Zine Mama: Groundhog Day

Who's the most famous groundhog of all? Why, it's Punxsutawney Phil! He's been predicting the length of winter since 1887.

The story goes that if Phil comes out of his burrow on February 2nd and sees his shadow he will be frightened and run back into his burrow, predicting 6 more weeks of winter. If he doesn't see his shadow (because the sky is cloudy), spring will come early.

Groundhog's Day is always on February 2nd. February 2nd is the midpoint of winter, halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox.

Books

Punxsutawney Phyllis is one of my favorite Groundhog Day books. It's the story of Phyllis who thinks that she can predict an extended winter or early spring, but can she? In addition to writing a wonderful story, Susanna Hill has also provided us with lots of fun resources perfect for storytimes or classrooms. You will find the resources here, including classroom and library resources, coloring sheets, mad libs, and other activities.

Find the book here

Other great Groundhog Day books:

The Groundhog Day Book of Facts and Fun - Wendie Old
Go to Sleep, Groundhog! - Judy Cox
Groundhog Day! - Gail Gibbons
Gretchen Groundhog, It's Your Day! - Abby Levine

Groundhog Day Storytime/Craft Day

My groundhog craft day started off with groundhog questions such as:

Has anyone ever seen a groundhog? (mostly found in Eastern U.S. states)
What color are they? (brownish gray)
How big are groundhogs? (about the size of a large cat, up to 15 lbs)
Where do they live? (underground in burrows)
Do groundhogs hibernate? What does hibernate mean? (yes, they sleep all winter long)
What kind of food do groundhogs eat? (grasses, fruits and vegetables)
What is another name for a groundhog? (woodchuck, whistlepig, marmot)

Then we did a groundhog madlibs found here.

Next we talked about signs of spring. Everyone had a chance to think up a sign of spring such as warmer temperatures, snow melting, birds singing, leaves budding, baby animals being born, flowers blooming, grass growing, etc.

Then we were supposed to read "Punxsutawney Phyllis" by Susanna Hill, but we ran short on time.

So we played a quick "burrowing" game with two hula hoops. To play, line up your kids in two lines (two teams) with each team of kids holding hands. The hula hoop has to be passed from one end of the line to the other without the kids letting go of hands. The kids will "burrow" through the hula hoop as it moves down the line. If you must have a winner for fun, say the first team to get everyone to "burrow" through the hula hoop wins.

Groundhog Craft

After the game, we did a groundhog craft. For this craft I used this groundhog picture found here.

I resized the groundhog on my computer so that I could fit 9 small groundhogs on one sheet of paper and then printed some groundhogs out on white cardstock.

Other needed supplies included:

cups (one each)
straws (one each)
green tissue paper
small pieces of white and yellow construction paper (for the suns and clouds)
crayons or markers
glue

To assemble the craft, the kids glued tissue paper to the cup, colored and cut out their groundhog, attached the groundhog to a straw and pushed the straw through a small hole in the bottom of the cup. Then they had the choice of adding a sun to one side of the cup and a cloud to the other or they could just pick one depending on whether they thought Phil would predict 6 more weeks of winter (sun) or an early spring (cloud). Pushing the straw up and down allows the groundhog to hide in or pop out of his burrow.