In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb

As we enter the end of winter and the beginning of spring, it is a great time to talk with young children about the weather.

Last year, we used a calendar “March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb” project to explore the concept of the changing weather.

March Lion and Lamb Calendar Directions

1. Print a blank March calendar.
2. Print/photocopy Lion and Lamb clip art and cut so each animal is on its own square. We got ours from The Big Book of Monthly Ideas : Preschool-Kindergarten : The Best of the Mailbox Monthly Idea Books (activity is modified from that book). This is a perfect opportunity to practice scissor skills!
3. Share the saying “March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.”
4. Ask your child to describe lions (fierce, strong, roar) and lambs (gentle, friendly, baa) and what type of weather each might represent.
5. Each day: check the thermometer, select the right animal, and paste it on the calendar.
6. At the end of March, count up the number of lamb days and lion days or keep a running tally. For older kids, you could create a line graph.

Educational Experience:

• Science: Introduce the idea of the changing seasons and weather.  With children who are ready, discuss what causes different weather phenomena.
• Mathematics: Count or graph the lamb and lion days.
• Fine Motor Skills: Practice cutting straight lines with the scissor.
• Language Arts: Use adjectives to describe lions and lambs and the weather. Discuss different ways to describe rain (drizzle, rain drops, downpour), snow (blizzard, flurry), etc.

Extensions

• Science: Create a weather station board or windsocks (via No Time for Flashcards)
• Arts and Crafts: Create more Lions and Lambs.  Last year we cut the center from a paper place, glued lamb ears and cotton balls on one and lion ears and yellow and orange tissue paper squares on another.  Here are some more ideas: Lion Hand Print Craft (via Crayola); another lion and lamb hand print craft (via Thrifty Mommy); Lion and Lamb Poster (via Preschool Playbook)
• Culinary Arts: Make and enjoy Lion (pineapple manes) and Lamb (cottage cheese) salads.
• Life Skills: Each day, dress dolls (could be fashion dolls, paper dolls, felt board dolls)  in clothing appropriate for the weather.
• Theater Arts: Tape your children giving the local forecast (and e-mail it to the grandparents) or try this “Lion and Lamb” pantomime play from Scholastic.

Books

• Elmer’s Weather (Comes in a variety of languages)
• Oh Say Can You Say What’s the Weather Today?: All About Weather (Cat in the Hat’s Learning Library)
• Weather Words and What They Mean
• What Will the Weather Be? (Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science 2)
• The Magic School Bus Kicks Up A Storm: A Book About Weather

Photo credit: NormaNack