Fun Ways to Celebrate Groundhog's Day

Groundhog's Day and kindergarten go together like peanut butter and jelly. Ever think that the kindergarten year moves from one special day to the next? Yeah, maybe!  But, they give us a great opportunity to have engaging, rich activities in both literacy and math. They are a novelty! Kids remember them! Here are some of the fun activities we have done in the past to celebrate our friend, the groundhog!

Groundhog Paper Bag Craftivity 

& Non-fiction Writing

To make this fun groundhog, we cut the bottom off of a lunch sized paper bag. Then, we cut a slit up the front of the bag. Added paper arms, legs, and head.

 Next, we used a tree map to collect information about groundhog's. We read lots of informational text for our new learning! Tree Maps are a PERFECT beginning for non-fiction writing. 

Once the tree map is complete, the children can simply write "Groundhogs can____" and then pick something from the list.  Repeat for each of the columns on the tree map. Some children will add more text, but this provides great support for those that need it.

We also added a page for the kids to draw and label a diagram of a groundhog.

Once the book and the craftivity are complete, simply glue the booklet inside of the paper bag to publish your book! What a fun display for the hallway!

Animal Covering Sorting

 Another fun activity was to collect fun animal clip art to make a set of cards. Make a game board with fur/hair, scales, and feathers sections. Invite the children to sort the pictures according to the categories into the different sections. Once the kids are finished sorting, give each child an Animal Coverings Tree Map. Invite them to stretch out the names of the animals as they write them into the correct columns.

Groundhog is a Compound Word

 Look through your clip art and find pictures that can make a new compound word! For example, we found a cow and a boy---then we found a cowboy! Kids find the matches to make the new words.

 If you are adding this as a center, you might want to consider adding this recording opportunity. The kids glue the pictures into the booklet. Then, they stretch out each of the words.

Groundhog Cupcakes

Cooking is so much fun! We cook every Friday! The kids are always so excited, and isn't that what we want? Cooking lends itself to soooooo many skills. Here are a few that we did with this fun groundhog cupcake.

We always start with a cookbook. The kids have to read the text to see how to make the cupcakes. What a great way to show children the REASON behind procedural writing. 

Once they are finished making the cupcakes, we gave our kids a set of picture cards. They sequenced the cards to tell how to make the cupcakes. Instead of attaching the pictures to a long strip of paper, you might want to try this. We invited our kids to glue one picture on each page of this "How to Make Groundhog Cupcakes" booklet.  Then, they cut off one sentence at a time. They cut between the words. Now, they need to manipulate the words to make the sentence. What a great way to teach sentences begin with a capital letter and end with a period. AND....how to manipulate the words until the sentence makes sense!

Do You Like Warm or Cold Weather Best?

We invited our kids to make these fun faces---either dressed for summer or dressed for winter. We had this out for them to do in the morning as they came in. During our math block, we gave each child their face craft. Then, we made our graph to answer the question. We talked about whether we wanted the groundhog to see his shadow OR not!

Groundhog Measurement

We learned that a groundhog's tail was 6 inches in length. I made these rulers and invited the kids to go around the room to see if they could find other things that were 6 inches long!

All of these activities are from our Hooray for Groundhog's Day for only $5! 

We also used our Groundhogs Non-fiction book from our February Guided Reading Unit. To say the kids love these books doesn't even begin to explain their excitement. I wrote the book at three different levels of text, but all three levels have the same pictures and same non-fiction feature. 

You can find this book, along with 4 other February titles, in our February Guided Reading Unit.

Want to know more about how we use non-fiction text during guided reading? You can read all about it in this blog post.

Want to Celebrate Groundhog's just for one day? Then, this is the plan for you. You can grab it for FREE below!

Or...if you want to do just a little bit each day over the week, then this plan is for you. Scroll to the bottom to find both!