Snow Listening Bins

One of my favorite winter activities is snow listening bins. Sometimes I bring snow inside and we play and talk about the characteristics of snow (cold, white, freezing, melting…) but this is a short-lived LSL activity. I model this as a fun home activity. So in our LSL sessions, I fill a bin with white styrofoam packing peanuts and include a mini snow shovel. I hide well-chosen winter based vocabulary objects such as a snowman, little mittens, a sled, a polar bear, an ice skater and so in. The objects coordinate with the vocabulary goals and often associate with a storybook.

The parent/caregiver and I take turns cueing the child to listen. Then using AUDITION FIRST we either make a related L2L sound, talk about the object or for a little older listener describing the hidden object. The child hears the sound/words before seeing the toy which provides ear contact before eye contact. Next, we sing a short repetitive song about shoveling the snow and the child begins to dig and uncovers the toy. The connection is made between what was described and the object. Depending on the goals we may then use the toys and recreate pulling a  sled up a hill and sliding down, ice skating and more.