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It’s common for our young kindergarten students to get a little bit stir-crazy during the winter months. Between the excitement of the holidays, unpredictable weather, and a lot of indoor recess, it can be challenging to keep students engaged in literacy and math practice! In this post, I’m going to share some winter centers for kindergarten that will help to keep your students motivated and on task.
There are many different literacy skills that your students can practice with hands-on winter center activities.
Students can practice matching uppercase and lowercase letters by matching the marshmallow to the correct mug of hot cocoa!
Help your students listen for rhyme as they create pairs of ice skates. They will use the pictures to match rhyming words. Students could also flip over these cards to create a memory game where they try to find matching pairs.
Students can also practice listening for syllables as they identify the words on different winter-themed flashcards. They will sort the pictures based on how many syllables they hear.
Bring some winter fun to your phonics practice as students practice listening for beginning, middle, and ending sounds. Be sure to grab this free snowman center to practice beginning sounds!
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Students can also identify the beginning sound of a word by matching the picture in a snow globe to the base with the correct letter.
To practice ending sounds, students will match each snowman’s picture to the hat containing the correct letter.
Snowmen can also help your students practice identifying vowel sounds. They will put each snowman on a pile of snow to match the correct medial vowel sound.
Your students can also create matching mitten pairs by identifying the digraph that goes with each picture.
If your students are ready to put their phonics knowledge to work, you can use these winter-themed activities to practice CVC words!
First, students will build CVC words to match the card held by each penguin. They will arrange the snowballs to spell each short vowel CVC word.
Your students can also complete a fun winter puzzle as they match CVC words to the correct picture.
These winter sight word centers are a great way to give students the repetition they need to practice high frequency words.
First, they can join a snowball fight as they use snowball splatters to build sight words.
Your students will also enjoy this sight word match game. They will take turns choosing two polar bear cards at a time as they try to find the matching sight words.
Your students can also practice writing with a winter twist.
They can unscramble words to create winter-themed sentences. They can use the capitalization and punctuation on the cards to help them put the words in order.
The winter fun doesn’t have to stop with your literacy centers! These hands-on math activities will help you bring some seasonal engagement to your centers routine, as well.
First, your students will be able to improve their number sense by building a snowman!
They will find different representations of the number on the snowman’s hat in order to build each one.
They can also practice using ten frames by matching each snowball-filled ten frame to the correct number.
Winter objects are fun for students to count as they practice one-to-one correspondence!
First, they can count various winter objects on a card and then write how many they counted.
Students can also practice one-to-one correspondence as they place the correct number of snowflakes under each numbered cloud.
Finally, students can practice counting as they identify the number of dots on the dice they have rolled. Then they will remove the mitten from the number line that matches the number they have counted. Your students will want to play this game again and again!
If your students need to practice skip counting, these math centers will help!
Students can put these winter-themed cards in order as they practice counting by five and by ten.
These winter puzzles are also a great self-correcting activity to help students practice skip counting.
There are many fun winter centers to help your students explore numbers through ordering and comparing.
First, students can practice putting numbers in the correct order with a winter twist! They can unscramble the numbers on a cloud by putting numbered snowflakes in the correct order.
Students can also compare groups of winter objects and numbers to determine which has more or less.
Winter centers are also perfect for addition and subtraction practice!
The snowman is melting in this center! Students will match each addition equation to the correct numbered sun.
In this sorting activity, students will sort the penguins to the correct igloos by solving each addition equation.
Students can also practice subtraction by matching each penguin to the correct fish.
Centers are also a great way for students to practice counting on.
First, they can count the winter pictures on a card, then write the number and the following two numbers. Students can also use a mitten-themed math center to determine how many more are needed to make ten.
Your students can practice identifying and naming shapes by choosing different snowman cards. Then they can color in the matching shape on their recording sheets.
All of the centers I’ve shared in this post can be found in one easy-to-download resource. You’ll find everything you need to set up these literacy and math centers in your classroom, including the task cards, recording sheets, and illustrated student instructions. To take a closer look at everything included with these winter centers, head over to the A Spoonful of Learning shop or TPT.
Be sure to save this post if you’d like to come back to it later! Just add the pin below to your favorite teaching board on Pinterest. You’ll be able to quickly find these kindergarten centers when you’re looking for hands-on activities to use in your classroom this winter.
These alphabet books will have students dive deep into learning about each letter of the alphabet while eager to see what activity they get to complete next!
