Winter Words

What You Need:

• Styrofoam circle
• Knife
• Scissors
• Marker
• Pencil
• White poster board
• Winter vocabulary list
• Toothpicks

What You Do:

1. The first step is all you -- your second grader may be a wizard with scissors, but let's postpone knife practice for another day. Use the knife to cut through the Styrofoam circle. Your slice should leave a dome-shaped Styrofoam piece slightly larger than half of the original circle.
2. Cut an extra piece out of the remaining Styrofoam. This piece should be small and rectangular. It will serve as the entrance to the Styrofoam igloo.
3. Have your child use a pencil to trace the two Styrofoam shapes on white poster board.
4. Let her use scissors to cut the shapes out of the poster board.
5. Help your child use a couple of toothpicks to attach the Styrofoam igloo to the Styrofoam entrance.
6. Have her use scissors to cut the dome-shaped poster board into as many pieces as she wants. Encourage her to cut out different shapes -- just make sure that all the pieces will fit back together.
7. While she's working, cut some of your own pieces from the rest of the white poster board. Keep your pile of pieces separate from her own.
8. Have your child write one word from her winter vocabulary list on each of her igloo poster board pieces.
9. Write random vocabulary words that have nothing to do with winter on your own pieces. Make sure she doesn't peek at your list -- that'll ruin the game!
10. Mix all the words together into a pile.
11. Let your child sort out through the winter words and the random words to find the pieces that make up the igloo. She should place each correct piece on the Styrofoam igloo.
12. Have her tell you the meaning of each word as she moves it into place.
13. The puzzle is complete as soon as the igloo is completely covered with words.

When your child knows all the words in her winter vocabulary list, add some more challenging words. She can use this puzzle to help her study for every vocabulary test as well -- not just the winter-themed ones.