It is getting colder and colder every day. We see ice and snow on the ground (especially if you live in New England). We get to wear snow boots, toasty jackets, mittens, scrarfs, and hats to keep us warm. But, what do some of the animals do? Animals such as bears and frogs go to sleep in the winter. They sleep throughout the winter until the spring comes. As us adults know, this is called "hibernation."

In order to talk about "hibernation," I brought this soft, fluffy, and cuddly brown blanket (I found it at a local Target).  I put eyes, nose, and ears on the upper part of the blanket, so when you open the blanket and hold it from the top, it looks like a big cuddly bear! I put them on using a glue gun and craft supplies from Walmart.

When I introduced this blanket of groups of children, I put it on the floor and asked children to sit down on it. Then children were asked to pretend that they were sleeping (hibernating) with the bear as they sang this song:

Hibernation (sing to the tune of "Alouetta")

Hibernation, winter hibernation

Hibernation, it's time to go to sleep

In the winter where's the bear?

Sleeping in the log or lair

Where's the bear? (where's the bear?)

Log or lair (log or lair)

Oh...

Hibernation, winter hibernation

Hibernation, it's time to go to sleep 

Children at a preschool had fun with rocking their bodies and pretending to snore to the music. They had opportunities to use some of the sensory words such as "soft," "warm," "(feels) good," and "smooth" to describe the blanket (bear).

This turned out to be one of the most responsive activities among the young children that I work with. Even children who have difficulties with sitting in a circle calmed down and engaged in pretend sleep during this activity. Something about the song, rocking their bodies slowly, closing their eyes, and the softness of the cuddly bear blanket intrigued them. Also, I did this activity two times (each session was week apart) with the same groups of children and during the first week, only one child knew and a few others could say the word "hibernation." But during the second week, about half of the children spontaneously used the words of "hibernate" and "hibernation." I know the word can be a BIG WORD, but many children were able to understand the basic concenpt and the word of "hibernation" through this activity.   

I also used my frog puppet - he hibernates too!

And I used the bat hair band too - yes, a bat hibernates.

Oh, and...this is a good book when you would like to teach children about "hibernation."

Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson

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