Winter themes are sometimes within a larger theme known as cycles, but
whether this is the case or not, the themes of day and night are popular. There
are a lot of books associated with these two themes, as well as many associated
language activities. Below I have listed a few books, followed by some
activities, including songs.
The Napping House by Don and Audrey Wood
What Does the Sun See?
Hush, Little Baby
I'll list some more as I find them.
Usually, kids enjoy some singing and movement activities to get involved with
the story. There are plenty of children's songs that can be reused, but they are
also fairly easy to create using a popular melody. For example, a 'wake up'/
'sleep' song might be something like this:
(To the tune of London Bridge is Falling Down)
"It is time to wake up, wake up, wake up
"It is time to wake up, the sun is shining"
"It is time to go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep,
"It is time to go to sleep, the moon is shining (or) it's dark outside"
Language:
day/night
descriptors (light, dark, bright)
verbs (wake, sleep) - I would get a paper plate and put a sun on one side and a
moon on the other. Then I would tell the kids to 'wake up' and dance when they
saw the sun, and sit down a close their eyes (pretend to sleep) when they saw
the moon.
You can always ask questions during the stories. For example, in the book
What Does the Sun See? What Does the Moon See?, when the sun is out the farm
animals are all awake, but when the moon is out the farm animals are all asleep
(except the owl). This can move you right into working on farm vocabulary and
same vs different.
Articulation
night, day, sleep, wake, various animals,
Play the 'flash light game', where the kids take a flashlight and look for the
'sleeping animals' in the dark. You can hide stuffed animals throughout the room
or put pictures of animals up on the walls for the children to find. They can
label the single word animals, or you can increase the expectation by having
them say "Wake Up, _____" to the animal or "I see the _________ sleeping."