This will indeed be such an enjoyable and interactive means through which young children will be made aware of science and seasonal change. Your students will love delving into this topic with pictures, real photos, vocabulary practice, short reading passages, and an interactive activity to match. So let’s explore some hibernation activities that your kindergarten, preschool, or first-grade class is sure to love.
Check out my complete hibernation unit here!
Hibernation Activities – Pictures with Animals: Real Photos Posters
Start your hibernation unit off with some visuals! Kids love learning about animals they see in the wild or even in storybooks. Use real pictures of animals that hibernate, such as bears, bats, and hedgehogs. Display these as posters or in a slideshow format and discuss where these animals live and why they hibernate.
Pro Tip: Use real photos and illustrated pictures of the same animals. This allows the students to recognize and relate more to the content.
Activity idea: Students can match an animal to its habitat by cut-and-pasting or using sorting cards. For example, a bat might go in a cave, and a hedgehog in a cozy burrow.
In my hibernation unit available on TPT, you will find posters with real images!
Hibernation Activities Introducing New Vocabulary
Introduce vocabulary terms about hibernation, using words like “hibernate,” “migration,” “den,” “burrow.” Review the use of a word wall or flashcards with pictures. For kindergarten and preschool, it would be better to use simpler vocabulary, such as “sleep” and “winter.”
Activity idea: Make learning vocabulary a game! Using your new vocabulary words, have them play a “Who Am I?” type game where you describe an animal and they try to guess who you are describing. For example, “I hibernate in a cave during winter, and I am big and furry… who am I?”
Explore the hibernation unit’s vocabulary resources here!
How to Prepare Short Reading Passages on Hibernation for Kindergarten, Preschool and First Grade
Introduce brief, age-appropriate readings of animals that hibernate, including fun facts about why, how they prepare to hibernate, and what their bodies do while they are hibernating. This really is a great activity for first graders who have begun reading independently.
Activity idea: Read and then have comprehension questions or ask students to draw what they have learned. For example, “Draw a bear in its den” or “Show how a squirrel gathers nuts.”
Hibernation Worksheets: Yes or No?
Make learning about hibernation interactive with a “Hibernating: Yes or No?” game. Present a series of animals and have students decide if the animal hibernates or not. Example: “Does a bear hibernate? Yes! Does a fox hibernate? No!
Activity idea: By using a sorting board or pocket chart with animal cards, students can move the cards to the appropriate column: Hibernates/Doesn’t Hibernate. This activity is appropriate for kindergarten and preschool learners.
For a low-prep version, get my Hibernating Yes/No game worksheets in my hibernation unit here!
Hibernation Activity – Sorting the Animals
Sorting games are always so much fun in the early education classrooms! Give them a set of cards of animals along with sorting mats labeled with the categories “Hibernates,” “Migrates,” and “Stays Active.” They’ll cement their learning from what animals do to survive during the winter.
Discover sorting activities in my hibernation unit here!
Why These Hibernation Activities Work
Hibernation activities for kindergarten, preschool, and first-grade students are great ways to connect the science of a subject with interactive learning. Using real photos, building vocabulary, and then sorting games all create a unit that is memorable as well as educational. Be it reading about bears or sorting squirrels and hedgehogs, here are some meaningful ways to learn about the wonder of winter.
CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT MY HIBERNATION UNIT AVAILABLE ON TPT! EVERYTHING you need to teach your little scientist about hibernation in this mini-unit focusing on hibernation and hibernating animals. Perfect for introducing hibernation activities to Pre-K, Preschool and Kindergarten students.
WHAT’S INCLUDED:
- Hibernation, Seasons and Winter vocabulary posters
- Informational posters with real animal photos: Bears, Bats, Tortoises, Hedgehogs, Groundhogs, Frogs
- Cut and paste activity (unscramble and match the words)
- Sorting activity: sort animals into those that hibernate and those that do not
- Write/mark YES or NO to hibernating animals
- Name the animals and trace ‘hibernate’ to compelte the sentences.
