A couple weeks ago we studied Winter Forest Animals & Footprints. That study led into a unit on Hibernating Winter Forest Animals. I thought this unit was important for Little Bee to begin understanding how some forest animals sleep during the winter months and start to wake up in the spring. Please note that this is a very general overview of hibernating forest animals and as Little Bee gets older, we will cover hibernating in more detail.

To give Little Bee an introduction to hibernating animals, I made a hibernating board with animals hidden under the following tabs - mud, burrow, log, cave, rocks, nest, and a hole in the tree.

Materials Needed for the Hibernating Board

• Rectangle Piece of Cardboard
• Construction Paper - Light & Dark Blue, Light & Dark Brown, Tan, White, Black
• Black Magic Marker
• Scissors, Glue, and Tape
• Animal Printable

To create the hibernating board, I glued two pieces of light blue paper onto the top of the cardboard to create the sky. Then I cut out a pointed mountain, several tan rock shapes (large and small), a dark blue pond, dark brown mud, dark brown log, dark brown tree, and a tan burrow. I glued all these pieces onto the cardboard to create a forest scenery. Then I cut out various shaped circles (big enough to cover the animal printables) and taped them over each hiding spot (see the photo below.) Then I labeled the hiding spots with the black magic marker and hid the animals.

The hibernating board was inspired by "Where do Animals Live in the Winter?"

Little Bee had a blast opening up each hiding spot and finding what animal was hidden underneath. We talked about the various hiding spots and how each animal makes their cozy home warm for the winter.

Build a Bear Cave Fort

Next we built a "bear cave" and Little Bee climbed into the blanket fort to take a pretend nap over the long winter months. Then when spring came, Little Bee "the bear" came out of his cave with a hungry roar!

Sensory Play Dough Forest Animals

A fun way to learn about forest animals is to set up sensory play activities using play dough! I found these forest animal cookie cutters from IKEA and then I made brown and tan play dough for Little Bee to explore. This activity was part of our "Hands-On Learning about Animals - Creation Series."

Forest Animal Sensory Bin

Another forest animal activity is to create an earthy sensory bin with the Schleich forest animals. This was an activity that Little Bee enjoyed last year in our ~ DIY Montessori Inspired Sensory Habitats. We gathered natural materials from outside - dirt, sticks, moss, stones, pinecones, and grass. This activity could be used to explain how animals hibernate under the dirt, rocks, and moss. The child can hide the animals and try to find them again.

Thanks for visiting our Hibernating Winter Forest Animals unit!