Welcoming Winter
Self-Guided Program
Kindergarten – Grade 1
Please share this kit with other teachers that are coming to FWA with your group.
Thank you for booking the “Welcoming Winter” self-guided program at FortWhyte Alive.
Enclosed is your self-guided package, designed to use in your classroom and help you
guide your group at the Centre. This package provides key vocabulary words, various
games, and background information about how winter affects the lives of plants and
animals. These are only suggested activities. Please feel free to use these activities with your
class or your own materials at your discretion.
GOAL
The goal of this program is to help students understand and learn how winter affects the
lives of animals and plants. This program highlights some of the pressures that animals and
plants face in winter. It also explains the role of snow in the lives of Manitoba flora and
fauna, and describes some methods nature uses to cope with these hardships.
VOCABULARY
Snow, clumping, vole, insulation, hibernation, camouflage, galls, leaf-droppers, leafkeepers, seasons
THE DISCOVERY KIT
Upon arrival at FWA please present yourself to the Front Desk. Our receptionist will direct you to
your discovery kit which will be ready for you to pick up in the Interpretive Centre in front of the
kiosk (computer in the shape of a big leaf) located directly in front of the IC entrance. Your school’s
name will be written on an information sheet located on or above your bag. The information sheet
will also indicate your building tour time, and your lunch location and time.
CURRICULUM APPLICATION
Kindergarten
Cluster 1: Trees
1. Name and describe each of the four seasons.
2. Recognize that some trees lose their leaves in the fall, while others do not.
3. Describe seasonal changes in the life of a tree.
4. Use appropriate vocabulary related to their investigation of trees: tree, trunk, branch,
leaf, needle, bark, root, seed, winter, spring, fall, summer.
Grade 1
Cluster 1: Characteristics and Needs of Living Things
1. Use appropriate vocabulary related to their investigations of characteristics and needs of
living things.
2. Recognize that plants, animals and humans, as living things, have particular needs.
3. Describe how humans and other animals meet their needs.
4. Describe how humans and other living things depend on their environment to meet their
needs.
5. Show respect for living things in their immediate environment.
Cluster 4: Daily and Seasonal Changes
1. Use appropriate vocabulary related to changes over time.
2. Compare characteristics of the four seasons.
3. Identify physical and behavioural changes that occur seasonally among Manitoba plants
and animals, and discuss possible reasons for these
Your kit will contain:
~winter scavenger hunt sheets
~winter prints matching sheets
~snowflake variations sheets
~interpretive stop cue-cards
~magnifying glasses
~snowflake catchers (square pieces of black fun foam)
~map of FortWhyte Alive
~container of galls
FORTWHYTE’S RULE OF RESPECT:
Before going outside, please discuss Fortwhyte’s rules and your own rules that you expect
your group to follow:
1. RESPECT: Please do not pick any plants and do not disturb the animals. These are
things that are part of the animals' homes and we also want other children to be able to
enjoy them too.
2. No running or yelling inside the building.
3. Any other rules YOU want followed, such as stay with a partner, walk in a line, etc.
Program Information and Activities
Introduction (approx. 10mins)
1) What is snow?
Explain that snow is a special kind of rain. Tiny droplets of water in the air collect
around bits of dust, and because it is so cold, they form ice crystals. These crystals
can stick together to make bigger and bigger snowflakes. (Later you can look for
different sizes of snowflakes). Eventually these flakes get so heavy that they fall out of
the clouds in the sky. How many different kinds on snowflakes are there? There are
about 35 different types of snowflakes and no two snowflakes are alike. Pass around the
laminated snowflakes to give the students an idea of the different formations. Hold up the
jar and ask the students: What do you think will happen to the cup of snow if we leave it
inside? Have the students guess how much water will be left in the cup after it melts.
2) How does snow affect our lives? What do we do differently in the
winter?
Survey the group for ideas about how snow changes our lives and the
ways we are affected by our environment. What things do we need in
the winter that we don't need in the summer (winter clothing, snow
shovels, boots, and snow tires)?
3) How does snow affect the lives of plants and animals?
Use the laminated picture of winter scene of FWA. It will show a thick layer of snow on the
ground, a pond with ice over it, and a tree without leaves. Discuss how different plants and
animals deal with winter and the new challenges it brings. (This information is below and
will also be found in your self-guided bag)
VOLES are small field mice with short, fur-covered tails. Voles are rodents and are not
related to moles, other than the fact that both are mammals. Show the photograph of a
vole. They spend the winter under the snow in tunnels. Show the photograph of the vole
tunnels. The voles inhabit the Pukak ("poo-cack") layer of snow, which lies just above the
ground. Temperatures here are usually warmer than above the snow due to the insulating
properties of snow. Living in the Pukak layer makes an ideal winter home. Owls and foxes
will wait above ventilation shafts to catch a vole that pops out for a peek around. Show the
picture of the owl up in the tree ready to swoop down and eat a vole for lunch!
RABBITS’ feet are long and wide. They prevent the rabbit from falling through the
snow, allowing them to "float" across the surface effortlessly. They can walk on top
of the snow. Show the picture of the snowshoe and ask if it somehow relates to
the rabbit. (Not all children know what a snowshoe is. Explain how people have
modeled them after rabbit feet for the use of walking on the snow).
DEER may have a difficult time walking in deep snow; long legs help them but small feet
hinder them. Show the picture of a deer to demonstrate. Ask the students what a deer
would look like in deep snow. What sort of danger would they be exposed to? Many
animals create trails in the snow to travel along. Have the students search for deer trails
along with deer tracks on your hike. What do deer eat? In the spring and summer they feed
on buds, needles and leaves, and in the winter they usually feed on the twig ends of trees
and shrubs. Twigs are very healthy for deer, as it makes them big and strong.
OTHER ANIMALS deal with winter in their own unique ways. Turtles and frogs sleep
the winter months away in pond mud. Many insects hibernate throughout the winter as
well. Butterflies sleep under loose bark or in crevices of tree trunks, and Ladybird Beetles
are found well beneath the snow within the leaves on the ground. Some insects are even
found in galls such as the Goldenrod Gall Fly or a type of wasp that hibernates in fuzzy oak
leaf galls. Take out the container of galls to show your students. Some birds, such as
chickadees and woodpeckers stay for the winter and spend the night in tree cavities. Fish
stay active under the ice. Squirrels sleep during the cold weather, but wake up to run
around on warmer days, and feed on stored nuts and seeds. Skunks may also be found in
the winter.
TREES may lose their leaves in the winter if they are LEAF-DROPPERS, or may keep
them if they are LEAF-KEEPERS or EVERGREENS. Compare leaf-keepers to evergreens
(description of each a few pages down, under “Plants in Winter”).
BUILDING TOUR (approx 15mins)
Aquarium
What do fish do during the winter? Does the water freeze right to the bottom (hint - has
anyone ever gone ice fishing?)? Fish are active beneath the ice - otherwise they would
never bite your hook! It can be a fun activity with this age group to pretend you're fish at
different times of year. Putting on your fishy face and fishy fins, pretend to be a fish in the
summer, swimming fast, then a fish in fall, swimming more slowly, and finally a fish in
winter, swimming very, very slowly.
Museum
Allow your group a few minutes to explore the museum. Following this, you may begin to
ask a few questions related to animals meeting their needs in winter. The lynx grows fur on
its feet that give it snowshoes and allows it to FLOAT on the snow in the winter. What
other animals have snowshoe-like feet? Don’t forget to mention the Roughed Grouse on
the wall next to the geese. These birds stay active all winter long. They can burrow in the
snow for protection and to stay warm. They can also spread their toes out like snowshoes
and travel along the surface of the snow. Point out the ducks and geese. What would
happen to ducks if they did not fly south? They need water for drinking, washing and for
protection from predators. Their food (water plants and animals) is now covered with ice so
they would not have anything to eat during the winter. You may want to discuss other
animals with thick winter fur or with special winter colouration.
Snakes
How do snakes cope with winter? Snakes hibernate in gopher and badger holes,
crevasses, and ant hills. They search out cozy places to spend the winter months and sleep
until spring.
Bees
Examine the bees in the hive. In the winter, bees cluster together in the hive and beat their
wings to keep warm. They don’t move around much, so they don’t need as much food, but
they do still eat some of the honey they stored throughout the summer. Our beehive is
inside and therefore somewhat warmer in the winter, but our bees still cluster when it's
really cold .We supplement their diet with sugar water, otherwise they would run out of
food.
NATURE WALK (approx 1 hour)
Animals in Winter
On the walk, you may wish to give each child a secret mission: to find one hidden sign of
animal life and to remember it for the end of the program. This activity is to show children
that life does not come to a halt in winter, and there are a lot of things to see if you look
carefully. Animals are present all year long, and their signs are easiest to find in winter.
Such signs may include ventilator holes (vole holes), birds at the feeder, woodpecker holes,
animal tracks, animal droppings, or animals themselves.
Winter Bird Feeding Station
While many birds fly south to escape the cold and snow, others stay to face the challenges
of winter. Discuss how snow affects some species of birds at the bird feeder. Since small
birds like chickadees and sparrows feed on seeds, snow would cover most of their food
source. The birds may still dig for food or find it on the trees. Freezing rain is particularly
difficult for winter birds since it prevents them from scratching the ground to find seeds.
Why do we feed birds during the winter? Food is difficult to find in winter; there is less
food than in summer and much of it is covered with snow.
Clumping/Huddling
One of the greatest needs that animals must meet in winter is the need for HEAT! Some
animals get thicker fur in winter. Birds fluff up their feathers for added insulation. Other
animals huddle together when resting or sleeping to share body heat and to conserve
energy. Have the children huddle together to share their body heat. Who's the warmest?
The person on the inside. Who's the coldest? The people on the outside. Now have
everyone shuffle around until one of the people from the outside gets a turn on the inside.
Mice, muskrats, chickadees are some of the animals that meet their need for heat in this
way.
Snow Travel
Traveling through deep snow is a challenge for all animals. Since it would be much easier
to walk on the snow, rather than through it, animals like the ruffed-grouse and lynx
adapted special snow walking features. The ruffed-grouse grows small comb-like
projections on either side of the toes, doubling the surface area of the feet. The bird is then
better supported on the soft snow. Lynx grow additional fur on their feet to increase surface
area. Find an open area of deep snow to lead your group through. Have them fall
backwards into the snow with their arms and legs spread apart. How deep do they sink
compared to when they were walking?
Deer Paths – ACTIVITY (approx 5mins)
Have your group line up behind you in single file. Lead them through very deep snow,
instructing them to step in your footprints. Who had to work the hardest to walk
through the snow? Who had the easiest time? Why? What did this exercise teach you
about deer and their winter behaviour? Have the children romp through the snow
without making paths. How was it different? (Watch your little ones for signs of
exhaustion!)
Vole Tunnel -- ACTIVITY (approx 10mins)
Why do voles have vole tunnels? For warmth and protection from predators. Using the
straw bales (already set up), have the children imagine they are voles crawling through the
vole tunnel. Discuss how the tunnel is similar to mouse or vole tunnels under the snow;
they are warm, dark and silent. At the air hole ("ventilator shaft"), act as an owl or fox
searching for food, trying to catch voles (children) crawling through the tunnel. As they
pass the hole, reach down with your arm and if you touch their ankle, they were eaten (they
can still crawl through). If possible, show the children an actual ventilator shaft. These
appear as small holes on the surface of the snow, sometimes with tiny vole or mouse tracks
at the mouth. (Searching for vole holes becomes an exciting game for the children. Be sure
they leave them untouched for other groups to see. We don't want to suffocate any voles!!
Plants in Winter
Visit an aspen (or other deciduous) tree. Will this tree look the same in the summer time?
No, it will have lost its leaves. It's a LEAF-DROPPER. Why did this tree lose its leaves?
Trees lose a lot of water through their leaves. Have the kids stand with their arms above
their heads like branches and their fingers spread like leaves. Note: Kindergarten children
are required to know the parts of a tree and this is a great opportunity to get this
information across. When water leaves the tree through its leaves (wiggle your fingers), it
takes up more through what part? Its roots (wiggle your toes)! Can a tree get water in the
winter time? No. It's all frozen. If it kept its leaves but couldn't get more water, it would
dry right out! A lot of trees lose their leaves to save water. Not all of them though!
If you are within sight of a spruce tree, you can ask "Who can find me a tree that doesn't
lose its leaves in the winter?" When you reach the spruce tree, talk about what it means to
be a LEAF-KEEPER or a LEAFDROPPER. The trees NEEDLES are actually its leaves, but
they're very special. They help the tree keep from drying out, because they're skinny and
have a fancy wax coating.
HEY BUD! Look for spring leaves just waiting for the warm weather. Buds are formed on
the branches of deciduous trees in the fall. If you examine a few branches you will notice
buds with a strong protective coating on the outside. In the spring, leaves will burst from
these special packets.
What do animals use trees and other plants for in the winter? Deer and rabbits nibble on
twigs. Squirrels store nuts and take naps in trees. Chickadees and other birds we see in
winter find nice holes in trees to roost. What do we use trees for in the winter? Firewood,
shelter, etc.!
Seed Dispersal
Can plants walk away from their home if they don’t have enough food, sunlight, water
or space? No, they are not able disperse without these properties. How do new trees grow
in other places? They drop, scatter or spread seeds that could travel a far distance. Do all
trees disperse seeds? No! Only plants with flowers have seeds. Many plants drop their
seeds in the fall such as prairie grasses, spruce and oak trees. In the spring time, when you
are playing in the puddles, where do you think all that water came from? Some water
from the rain, but mostly from melted snow. All this water in the spring helps all those
seeds that fell in the fall grow. What would happen if these seeds didn’t have this water in
the spring? Snow is also important for young trees. Young plants are at risk of being eaten
by animals, so in the winter, the snow is protection for these plants from hungry wildlife.
Snowflake Investigation –ACTIVITY (approx. 10mins)
Look at some snowflakes on your snowflake catchers. Hand each pair of students a catcher
and ask them to either a) catch falling snow or b) scoop some light fluffy snow from the
snow’s surface and then give the catcher a shake. You can then examine the individual
crystals. Who can find the largest/smallest one? Discuss the shapes, pointing out the sixsided nature of the flakes. Ask students to assume the shape of snowflakes (there could be
many variations). Point out that individual snowflakes are not white - they are clear!
End of the Self-Guided Program
Summarize with the students the importance of snow. By now they should have an
understanding of how snow affects the lives of plants and animals (including humans).
Thank you for coming to FortWhyte and showing your love for winter! Hope you enjoyed
our self-guided program, “Welcoming Winter”.