Montessori Mom

Winter Weather

...w, w, w the winter sound, W makes a winter wind sound!

Winter is a wonderful time to explore weather with your children. Cold air, frost on windows, snowflakes, and icy puddles are all around us — a natural classroom right outside your door.

Observing Winter Weather

Weather is a constant in our environment, and winter brings some of the most dramatic changes children can observe. Step outside with your child and talk about what you see, feel, and hear. Is the air cold on your cheeks? Can you see your breath? Are there clouds in the sky? What color are they?

Use the Weather printout to introduce the different types of weather your child might observe during winter — sunny but cold, cloudy, snowy, rainy, or windy days.

Weather Symbols

Print the Weather Symbols cards. Each morning, look outside together and choose the symbol that matches today's weather. You can create a simple weather chart on the wall — each day your child places or draws the matching symbol. After a week, count how many sunny days, cloudy days, and snowy days you had. This is a wonderful way to combine observation, vocabulary, and early math.

An easy lesson for younger children

Print two copies of the weather symbols. Keep one set intact as your template. Cut the second set into individual cards. Show your child how to match each cut-out card to its partner. Start with just 3 or 4 weather types and add more as your child becomes confident.

The Water Cycle in Winter

Use the Water Cycle printout to show your child how water moves through nature. In winter, the water cycle is especially visible:

Water evaporates from lakes and rivers (even when it's cold!)
Water vapor rises and forms clouds
When it's cold enough, the water falls as snow instead of rain
Snow melts in spring and flows back to rivers and lakes

Try this: Put a small dish of water outside on a cold day. Check it later — has it started to freeze? This is the same water that makes clouds and rain, but when it gets very cold, it turns to ice instead.

Exploring the Arctic

The Arctic is one of the coldest places on Earth, where winter weather lasts for many months. Print the Arctic Geography Cards to learn about this frozen world:

Arctic — the region around the North Pole
Antarctic — the region around the South Pole
Iceberg — a huge piece of ice floating in the ocean
Glacier — a slow-moving river of ice
Ice floe — a flat piece of floating sea ice
Aurora — beautiful colored lights in the night sky
Midnight sun — when the sun doesn't set, even at midnight!

Use the three-period lesson to teach these vocabulary words. Show a card and name it: "This is a glacier." Then ask your child: "Show me the glacier." Finally: "What is this?"

Winter Weather Art: Snowflake Painting

Materials

Dark blue or black construction paper
White paint or white crayon
A toothbrush or small sponge
Optional: silver glitter

Method

Show your child how to dip the toothbrush in white paint and flick it onto the dark paper to create a snowy sky. For older children, fold a small piece of white paper and cut out a snowflake pattern — every snowflake is different, just like in nature! Glue the paper snowflake onto the painted sky.

Did you know? Every snowflake has six sides. This is because of how water molecules arrange themselves when they freeze.

Winter Sensory Walk

Bundle up and take a winter walk with your child. Bring a notebook or clipboard. Ask your child to use all their senses:

See: What colors do you notice in winter? Are there any animals?
Hear: Is the wind blowing? Can you hear birds? Is it quiet when snow covers the ground?
Feel: Is the air cold or warm? What does ice feel like? What about tree bark?
Smell: Does winter air smell different from summer air?

Back inside, warm up with hot cocoa and have your child draw or tell you about their favorite thing from the walk.

Recommended Materials

These hands-on materials pair beautifully with this lesson and our free printouts:

• Water Cycle Felt Set — A beautiful Montessori-aligned felt set for teaching the water cycle. Children place felt pieces on a board to show evaporation, condensation, and precipitation — perfect for reinforcing our Water Cycle printout with hands-on learning.
• Arctic Animal Figurines Set — Realistic arctic animal figures including polar bears, penguins, seals, and walruses. Wonderful for extending the Arctic Geography Cards activity — children can match figurines to the geography cards and create their own arctic scenes.

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