Just 2 days ago, it was 50 degrees here at the Little Owl Academy house. We were outside riding our bikes and enjoying the sunshine. I started feeling ready for Spring, when we woke up this morning to 6 inches of fresh now, wind blowing and howling, and all I wanted to do was curl up and huddle inside for the day. It seem like the perfect day to pull out our hibernation preschool theme ideas!
Hibernation Printables and Ideas
My children have two stuffed bears they play with daily. Every day their names change. One thing stays the same though; their “cave” is in our toy tent in the basement. Since they love to play with this, it was simply to talk about hibernation using their bear, and these printables and ideas! We tucked our bears in tight (Today their names were Jo and Jenn) and we talked about what hibernation means. We also watched a fantastic episode on groundhogs from the show Wild Kratts on PBS. It talked about hibernation of groundhogs and other mammals. Did you know they only breathe once every 6 minutes while sleeping?! This was a great addition to our hibernation preschool theme ideas list!
Bear Snores on Story Companion
The favorite part of our lesson was reading one of our favorite books, “Bear Snores On,” and then making this necklace. In the story, Bears friends come to play in his cave while he is hibernating for the winter. Some of his friends pop popcorn. This popcorn necklace is perfect for practicing letters of the alphabet names and sounds, and fine motor skills while punching the holes and stringing it on the necklace. The Bear Snores on Story Companion was a hit. It can be found here:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Bear-Snores-On-Story-Companion-5211763
The best part is, this alphabet popcorn necklace will definitely be making a reappearance in future preschool themes.
Hibernation Alphabet Review Game
We wrapped up the day with this easy alphabet review game. I drew berries (I know, I know it looks like popcorn, but the boys asked for raspberries so this what they got!). We talked about how when animals wake up from hibernation they are hungry and want to hunt for food. I would call out an animal name that hibernates and a letter name. “Mr. Squirrel likes to eat the letter M!” Then, they colored all the berries with the letter M on them. It was a great way to review some letters we need work on, and talk about a variety of animals that hibernate.
Overall, the hibernation preschool theme was a huge success!