Winter is filled with so many wonderful learning opportunities for primary students. The change in weather means snow in many areas, but even if you don’t live in a snowy climate – you can explore this season with your students. One of my favorite ways to do just that is with a snowman theme in the classroom. Come along to see some of my favorite snowman activities and how you can engage your students in learning this winter!

Using Snowman Activities in the Classroom

If you’re a primary teacher, you probably already know the lure of holiday and seasonal themes. They’re just plain fun! This is exactly why I love using a snowman theme in the classroom. It’s also perfect if your school doesn’t allow holiday themes and can be used all winter long, well into February! The versatility of this theme is great and aside from that the kids really love it. You won’t have to worry about snagging attention and keeping it when it comes to snowman activities. Everyone will be eager to participate!

When getting ready to use a snowman theme in the classroom, I like to take a minute to plan out how we’ll approach it. As with any new theme, I like variety. We tend to use many different resources, books, and activities to supplement a new theme. This allows us to touch on many different subject areas while keeping in line with the same overarching topic. If you’ve never used this teaching style in the classroom, you’re in for a treat! Prepare to make your planning more streamlined and easier than ever.

Getting Started with Great Snowman Books

Any new theme in my classroom often involves gathering up some great books to read aloud. I have quite the collection myself, but I always enjoy browsing the library and Amazon to see if there are any new favorites out there. When it comes to books that go perfectly with our snowman activities though, there are a few tried and true favorites that I always return to.

Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner

This is one of my all-time favorite snowman books. In this winter storybook, some children begin to wonder why their snowmen look so depleted and different after they leave them alone all night. They wonder what exactly do snowmen do at night? Students will love listening in as this story details the “secret life” of snowmen and all their shenanigans! And. . . don’t forget to check out the other Snowmen book in this series. They do such a great job of bringing snowmen to life.

How to Catch a Snowman by Adam Wallace

Here is another class favorite! In this book, students will follow along to catch a snowman on the loose! They’ll run, skate, and bounce along to try and catch the snowman. This book is so much fun to read aloud because it’s packed with funny rhymes and colorful pictures that students will love.

Sneezy the Snowman by Maureen Wright 

This snowman book will have your students laughing out loud! Poor Sneezy the Snowman has a cold and isn’t feeling well. He drinks some hot cocoa, sits in a hot tub, and stands by the fire to warm up. I’ll bet you can guess what happens next… he melts! Follow along as some kind children help out him back together again!

You can find even more snowman books in my Snowman Book List on Amazon. Try using these books in your classroom to begin your snowman activities. They’re great for introducing new vocabulary words and talking about the process of building a snowman. I often use these books as the basis of writing prompts and activities too.

Building Snowmen

If you live in a wintry climate, you can’t forget the ultimate snowman activity – building a snowman! Consider setting aside some time in your day to take the kids outside and build a real snowman together. This is a great collaborative activity that will help lift spirits and build community in your classroom. Try watching a video like this one beforehand to get an idea of how to build a snowman. Then, put the kids in teams and see how many amazing snowmen you can build!

If you don’t live in a snowy area, try having the students make their own snowmen out of white playdough or modeling clay. This is a fun, creative activity that is perfect for the afternoon on a Fun Friday. These snowman parts and pieces are the perfect addition to your mini snowman builds. You can even pop some calming winter ambiance music on and de-stress together. Everyone will love this snowman activity!

Snowman Sight Word Activities

One of my favorite things about using a theme like snowmen is that it can be applied to all of our classroom lessons. It makes ordinary lessons more fun and engaging, which is always a win in my book! I like to use this Snowman All-in-One Sight Word Resource to connect with our snowmen theme. Inside is a variety of fun and engaging activities to practice common sight words, all with a snowman theme in mind. The target words for this resource include: look, at, my, said, the. The idea behind this resource is that you will have everything you need to teach these words. Consider it your starting place for these focus words! Inside you’ll find:

• 2 Sight Word Readers (basic sentence & extended sentence)
• Feed the Sight Word Cut & Paste Activity for each word
• Sight Word Writing Practice Pages
• Sight Word Mazes for each word
• Color by Sight Word
• Spin, Read, and Graph / Write
• Roll, Read. and Graph
• I Spy Sight Words Center Activity
• Sight Word Write the Room
• Fine Motor Mats
• Rainbow Words
• Sight Word Playing Cards
• The Snowman Class Book Writing Activity
• Sight Word Flashcards for all target words
• Sight Word Word Wall cards for all target words

I told you there were a lot of activities here! I love using this resource when we’re working on a snowman theme because it brings the winter fun into our small group reading time as well. Students eagerly look forward to new readers in our All-in-One Sight Word sets, because I always try to tie them in with our theme. We all know that learning sight words can get a little boring, so why not look for ways to make it more fun?!

Using These Snowman Activities to Teach Sight Words

So, are you wondering how exactly to use this all-in-one sight word resource? I’m so glad you asked! In my room, I start out by reading the full-color teacher book aloud. I point out our new focus words and ask the students to listen for them as we read. Then, we read the mini-readers again in our small groups. I also like to add these words to our word wall to keep them top of mind for students. After this introduction, we use the games and other activities throughout the week to continue practicing. I also like to re-read the readers each day in our small groups. As students progress in skill level, we may also move on to the extended sentence version of the reader. Here’s a closer look at some of my favorite games from the resource:

I Spy Sight Words Center Activity

Turn your students into sight word detectives with this activity! They’ll use a magnifying glass to search a picture for hidden words on their list. As they find them, they will write them down on a recording sheet. This is a fantastic center activity since it is meant to be used independently.

Feed the Snowman Sight Words

In this activity, students will cut and paste sight words into the snowman’s mouth. They’ll have to read each one and see if it matches the focus word. If it does, it goes in the snowman’s mouth. If it doesn’t match, they don’t “feed him” that word. The kids really love this one!

Fine Motor Mats

Fine motor mats are another one of my favorite activities from this resource. They’re perfect for center time and can be used in so many different ways. Each mat features a focus word and can be used for:

• filling with stickers
• building with playdough
• q-tip painting
• BINGO dauber painting
• filling with small objects

I like to choose items and materials that have a wintry feel to fit in nicely with our snowman theme. For example, white play dough, snowflake mini erasers, white pom-poms, blue or purple BINGO daubers, snowflake stickers, and silver paint all work nicely!

Don’t forget friends, this is just a tiny peek at everything inside The Snowman All-in-One Sight Word Resource. There are tons of other games and activities included to make teaching new sight words fun for your students during your snowman theme in the classroom.

Snowman Activities for the Writing Center

Writing is another area that’s easy to weave in thematic topics like snowmen. I like to swap out the materials in our writing center when we get started with a new theme. Consider adding snowman vocabulary cards, snowy writing paper, and some fun prompts.

I also love adding in a writing craft activity {or maybe two}! The kids always love creating something to go with their writing. This helps to keep them engaged and excited about writing. And. . . they make a great bulletin board or hallway display too! I’m sharing some fun, FREE snowman writing activities for you! Enter your email below to grab them. You’ll be sent two fun winter writing craft activities that will go along perfectly with your snowman activities.

Students will love writing about a melted snowman and what they might do if they lived in a snow globe. Use them as a group writing lesson, or have students work on these independently in the writing center. Either way, these writing prompts and crafts are the perfect addition to your snowman activities.

I like to encourage students to use the focus words from The Snowman All-in-One Sight Word Resource. This is just one more way to weave in those sight words! Challenge students to use as many words as they can as they write sentences for each activity.

Get Started with Snowman Activities in Your Classroom

I hope these ideas inspired you to try something new in your classroom! These snowman activities make it fun and easy to focus on important skills such as writing and reading sight words. Have fun planning snowman activities in your room!

Looking for More?

Check out these posts next!

• 5 Fun and Engaging Winter Activities for the Elementary Classroom
• Holiday Magic: December Activities and Books for the Classroom
• 4 Virtual Snow Day Activities for Online Learning

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