While we do associate winter with Christmas and New Years, for teachers who don't have time to change their bulletin board displays multiple times during the season, a simple winter-themed display works well because of it's versatility and "built in" festivity! This kindergarten teacher decided to combine her seasonal wall display with her lesson on mitten patterning and the results are fantastic!

Mitten Crafts

To duplicate the original craft, create a card stock mitten template for students to trace onto craft paper. Armed with washable markers in assorted colors, have your students practice making their own patterns and designs on the mittens. This might also be a great time to throw in a lesson on color theory (e.g. complimentary colors, primary v. secondary colors, etc.).

You might also consider...

• Providing students with card stock mitten cut outs, paper punches, and festive yarn for a pre-decorating lacing activity.
• Creating "hand print" mittens by covering the child's hand with craft paint, making a print onto card stock, then using the print as a guide to draw a mitten. Add glitter to the wet paint and provide other craft supplies for students to use in decorating the final mitten shape.
• Providing students with card stock mitten cut outs, small pieces of colored art tissue paper, and school glue, inviting them to make colorful (patterned!) mitten collages.

Mitten Tree Winter Wall Display

• Background: The original display did not have a specific background color, but you might consider creating a snowy landscape with light blue and white bulletin board paper or using a complimentary (festive!) color like red or green to frame the cutouts.
• Title: "Our Mitten Tree" or a cute saying like "Our mittens warm our hands, but family and friends warm our hearts!"
• Border: The original display did not have a border, but you might consider a winter-themed trimmer or solid border in a complimentary color.
• Decoration: 1) The Tree. Create a tree from a brown paper roll (background paper or craft paper). This can be done free-hand or you might be able to find an image online that can be "blown up" with a projector and traced. Pull cotton balls apart and glue them to the branches and add other detailing to the tree with markers (i.e. bark, knots, holes in the tree, etc.). 2) The Mittens. Hang your students' crafts on the tree!

This wall display is simple, festive, and will last through the entire winter! What are your favorite winter decoration ideas? Let us know in the comment section below!