Snowman Writing Craft for Kindergarten
As the winter temperatures continue to fall, energy levels tend to rise in the classroom. This is when it’s important to turn to the hands-on and engaging learning activities in our teacher toolboxes! For me, crafts have always been a go-to when I need to up the engagement factor in the classroom. In this post, I’m going to share a Snowman Writing Craft for kindergarten that has been a great supplement to my winter lesson plans.
Combining Crafts with Writing
This snowman activity includes both a writing portion and a craft portion. There are several reasons why I love to combine writing and craft projects into one activity.
- Practice Similar Skills: When students write and create crafts, they are using their fine motor skills. By adding the variety of both writing and creating a craft, students get more practice with these skills without the fatigue of repeating one task over and over.
- Publish Student Writing: It can be challenging to motivate young kindergarteners to write! A great way to keep students excited about writing is to “publish” their work. Adding a craft to a completed writing project is just one fun way to publish student work.
- Create Seasonal Displays: Writing crafts are perfect for low-prep seasonal bulletin boards. Students are always so excited to see their writing on the wall and to read what their peers have written, as well!
- Build Community: When students see their completed creations on the wall among the work of their peers, it can help them see that they belong in the classroom. This goes a long way in building community.
- Make Kindergarten Memories: Kindergarten is such a special year for our students. Many of them are in the classroom setting for the first time. Writing craftivities provide fun student snapshots throughout the school year that families can use to document kindergarten memories.
Snowman Writing Activity and Craft
If you’d like to get your students writing and crafting this winter, a snowman craftivity is always a win! It’s a fun way to incorporate the season and there are a lot of fun snowman-related prompts that can inspire students to write.
Just like stacking up three snowballs to create a snowman, there are three steps to make this activity a success in your kindergarten classroom!
1. Talk About Snowmen
The best way to help young kindergartners write is to talk about the topic beforehand. This helps them to activate their prior knowledge and review some of the vocabulary that they’ll use in their writing.
Read alouds are such a great way to get students talking! Sharing an engaging snowman picture book with your class can set the tone for your writing activity. There are so many fun stories about snowmen that you can use to introduce the topic and spark classroom discussions. In the past, I have even used a snowman poem to introduce the topic with students while also practicing phonics and comprehension.
No matter what activity you use to inspire this discussion, taking this first step will make it easier for students to transition into the writing process.
2. Write About a Snowman
After talking about snowmen as a class, it’s time for students to get creative! Have them imagine that they have just built a snowman and they want to keep it for as long as possible. Ask them to think about how they would keep their snowman from melting. It can be helpful for students to turn and talk to a neighbor about their idea to hear it phrased as a sentence. Displaying a sentence starter can also be helpful.
Once each student has thought about how they would keep a snowman from melting, it’s time for them to put their thoughts into writing! You can adjust the task to best meet the needs of your beginning writers. Some students are ready to sound out the words they want to write, while other students might need a word bank to choose from.
After writing the sentence, students can then illustrate their writing. It’s always so fun to see their creative ideas come to life on the page! This is another way to sneak in some additional fine motor practice, as well.
3. Create a Snowman
The final step is to create a snowman craft to go with the completed writing. You could choose to do this all in one day, or you could set aside the writing and do the craft when you have a little more time.
For this craft the little snowmen are “peeking” over the writing, which highlights all of their hard work while still incorporating a fun craft. It’s such an engaging way for students to put the finishing touches on their writing and to prepare it for display. When they know it’s going to be on the bulletin board, they always try to do their best work!
As students cut and assemble the pieces of this snowman craft, they are strengthening their fine motor skills in an engaging way. Since it’s also important to follow the assembly instructions in order for the craft to turn out, students need to use their listening skills. Following along with the multi-step assembly process will prepare them for more complex academic tasks in the future.
Snowman Writing Craft for Kindergarten
Would you like to use this Snowman Writing Craft in your classroom this winter? I have put together a resource with everything you need to create these adorable snowmen with your students. This download includes templates for the craft pieces, the printable writing pages, and detailed, step-by-step instructions. I know your students will love this snowman writing craft!
You can find it in my shop if you’d like to take a closer look at everything included with this snowman craft.
Snowman Craft and Writing
Save This Snowman Kindergarten Craft
Be sure to save this post so you can come back to it later! Just add the pin below to your favorite board of kindergarten ideas on Pinterest. You’ll be able to quickly find this craft when you’re working on your winter lesson planning!
