I honestly can't believe it is already December 1st! Time to get out those decorations, swap out the Thanksgiving read alouds for the holiday read alouds and plan exciting centers/activities to keep your kiddos engaged. There is always so much excitement this time of year, especially when you have a classroom full of little ones who are enamored by the magic of the season. I know it isn't always sparkles and rainbows this time of year. The mayhem that occurs when the first snowflake it spotted, the winter party nears and the holiday assemblies spring up at the last minute can cause your hair to stand on end. However, there are so many exciting facets of being a teacher this time of year!
I have an EASY little app smash activity that I challenge you the try out. Download the freebie below and give it a try! It is called....
Make a talking snowman about winter themed synonyms! Can you tell that I am obsessed with making any and all iPad activities come alive and talk? I just think it is so important to get students recording their explantations that incorporate vocabulary terms for the topic you are targeting. Annnnnnnnd, they love it too :)
Here is what you need to download on your iPads:
1-2-3 Kids Fun Snowman: You can create an adorable snowman with this free app. However, there are ads that appear and you do not have access to all of the decorating features. The full version costs $2.99. We rarely purchase apps for our iPads in our county so I found the free app to do the trick just fine.
*This app was created for Preschool kids and toddlers so it is super E-A-S-Y to use*
Skitch is an app that I love to use with students to label parts of diagrams or annotate photos. The company did some major updates to this app in May which makes it run much smoother than it once did.
Have your students use the graphic organizer that is included in the free download to brainstorm an adjective that describes winter. This word is written in the middle of the web. Students can use a thesaurus or visit thesaurus.com to look up synonyms for their word. They list the adjective's synonyms in the surrounding bubbles. 
Have your students create and customize a snowman in 1-2-3 Kids Fun Snowman and save it to the camera roll by clicking the camera icon. *If you are using the free version, then just explain to your students that they will not be able to use the items that have the padlock image in the corner.* They still have plenty of other options :)
Students open the app, Skitch, and import their snowman creation. They use the labeling tool to insert their synonyms around their snowman. The free download contains the step by step directions for using this app and saving your creation to the camera roll.
Last step! I did not include directions for this step because I like for students to have a CHOICE in the app they use to make their creation come alive. There are many free apps students can choose from to record their explanation. Chatterkid, TACU and YakIt Kids will let them draw a mouth on the snowman and make it talk. PhotoSpeak will allow the snowman to come alive, MOVE and talk. Tellagami will add an avatar to the side of the snowman that can talk and move. So many options...gotta love it! Check out my two examples:
This one was made with PhotoSpeak (notice how to the snowman moves, blinks AND talks. I was able to change my voice pitch!)
Synonym Snowman from Julie on Vimeo.
I made this one with YakIt Kids (you can change the voice pitch in this app too but I decided to keep my normal pitch)
Synonym Snowman from Julie on Vimeo.
Finally, my freebie has a rubric you can use to give your students a language arts grade for this project!
Click {HERE} to take you to the FREE download of resources!
