Winter in Cold Places A winter unit study Ages 4–7
The Light Returning
$5.99 · One-time purchase
The days have been getting longer since before Christmas, and hardly anyone notices. This week we write down the times, mark where the sun lands on the floor, and find out that some changes only show up when you measure them.
Page four
The four books
Read them aloud in any order, and read a favorite twice. If your library doesn’t have one of these, another good book on the same subject works just as well.
- The Shortest Day — Susan Cooper · Carson Ellis
- Sun Up, Sun Down — Gail Gibbons
- What Makes a Shadow? — Clyde Robert Bulla
- Moonbear’s Shadow — Frank Asch
The books aren’t included. Most libraries have them.
Page six
The science lesson
The shortest day was back in December. Every day since has been a little longer, even through the coldest part of the year.
The earth is tipped a little, and it leans the same way all year as it travels around the sun. In winter our half of the world leans away, so the sun stays low and is up for a shorter time.
It starts with what the grown-up needs to know, in plain words. Then there’s something to try together at the table, and one question to ask afterward.
“If the days started getting longer in December, why is January so cold?”
And the rest of the week
- The poems
- One short poem to learn by heart (Robert Louis Stevenson) and one to enjoy hearing (Thomas Hardy).
- The activity
- Tape the sunlight to the floor. The sun climbs a little higher in the sky each day, so the patch of light creeps toward the window.
- The craft
- A candle for counting the dark. As sunset comes a little later each day, the candle burns for a little less time each night.
- Math
- Two pages: “Minutes on the clock” and “Light and dark in one day.”
- The copywork page
- Three sizes to choose from, from the single word “light” up to “I have a little shadow.” Practice makes progress.
- Outside
- A page for spending some time outside observing nature, one look a day, with room for a word, a number, or a tiny drawing.
- A devotion, five days
- A verse, a sentence, and a “Thank you God for ___,” line each day. Genesis 1:3 · Psalm 74:16 · Psalm 30:5 · Proverbs 4:18 · John 1:5. The verse to learn this week is John 1:5.
- Sun buns
- Golden buns curled like a little sun, like the ones baked in Sweden for St. Lucia Day. Plan on about two hours, mostly waiting for the dough to rise.
- Coloring pages
- Two simple, hand-drawn pages to color.
- What you will need
- Four books from the library, a printer, and things most homes already have: sunrise and sunset times, masking tape and a marker, a sunny window and a clock, any plain candle and a toothpick, sidewalk chalk, a flashlight and a small toy, and sun bun ingredients.
Take the Light Returning unit.
One purchase for the whole unit as a print-ready PDF. No account and no login. Your download is ready as soon as you check out, and it’s yours to print as often as you like for the children in your own house.
Part of a set of six
Winter in Cold Places
$24 · $35.94 bought separately
The Light Returning is one of six units for snowy, cold winters. The set adds Snow, Tracks, Bare Trees, Wool and Warmth, and Sap and Sugaring, one unit for each week of winter. You get six separate PDFs.
Here it is.
All five days of Apples, yours to print. A copy is on its way to your inbox as well — check the spam folder if it isn’t there in a few minutes.
Start with Monday: cut an apple across the middle instead of down through the stem, and look for the star.