We’ve had a fairly mild winter so far here in Massachusetts, so I haven’t really had snow on the brain lately! Since we’re part way through January, and there should be snow on the ground, I decided to improvise with a snow theme sensory box & book pairing! This box was a great opportunity for us to talk about animal camouflage and how snow is made. Having a few preschool or toddler sensory boxes prepped and ready to go in advance means you’ll always have a fun indoor activity ready to go in a pinch! This snow theme preschool or toddler box was perfectly paired with the Secrets of Winter Book!
What You Need for Your Snow Theme Sensory Box
- Instant Snow (or real snow if you don’t mind cold hands!)
- Winter themed animal figurines
- Plastic box or tub to contain
- scoops, shovels, etc as wanted (our are from the dollar store)
Time for Snow Theme FUN
Most of the time my sensory boxes require a little bit of prep work, but this one was easy! We haven’t had any snow, so I grabbed some instant snow from amazon. I only purchased one container, which makes 2 gallons of snow. Next time, I would definitely add a second to add more fluff to our box. I poured the snow mix into a big bowl, measured the water and let the kids pour it in. Then they mixed it up with a spoon and voila! Snow!
I poured the snow mixture into the bin and tossed in some winter animals. So easy, I love activities with very little prep work! You could add in some shovels or tools from the dollar store like we’ve used in our flower planting and construction sensory boxes.
We had fun hiding the animals beneath the snow and talking about animal camouflage. We talked about the color of the animals, why they would need camouflage, and mostly the animals ran and plowed through the snow. The winter animal kit came with a little igloo, so we also talked about what an igloo was made of, who uses it, and why.
Let’s Read Our Snow Theme Book!
I can’t help myself from including another Shine-a-Light book with a sensory box! In my mind, these books are all about discovery, which is so complementary to the discovery involved in playing with a sensory box. If you aren’t familiar with Shine-a-Light books, they use flashlights to discover hidden pictures on the page. Talk about a fun way to make reading interactive and exciting! You can see our patriotic pairing with some noisemakers or our construction box for more Shine-a-Light uses!
Secrets of Winter shows kids the winter activities of animals from hares trampling through the snow and deer eating evergreen leaves, to frogs and bears hibernating for the winter. My kids loved discovering what different animals do in winter. We connected our talk from our winter theme sensory box play on camouflage to the hare who changes color from white in the winter to brown in the summer. We even talked about nocturnal animals, and how animals store food away for winter!
What We Learned
- Some animals have feet like snowshoes so they don’t sink into the snow!
- Fish stay near the bottom of the water to stay warmer beneath the ice.
- Every snowflake has 6 sides.
- Winter animals can eat berries that grow in the cold.
- Foxes eat in the early morning & evening and sleep all day.
I hope you enjoyed learning a little more about winter animals with our winter theme preschool and toddler sensory box! Make sure to check out my flower planting sensory box when you need to thaw out a little. You can shop the amazing variety of Shine-a-Light books in my bookshop, or contact me to learn how to get them into your classrooms or home!
[…] plastic figures are the perfect size for stockings! There are also lots of great options to use in sensory bins later […]