Explain the tradition of Punxsutawny Phil to introduce Groundhog Day to children. Make groundhog puppets, and study weather reports from newspaper clippings. Write letters to Punxsutawny Phil and locate Punxsutawny, Pennsylvania, on a map. Set up shadow experiments by hanging a white sheet from a clothesline. One child can shine a flashlight onto the sheet while another child moves around behind it to create shadows.
Make heart-shaped decorations to hang in doorways and windows. An adult can string the hearts together to make garlands. Set up your classroom's dramatic play area as a post office where children can send and receive valentines. Invite a mail carrier or florist to visit the classroom or schedule a field trip to a post office or flower shop. Fill the sensory table with real flowers, artificial rose petals or heart-shaped fabrics in many textures. Estimate the number of heart-shaped candies in a jar or bowl.
Celebrate Presidents' Day by explaining the president's job and talking about the symbols of our nation. Read biographies of Abraham Lincoln and George Washington, whose birthdays fall in February, and stack pretzel sticks to make a log cabin with a construction paper roof in honor of Lincoln. Locate Washington, D.C., on a map or globe, and write stories about what each child would do if he were president.
Arrange a field trip to a dentist’s office or an in-class visit from a dentist. Ask a dentist to donate small treat bags for the children that include toothbrushes, floss and small tubes of toothpaste. Set up a dental office in the dramatic play area where children can practice brushing baby dolls' teeth.
Honor diversity and the contributions of African-Americans during Black History Month. Invite a professor of African-American literature to tell stories from the oral tradition. Read biographies of black athletes, inventors and statesmen. Talk about diversity and draw self-portraits in the art center and make traditional adire cloths. To do that, trace large stencils of leaves, moons and other shapes onto a plain fabric rectangle and fill in the stenciled area with a thick coat of vegetable shortening. Paint over the entire piece of fabric with watered-down acrylic paint, using several colors if desired. Allow the fabric to dry overnight, and then rinse it in soapy water to remove the vegetable shortening. Hang the adire cloth to dry before using it for decoration or as a scarf.