Kindergarten Winter Activities
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You may or may not have made it through the fun and craziness of the holidays yet, depending on when you are reading this! With the end of the holiday break, it is time for all things WINTER with your kiddos! Here I am bringing you 13 engaging, kindergarten winter activities that you can implement easily with your class, especially when trying to get back into the swing of things after break!
Kindergarten Winter Activities
Editable Sight Word Games – A variety of activities!
By creating all of my sight word activities to be editable, I can easily switch up the sight words I use each time. Every group of kiddos will need to focus on different sight words, so editable files make the changes EASY! I can also differentiate worksheets according to my latest assessment results or words I noticed a guided reading group struggled with. For example, I can separate my class into four groups, based on sight words that they know and are learning. I can simply create a different version of my editable sight word game to match the sight words I want each specific group to work on. These activities are among my favorite kindergarten winter activities!
Below are 6 editable sight word games for winter!
I have a 20 theme bundle of editable sight word activities here! These resources can be used for centers all year!
Rolling Sight Words
My kiddos love using these jumbo cubes to roll for sight words and I love the easy prep! One of my favorite parts of using a jumbo cube in my centers, is the children learn how to share and rotate the jumbo cube within a small group! I always model ways to share the cube in the beginning of the school year and review every now and then as needed. Sharing is an important social skills to learn in kindergarten!
These cubes can be used in so many ways! Click on the image above to view the Amazon listing.
Winter roll for sight words can be found here!
Spinning Sight Words
In my class we use a paperclip to spin. When using the paperclip, students are working to coordinate holding the pencil still, while figuring out how to make the paperclip spin around the pencil with the other hand. It’s great practice! I can also choose any six sight words I want my students to practice!
There are other options out there if you prefer not to use paperclips, like clear spinners (pictured below). Click on the image to see the spinners listed on Amazon.
Winter spin for sight words can be found here!
Sight Word Memory
Children practice reading and recognizing sight words in this game. Also, they are practicing turn taking, waiting, and helping one another! Sometimes I also use the worksheets that come with this product to review the sight words that my students practiced during the game.
Editable sight word memory contains themes for the entire year and can be found here!
Sight Word Dab
If you don’t have enough dabbers available. markers work just fine like pictured above! Each student needs six different colors of writing tools or dabbers. They choose a color for each of the words on the top row, and color in all of the circles with the matching sight words. This activity is also great for a center and practicing the sharing of materials!
Dabbing sight words for winter can be found here!
Sight Word Sentences
Kiddos get to use their creativity by coming up with their own sentence containing the sight word they choose! Almost all of the activities I use also have the student “I Can” direction cards. The visual help students remember how to complete the activity. After writing the sentence, students illustrate a picture of their sentence!
You can view this sight word sentences activity here!
Sight Word Write the Room
If you haven’t triend write the room activities, they are a MUST! One reason being, writing the room keeps you kiddos moving, and in the end, less wiggly bodies. Another reason, they are so engaging! Students walk around with a clipboard and their recording sheet and search for the cards hidden around the room. They record the correct word next to the matching numbers.
Management is easy too! If I forget to hang the cards (it happens) I just have a couple of “early arriver” students help me out! They absolutely love this! Same thing goes for cleanup. Just give the job to a couple of students who would love to help!
My editable write the room activities can be found here!
Snowman Beginning Sounds Activity
This snowman beginning sounds game can be found here!
Math Memory – Ten Frames
Almost all children come to school knowing how to play memory. This makes any version of memory an easy activity to implement in your centers. Ten frame memory helps you students to visually “see” numbers and will build number sense. Also, children will start to recognize “ten” which is an important skill when learning numbers beyond ten.
Children are also practicing, turn-taking, patience, and focus to remember where the cards were placed!
This math memory activity contains 2o themes for the year! It also includes a tally version. You can view it here.
Ten Frame Fun
Here is another ten frame activity! See, I use ten frames a lot! Again, ten frames help to build a solid number sense foundation and will help children in recognizing sets of numbers.
Winter ten frames can be found below. There is also a large bundle of these ten frame activities here!
Counting Books With A Craft
These counting books not only help children with 1:1 counting, number recognition, and number sense, but also build fine motor strength! Children crinkle small tissue paper squares and follow the directions of the book. The pages have a very simple pattern with visual cues to help all students read the book.
These winter counting books are here!
Count and Chain Cards
With simple chain links that are found in almost every early education classroom, this activity is easily prepared and implemented! Students practice 1:1 matching when counting and link the chain through the correct number. By using the link, students are also building fine motor skills. In my centers, students check one another’s work and help if a link is in the incorrect hole!
Count and chain winter cards are found here!
Count and Clip Cards
Another easy, kindergarten winter activity that I use frequently is count and clip cards! Children count the correct number of objects in the picture and clip the correct number. This activity also builds fine motor skills. So many of my centers work on skills to build fine motor skills because fine motor practice is a skill that is lacking in curriculums.
There are so many fun clothespin varieties to choose from. Below is an example from Amazon!
Count and clip cards for winter are here!
Snowman CVC Word Activity
During the winter months we focus a lot on CVC words, middle vowels, and ending sounds. This snowman CVC word literacy center helps students learn to hear the “rime” of a word. The snowman head contains the main sorting CVC word. They students match the two matching CVC snowball bodies. I also like to use the accompanying worksheets to follow up with the center and check for understanding!
This snowman CVC word activity is found here!
Sensory Bin Kit
Some of the most difficult parts of sensory bin implementation are the gathering and preparation of the bins, aligning activities to curriculum and standards, and then the storage of all the materials. I have heard your struggles and been in the trenches with you! This is why I have created the Ultimate Sensory Box.
The Ultimate Sensory Box is the complete sensory bin toolkit that helps preschool and kindergarten teachers teach state standards while remaining developmentally appropriate and adding more opportunities for students to learn through play. Each box contains 16 intentionally-planned and creative activities along with everything that is needed! The only item not included is the sensory bin itself.
You can view the Ultimate Sensory Box listing on Cratejoy here!
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You May Also Like:
In 7 Engaging Sight Word Games For The Entire Year I blogged about the editable sight word games that I use all year and there is a FREE center guide and workbook for creating your own successful sight word centers.
I hope these activities are helpful in planning out your winter activities for your students! If you have not done so yet, join the Sparkling in Primary Facebook community for teacher-deals, fun ideas, and inspiration! Just click the “Facebook Community” button to go straight to the page. Be sure to “like” it!
Keep it amazing in the classroom!
Katie says
So many easy hands-on activities to make things fun this winter! I’m going to share these with my teachers! Thanks ❄️❤️⛄️💜
Caroline Tuiolosega says
Wow! What a selection of easy-to-use reinforcement activities! Thanks for the variety of hands-on activities and ideas!
Tina says
We love 10 frame math and we use the spin game for many math activities. I’m going to use them for ABC’s now too.
Kayla says
Love these activity ideas! When I taught kinder, write the room was always a big hit with my students!