Hibernation

The kids loved making our hibernating bears.  

We started by "painting" paper bag caves that were glued onto paper plates with a mixture of shaving cream, white glue and white paint.  I put a squirt of each in a small dixie cup and then the children stirred the mixture with a popsicle stick and then used the stick to spread the mixture.  I got the idea from Sally at Fairy Dust Teaching.

I knew that my kids would like a 3D bear so we made bears with model magic.  I colored the model magic with brown food coloring and then did a sort of "directed sculpture lesson."   They are adorable!

We  also pretended to hibernate.  This is ALWAYS one of the kids' favorite activities.

First we brainstormed a list of animals that hibernate.  Then each child decided what animal they wanted to be.  

Bears hibernating under the table.

The kids' favorite part is that I signal spring by calling out a pair of rhyming words.  I start with other pairs of words such as "up-down" or "big-ball."  The kids keep sleeping ... until they hear the rhyming words.  They then slowly stretch and wake up and then crawl (or fly if they are a bat or ladybug) to find a snack.  I have snacks set up on napkins on the floor.  SO MUCH FUN! I can't remember where I first saw this idea, but I have been doing it for years and it is something the kids always remember.

These are hibernating bats!