This was a quick Groundhog's Day craft I found here.
Materials Needed: markers, toilet paper roll, crayons, scissors, tape, glue, brown paper (I used cardstock), and this template. (or you can print it in color here)
Directions:
1. Print out the template onto colored paper and cut out the pieces.
2. Have your little one do some extra coloring to add some more details if they are interested.
3. Put glue on the large rectangle and stick it to the toilet roll for the body.
4. Add the tummy (we used double-sided tape for this part).
5. Tape the other pieces in place.
6. Let your groundhog hide and then have him pop out. If he sees his shadow then there are six more weeks of winter!
We also watched Punxsutawney Phil see his shadow online... since we couldn't find it on the TV.
We also learned a little bit more about Groundhog's Day here.
Then we cuddled a bit with our own groundhog.
We're also going to try and find this groundhog book at the library today. Anyone else have any other favorites?
This craft probably wasn't my little guy's all time favorite one. He just wanted to sit on my lap most of the time and watch the groundhog on the computer and do some minimal coloring. This project is much easier with tape, unless you want to use a lot of glue (and we weren't feeling like being messy this morning). Now that we're done, my little guy is excited about having the groundhog. This would definitely be a lot easier for older kids, but we would still do it again.
Language Development:
Words we talked about: groundhog, shadow, winter. We acted out having the groundhog see his shadow and that helped him kind of get it. This afternoon we plan to go outside and look at our own shadows on our walk. Watching a few YouTube videos about groundhogs was also fun and fostered some conversation. I mostly just told him what the groundhog was doing in the videos and he wanted to watch them again and again (perfect for Groundhog's Day... right?).
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