As we enter the end of winter and the beginning of spring, it is a great time to talk with young children about the weather.
Last year, we used a calendar “March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb” project to explore the concept of the changing weather.
March Lion and Lamb Calendar Directions
- Print a blank March calendar.
- Print/photocopy Lion and Lamb clip art and cut so each animal is on its own square. We got ours from The Big Book of Monthly Ideas : Preschool-Kindergarten : The Best of the Mailbox Monthly Idea Books (activity is modified from that book). This is a perfect opportunity to practice scissor skills!
- Share the saying “March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.”
- Ask your child to describe lions (fierce, strong, roar) and lambs (gentle, friendly, baa) and what type of weather each might represent.
- Each day: check the thermometer, select the right animal, and paste it on the calendar.
- At the end of March, count up the number of lamb days and lion days or keep a running tally. For older kids, you could create a line graph.
Educational Experience:
- Science: Introduce the idea of the changing seasons and weather. With children who are ready, discuss what causes different weather phenomena.
- Mathematics: Count or graph the lamb and lion days.
- Fine Motor Skills: Practice cutting straight lines with the scissor.
- Language Arts: Use adjectives to describe lions and lambs and the weather. Discuss different ways to describe rain (drizzle, rain drops, downpour), snow (blizzard, flurry), etc.
Extensions
- Science: Create a weather station board or windsocks (via No Time for Flashcards)
- Arts and Crafts: Create more Lions and Lambs. Last year we cut the center from a paper place, glued lamb ears and cotton balls on one and lion ears and yellow and orange tissue paper squares on another. Here are some more ideas: Lion Hand Print Craft (via Crayola); another lion and lamb hand print craft (via Thrifty Mommy); Lion and Lamb Poster (via Preschool Playbook)
- Culinary Arts: Make and enjoy Lion (pineapple manes) and Lamb (cottage cheese) salads.
- Life Skills: Each day, dress dolls (could be fashion dolls, paper dolls, felt board dolls) in clothing appropriate for the weather.
- Theater Arts: Tape your children giving the local forecast (and e-mail it to the grandparents) or try this “Lion and Lamb” pantomime play from Scholastic.
Books
- Elmer’s Weather (Comes in a variety of languages)
- Oh Say Can You Say What’s the Weather Today?: All About Weather (Cat in the Hat’s Learning Library)
- Weather Words and What They Mean
- What Will the Weather Be? (Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science 2)
- The Magic School Bus Kicks Up A Storm: A Book About Weather
Photo credit: NormaNack
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