Pinecone Learning Activities for Kids

In the winter there aren’t as many natural materials to work with and learn about in a lot of the world. But if you live where there are deciduous trees, you’ll always be able to find pinecones, so let’s do some learning with pine cones!

Learn and label the parts of a pinecone and record other observations about pine cones with these printables from Superstar Worksheets. And grab these cute pinecone coloring pages from Nature Inspired Learning.

We love a good science project, and this investigation from Lemon Lime Adventures into why pinecones open is a good one. Basically all you need is pinecones, jars and water and some observant and curious kids. MomBrite has a similar experiment but goes more into the science of why pinecones open and close, rather than just observing that it is happening.

Because the opening and closing has to do with humidity, you can use pinecones to predict the weather. Rainy Day Mum made a pine cone weather station she shared about at Science Sparks, complete with printable worksheets you can use to record your observations.

I’ve said before that just about any classic STEM experiment can be altered to fit whatever season it is, and this post from Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails proves it by making a fizzy pinecone experiment.

Use pinecones and other natural materials in a find and count activity like this one from Little Pine Learners. Go on a nature walk to collect materials or use natural stuff you already have (just me?) like rocks, acorns, even seashells. You can count each thing, make a chart of how many you have of each, make repeating patterns, build creatures and so much more with a nice stash of natural materials in the classroom or home.

And of course there are so many crafts you can make with pinecones! One of my favorites since I always have yarn handy is a yarn-wrapped pinecone, which you can see over at Laura Radniecki. Or make cute animals with your pinecones like these owls from Curated by Michelle.

Amazing recycled shovel giant pinecones [Recycled Crafts]

Beautiful Zinnia Flowers Made from PINECONES! [Home and Garden]

Free Thanksgiving Printables for Kids

I did a post earlier this year with activities and ideas for teaching the alphabet, but a lot or learning letters and recognizing them just has to do with seeing them and working with them a lot.

That means coloring, tracing, identifying things that start with different letters and more.

One way to reinforce the letters is through little activity books like these cute printable alphabet books from Life Over Cs.

These are available for free when you subscribe to her newsletter, and I’d say that’s well worth it if you have a little one (or a group of little ones!) working on the alphabet and letter recognition.

Each mini book includes a collection of things that start with that letter to color, color and read with words that start with the letter, tracing the letter, finding the letter in a grid and other coloring pages with objects that start with that letter.

These little books are super useful reinforcing the different letters and giving kids different activities related to the letters.

If you do a letter of the day or letter of the week you can use a new book for each one, and then keep the copies in your reading center or in a basket where kids can look at them again.

And of course you can add in all the other letter activities you like, go on a scavenger hunt for items that start with that letter, read alphabet books, practice writing letters in rice or with pompoms or playdough or whatever sensory activities you like.

You can grab the free printables when you enter you email address at Life Over Cs, and check out her other great alphabet resources and activities while you are over there.

Do you have favorite activities for teaching letters to kids? I’d love to hear about them!

[Photo: Life Over Cs]

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