creativity! With a little prompting and leading questions, children often make their little creations effortlessly with imagination. The teachable points along the way was enriching as well! Such as learning to count, naming the body parts as well as comparative language such as ‘shor’ or ‘long’ ’round’ ‘thin’.
It certainly is an awesome activity for us who don’t have snow her for Christmas! With a little creativity, our little ones won’t miss out on a ‘white’ Christmas!
Playhood 