Snowflake Dancing

No winter would be complete without some Snowflake Dancing. Here's a silly picture of me leading my preschool group. To make the dancing more expressive I made a simple snowflake dancing ribbons for the entire class.

This simple & frugal craft was made with tulle and curling ribbon looped onto a rubber band. The rubber bands could be slipped over the kids mittens so they didn't have to hold anything & could just focus on dancing!

Here's our class set. Made in just a few minute and cost just a few dollars to make!

Happy Snowflake Dancing to you!

Snowflake Catcher Necklaces

I had this brainstorm last year when I was outside with my son. We were trying to catch snowflakes on black felt and black construction paper but they kept blowing in the wind. My son had his mittens on so he was even more frustrated by not being able to hold the paper well. That's when it hit me ---"Snowflake Catcher Necklaces"!

I wanted something that could hang around his neck so when he lost interest it could just hang there. I also wanted it to be firm enough that it wouldn't fold or bend. I decided an old CD with a ribbon attached could fit this purpose.
To make them I covered one side with dark colored felt. The felt works well because it's fuzzy texture kind of makes the snowflakes stand up so you can view it from multiple angles. I also made sure that the ribbon was long enough to easily fit over a hood or hat since these will be used while we have our big winter coats on.

For the reverse side of the snowflake catchers I have made a couple of different versions:
* For some I added a felt pocket where a magnifying glass could be stored. To make it more portable, I attached a plastic magnifying glass onto another ribbon so it would all stay together. (This option proved a little hard for 3 year olds to operate though.)
* Another idea was to draw a few types of common snowflakes to use as a quick reference.
* My favorite choice for preschoolers is to the leave the back side blank so they have a "mirror". They like to check themselves, especially if they are trying to catch falling snowflakes on their tongues! This mirror would also be fun to show them how to make reflections with the sun and send an S.O.S. message!

Class set for my preschoolers...now if only we could have a nice snowfall!

Happy Snowflake Catching! Be sure to check out my other related post here for more snowflake info!
~April

Snowflake Catching Day

"Under the microscope, I found that snowflakes were miracles of beauty; and it seemed a shame that this beauty should not be seen and appreciated by others. Every crystal was a masterpiece of design and no one design was ever repeated." ~William Bentley

It has been a virtual snow-less winter here in Vermont. Who wants to live in the cold without all the fun of playing in the snow?
We are under a Winter Advisory from 4 am - 7 pm tomorrow, so I've got all my fingers and toes crossed that we get a HUGE amount of snow.
Granted shoveling the driveway is no fun...but building snowmen, sledding, snowball fights, and snow angels with the kids make it all worthwhile!

The best days to catch snowflakes are when we the snow is falling with big fluffy flakes. So I'm not sure what the snow will be like tomorrow but I'm hoping that it's a good snowflake day.

In the winter, we keep a couple of pieces of dark colored felt and hand lens in our unheated garage for when the moment strikes to catch snowflakes. My son knows where I keep them so sometimes he goes and grabs them when he's outside playing. You could also use black construction paper, but I find the flakes kind of stand up against the hairy texture of the felt. (In a pinch, you can also just use a dark colored glove, like in the photo above.) Whatever you use, just make sure that your landing surface is cold. So store your felt or construction paper in the freezer or in an unheated garage.

I have also made some pretty cute "Snowflake Catcher Necklaces" for my preschool class.  To make them I took old CD's and covered one side with dark colored felt. On the other side I drew examples of a few types of common snowflakes and made a pocket to store a small magnifying glass.  I added a long ribbon so it could be worn as a necklace. I'll try to post about that this weekend ~ hopefully with some action shots of us using them!

In previous 'snowflake catching days' we made the discovery that if you catch the flakes on the cloth then view it while standing under the sled, that more flakes don't drop onto the cloth and disrupt what you're viewing. 

On 'snowflake catching days' you must read the book, Snowflake Bentley, which tells the story of a Vermont man that dedicated his life to studying and photographing snowflakes under a microscope. If you haven't read this book, you really should!

A great website to learn more about snowflakes is listed below. Be sure to print out a copy of their "Snowflake Guide", slip it into a plastic sleeve, and take it outdoors with you on the next snowy day!   

http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/class/class.htm

 

 

Happy Snowflake Catching!

I'd love to hear about your snowflake adventures.