This February 2nd, we will all wait anxiously to find out if the groundhog (Punxsutawney Phil) sees his shadow. According to the myth, if the groundhog sees his shadow, he will retreat into his den signaling 6 more weeks of winter. Whether Phil sees his shadow or not, Groundhog Day can be one of the most fun days to celebrate in kindergarten and preschool, especially with my groundhog day activities for kids.
Do you have Groundhog Day activities planned for your preschoolers or kindergartners this year? Holidays for the classroom are a great way to make learning fun and keep your kids engaged in the lessons. Check out my favorite Groundhog Day crafts, hands on Groundhog Day activities, and virtual Groundhog Day activities to get started planning your celebration this year.
How to Celebrate Groundhog Day
Choosing days to celebrate in kindergarten and preschool is an easy way to make the school year fun. I love building preschool themes around fun holidays for the classroom. Groundhog Day, on February 2nd, is an easy holiday to celebrate in kindergarten and preschool this winter.
You might be wondering how I explain Groundhog Day to preschoolers. After all, a holiday where you watch a groundhog exit his burrow and wait to see what he does seems a bit strange to everyone at first. However, Groundhog Day is a fun way to introduce your early learners to lessons about superstitions, making predictions, hibernation, and even cultural history.
Did you know that Groundhog Day originated with a Pennsylvania Dutch superstition? The old superstition says that if the groundhog emerges and sees his shadow (due to a sunny day), he will return to his burrow and we will have six more weeks of winter. However, if he emerges from hibernation on a cloudy day and doesn’t see his own shadow, Spring is coming early.
So where can you watch Groundhog Day superstitions play out with your preschool and kindergarten learners this February? If you live near Punxsutawney, you can watch Phil, the groundhog, emerge from his den live at Gobbler’s Knob. Those of us who don’t live in Pennsylvania can watch the groundhog’s prediction via livestream from the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club website.
As you prepare to watch the big event with your early learners, enjoy some of my favorite fun Groundhog Day activities for preschool and kindergarten too. They’re the perfect way to add learning fun to this February holiday in your classroom and at home.
Easy Groundhog Day Crafts for Kids
Preschool Groundhog Day crafts are a fun activity that will encourage your early learners to play and experiment while building important early fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and working with a wide variety of materials. Plus, these easy Groundhog Day crafts will help your preschoolers and kindergartners build self-confidence as they try new things and meet with success along the way.
My printable Groundhog Day crafts are an easy no-prep solution to celebrating this February holiday with your kids. Just print these adorable cut and paste preschool Groundhog Day crafts and get ready to have fun this February. Your kids will love making their own Punxsutawney Phil or a groundhog friend from their very own imagination this winter!
Plus, there are all kinds of extra learning opportunities to be had with my printable Groundhog Day activities too. In addition to this easy Groundhog Day craft, your preschoolers and kindergartners can learn about graphing, drawing, and making predictions too. Keep reading to discover more fun Groundhog Day activities.
More Printable Groundhog Day Activities
Printable Groundhog Day activities from The Primary Parade make it easy and fun to celebrate in the classroom and at home this February. I’ve put together no prep fun Groundhog Day activities for your kids to enjoy while practicing a wide variety of early learning skills. Check out my favorite printable Groundhog Day activities:
Groundhog Predictions and Graphing
When we make predictions, we are forming ideas about how we think events will unfold in the future based on past events or knowledge. For example, Punxsutawney Phil the groundhog is only accurate between 35% and 41% of the time. Based on that knowledge, we can make a prediction about whether or not we think he will correctly predict the coming of Spring this February.
Your preschoolers are beginning to notice patterns, sequences, and make connections between the past and the present. Encouraging your preschool learners to make predictions with my printable Groundhog Day activity will help them to practice thinking ahead and asking questions. It’s a great way to help early learners build important reading comprehension skills and begin to understand the scientific method and forming a hypothesis too.
My printable Groundhog Day activities also include opportunities for your students to graph their predictions. Graphing is an easy way to introduce preschoolers and kindergartners to early mathematical concepts including: comparing, sorting, organizing, counting, and analyzing data. In this fun Groundhog Day activity printable, your kids will have fun graphing and celebrating Groundhog Day too.
Groundhog Day Directed Drawing
This cute printable Groundhog Day drawing activity is one my kids love! It’s super easy to incorporate into any lesson about groundhogs or the holiday. Plus, adding drawing to your preschool and kindergarten lessons has tons of developmental and cognitive benefits!
For example, drawing helps children develop excellent fine motor skills as they practice pencil strokes and proper pencil grip. Directed drawing pages like this printable groundhog day activity are an easy way for kids to practice these skills with simple, easy to follow steps.
Although these directed drawing pages give kids steps to follow to create a mostly uniform groundhog drawing, they’re excellent for encouraging creativity and self-expression in preschoolers and kindergarteners that are normally reluctant artists.
By giving kids a starting point and steps to follow, you eliminate any anxiety associated with the blank page and make it easy for kids to create their own character.
Then, extend the learning by adding copywork, words to trace, or a writing prompt for a fun groundhog day activity your kids will enjoy while practicing handwriting and narration or creative writing.
Color by Number Groundhog Day Printables
Finally, don’t forget to check out my free color by number printable groundhog day activities too. This bundle of fun groundhog day activities is easy for teachers and moms to add to any lesson. Kids will love coloring the cute critters in this color by number bundle.
Plus, color by number worksheets are a fantastic way to help your preschoolers practice color and number identification skills. They’ll also learn that numbers can be used for all sorts of things, not just counting. Along the way your preschoolers will build fine motor skills, concentration, and early critical thinking skills too as they complete these fun Groundhog Day activities.
Groundhog Shape Activities
Identifying shapes and matching one-to-one is an important skill for little learners to master. This easy shape match activity is the perfect resource to help your kids reinforce these skills on Groundhogs Day.
Hang the shape cards around the room or stick them in a sensory bin for an added element of fun! As your students find and identify each shape, they will color it in on the worksheet!
Counting on Groundhogs Day
Do your students need to enhance their counting and number identification skills this February? If so, be sure to grab this free counting activity.
Your kids will love creating the spring or winter scene with mini erasers or other small manipulatives as they sharpen their math skills.
Virtual Groundhog Day Activities
Are you learning and celebrating virtually with your kids this year? No worries, there are lots of fun and exciting virtual Groundhog Day activities to do this February too. Check out some of my favorites to get your started:
Watching the Event Live
Watching the event live is the perfect kickoff to your virtual Groundhog Day activities this February 2nd. Seeing Punxsutawney Phil’s prediction will definitely get your preschoolers and kindergartners excited about making their own predictions and learning about groundhogs too. You can livestream the even from a variety of sources including the Groundhog Club website.
Groundhog Club Resources
The Punxsutawney Groundhog Club has lots of resources for teachers hoping to celebrate this holiday for their classroom virtually including a short story about Punxsutawney Phil with pictures in place of vocabulary words to help your preschoolers practice early reading skills.
The club also accepts pictures sent in by students and happily answers questions about groundhogs, Phil, and Groundhog Day via email on their website. It’s a great interactive virtual Groundhog Day activity for your preschoolers and kindergartners this year.
Play the Spring or Snow Game
Spring or Snow is an easy Groundhog Day game which asks kids to predict what the groundhog will do this February 2nd. Even though the real prediction is known only to the groundhog himself, students will have tons of fun trying to guess Punxsutawney Phil’s prediction. Plus, this game pairs well with my Groundhog Day graphing activity.
To play, each child will need two images: one picturing spring and one picturing a snowy winter. Teachers can send these images to parents via email to be printed beforehand. When you’re ready to play, ask each preschooler to predict what Phil will do by holding up one of the pictures. Then, draw an image from a hat and see which student images match your own.
Children with matching images move on to the next round in the game and children with images that don’t match are out. This Spring or Snow Game continues until only one child is left. That student is named “The Groundhog’s Official Assistant Weather Forecaster” for the day.
Hands on Groundhog Day Activities for Preschool and Kindergarten
If you’re searching for a hands-on Groundhog Day activity for preschool and kindergarten kiddos, you’re going to love this favorite! It’s perfect for kids of all ages to do in the classroom or at home this February. Plus, it’s an excellent way to get the wiggles out and encourage healthy physical activity even during a cold snowy winter.
Groundhog Day Yoga
Get ready for Groundhog Day yoga! Your kids can have fun deciding if it will be Spring or more Winter with yoga poses just for the season in this fun Groundhog Day activity. To predict Winter, kids can do these poses:
- Snowflake
- Snowboarder
- Snowball
If your preschoolers and kindergartners are ready for Spring, they can try these Spring yoga poses instead:
- Tree pose
- Butterfly pose
- Frog pose
How do you plan to celebrate Groundhog Day at home or in the classroom this February? Share your favorite fun Groundhog Day activities, virtual Groundhog Day activities, and Groundhog Day crafts in the comments for everyone to try this year!
As an expert and enthusiast, I don't have personal experiences or beliefs, but I can provide information on the concepts used in this article. Let's dive into the various concepts mentioned in the article:
Groundhog Day
Groundhog Day is a traditional holiday celebrated on February 2nd in the United States and Canada. According to folklore, if a groundhog emerges from its burrow and sees its shadow on this day, it will retreat back into its den, indicating that winter will persist for another six weeks. Alternatively, if the groundhog doesn't see its shadow, it is believed that spring will arrive early. The most famous Groundhog Day celebration takes place in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, where a groundhog named Punxsutawney Phil is observed to predict the arrival of spring.
Superstitions
Superstitions are beliefs or practices that are based on irrational or supernatural ideas. In the context of Groundhog Day, the tradition of a groundhog predicting the weather is considered a superstition. The belief that the behavior of the groundhog on this specific day can forecast the weather for the coming weeks is based on folk beliefs and not on scientific evidence.
Making Predictions
Groundhog Day can be used as an opportunity to teach children about making predictions. Predictions involve forming ideas or opinions about future events based on past experiences or knowledge. In the case of Groundhog Day, children can make their own predictions about whether the groundhog will see its shadow or not, and what that might mean for the weather.
Hibernation
Hibernation is a state of inactivity and metabolic depression that certain animals enter during the winter months. It is a survival strategy to conserve energy when food is scarce and temperatures are cold. Groundhogs are one of the animals that hibernate during winter. Groundhog Day provides an opportunity to introduce the concept of hibernation to preschoolers and kindergartners.
Cultural History
Groundhog Day has its origins in Pennsylvania Dutch folklore and is deeply rooted in cultural history. Exploring the cultural background of the holiday can provide children with a better understanding of different traditions and beliefs.
Groundhog Day Activities
The article suggests various Groundhog Day activities for preschoolers and kindergartners to make learning fun. These activities include crafts, such as making cut and paste groundhog crafts, as well as printable activities like graphing predictions and directed drawing of groundhogs. Other activities mentioned include color by number printables, shape matching activities, and counting activities related to Groundhog Day.
Virtual Groundhog Day Activities
In the age of virtual learning, the article also suggests virtual Groundhog Day activities. These activities include watching the live event of Punxsutawney Phil's prediction via livestream, exploring resources provided by the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, and playing prediction games, such as "Spring or Snow," where children predict the groundhog's behavior.
Groundhog Day Yoga
To incorporate physical activity into the celebration, the article suggests Groundhog Day yoga, where children can perform yoga poses related to the season. For example, poses like snowflake, snowboarder, and snowball can represent winter, while tree pose, butterfly pose, and frog pose can represent spring.
These are some of the concepts mentioned in the article related to Groundhog Day and the activities associated with it. Let me know if there's anything specific you would like to know more about!
