From birth to 5 years old, children experience rapid and crucial development. These first five years play an important role in shaping your child’s language, literacy, as well as their physical, mental, and emotional growth. While it might seem overwhelming, simple activities such as the free one provided below, along with guidance from the Connecting NJ early childhood specialist team, can help navigate this critical developmental period and equip you with the necessary tools to support your child's progress.
To discover more enriching activities and resources like the one showcased, complete the Ages & Stages Questionnaire specific to your county. This will connect you to our dedicated Early Childhood Specialist Team.
This delightful winter-themed craft nurtures various aspects of your child’s development. Engaging in the simple tasks of tearing, gluing, and coloring will boost your child's fine motor skills. Actively interacting with your child during this activity—asking about colors, images, and encouraging them to describe their actions—will fortify language, literacy, and problem-solving abilities.
Follow the provided activity support guidelines to actively engage and champion your child’s developmental journey!
Download the craft instructions and see examples here.
Craft Materials:
Needed Materials (not included):
- Scissors
- Glue Sticks
- Paper – plain or colored (Black for hat, white for snowman, orange for nose, and a background color).
Optional Materials:
- Cotton Balls, clean tissues or tissue paper
- Snowman Template
- Markers
- Crayons
- Colored Pencils / Pens
Activity Support Guidelines:
Fine Motor (Strengthening the muscles in your child’s hands)
- Tearing
- Gluing
- Coloring
Communication (Building the tools for language dialogue between caregiver and child)
- Describing the colors and textures of materials
- Providing new vocabulary like: snow, white, snowman, plate, tearing, googly, cotton ball, glue, crayons
- Talking through the actions of completing the activity, “and now I am tearing the cotton ball, and gluing it to the plate so it will stick. The cotton ball is going to be our snow.”
- Relating it back to the winter season. “When it gets cold outside, it sometimes snows and we can build a snowman!”
- Reflecting on time spent together. “What was your favorite part?”
Personal-Social (How your child relates to you and their world)
- Completing the activity together and engaging in quality time.
- Problem Solving (Using their thinking to find solutions in their world).
- Filling the template with tissue paper.
- Allowing child to explore the materials.
