For You in the Snow Zone

This lesson helps with a child’s hold on writing tools. It requires that you find some tiny beads, such as little crystals to represent snow, and some cotton balls for snowballs.

Demonstrate holding a cotton ball in the palm of the hand while holding a pencil. The challenge to children is to hold the snowball in the hand throughout the lesson! The purpose? A relaxed hand has an open palm, and the cotton ball keeps the hand relaxed. Give each child a cotton ball to hold with a writing tool. Then put the tool down, keeping the cotton in place.

Children (or a child) picks up each bead with the index finger and thumb, then places it in the cloud at the top of the page. Then they can make it snow, bringing each bead down to the “grass;” that’s the green pattern. It helps to reinforce letter related movement to say, “down” each time “snowflakes” fall on the grass.

Without losing the cotton ball the children pick up a writing tool. Then they trace the green pattern while saying, “Down and up, down and up, down and up, down and.” Repeat and repeat… Put emphasis on the word, “down.” Children trace can trace, “Snowflakes sparkle.” or trace and copy on the next line, or just copy.