One groundhog craft you can make is the Peeking Groundhog. For this project, have the children smear glue all over the outside of a foam cup, then dip in a bowl of sand to until it is fully covered on the outside. Glue to craft sticks together side by side, then glue a googly eye at the end of each. Help the children cut slits into the bottom of their cups just wide enough to fit the two craft sticks. The children can move the sticks up and down to create a peek-a-boo effect. For another simple groundhog craft, help the children cut out the shape of a ground hog. Give them brown painting and sponges, and allow them to sponge paint the groundhog cutouts, giving them a textured look. When the paint is dry, allow the children to add googly eyes and broomstick needles for whiskers.
Help the children learn more about shadows after learning about the groundhog and his shadow. One shadow project you can do with the children is to place their hand in front of the light on an overhead projects so that their hands are displayed on a wall in the classroom. Help students trace her hand onto black construction paper, to represent the shadow she saw on the wall. The children can then decorate the hands with glitter. Another idea is shadow puppets. Help students create random items on poster board such as animals, stick figures and toys. Have the children cut out the items and stick them onto craft sticks. Turn out the lights and turn on flashlights towards a blank wall. Have the children play with their stick figures in front of the light to see the shadows in the background.
Since the groundhog predicts the weather on Groundhog Day, you can have the children do weather-related crafts. You can base the craft on whether the groundhog saw his shadow or not. If he predicted early spring, have the children create tissue paper flowers, making both the flower bud and stem out of tissue paper. If he called for longer winter, have the children create snowflakes by folding paper in half and cutting out shapes at the center. Another idea is to divide your preschoolers up into three or four groups and assign each group a weather type, such as sunny, rain and snow. Give them the usual art materials such as glue and crayons as well as other useful materials like cotton balls for clouds and foil for rain drops to create textured pictures. Each group must work together to create the scene, then present their picture to the rest of the class.
Have the children do arts & crafts related to the groundhog habitat, which will help teach them that most groundhogs live underground and not in tree stumps. You can recreate a groundhog's underground burrow working on a burrow large enough to fit a child. Select a large white cardboard box to represent the burrow. Spread newspaper and have all the children participate in painting it brown. You can also draw underground insects, such as worms, on the box. You can also paint the teachers name on the burrow, such as "Miss Anne's Groundhogs." Allow the children to take turns being the groundhog and "hibernating." For another project, have the children create a forest, the home of the groundhog. Take them on a nature walk to gather twigs leaves, and pine needles. Then have the children create a forest by gluing the items they collected onto poster board.