Today’s theme was actually just winter, but I love the Hanukkah story so I worked it in. I was still prepping when the chicks arrived, so they had a few minutes of play time. I don’t know if you noticed,but dress up is a favorite.
After our normal morning business, we started by talking about winter and typical winter weather. Papa and Nanny are in cold weather and have to dress warmly. I got out the warm weather clothes and we played dress-up! They loved it and stayed in most of it for the rest of the day.
We talked about the animals and what they do to stay warm in the winter. I explained hibernation to them and we built a cave that they could hibernate in. Another hit. (Bad pictures)
I showed them videos of penguins and polar bears going in and out of the icy water. We talked about how they could stay warm in all that ice.
Then we did an experiment. (Forgot to take pictures,but you can see a better version of the idea here. I couldn’t find the original post). I placed a bucket of ice water in front of them and asked them to stick their hands in it for as long as they could. A lot of giggles and splashing water, but they got the idea. One by one, I stuck their hands in a plastic bag, then coated it in margarine (shortening would probably work better), then into another bag. With this coating, they submerged their hands back into the ice water. It was amazing. We could barely feel the cold through the layer of fat. Only two of the chicks would stick their hand into the margarine, but they understood the concept. That’s how the polar bear stays warm.
Then we moved to Hanukkah. We watched a cute animated Hanukkah video on youtube so they could get the idea behind the story. Then we made popsicle stick menorahs. I don’t know why I don’t have pictures of any of this.
Then we had potato latkes and ham for lunch. Ham is very un-kosher, I know, but it’s all I had.
4chicksplayschool 