Warming Hearts and Hands with The Mitten Tree

Posted by Jan 11, 2017 Book Based Activities, Books, Winter

Winter has arrived where we live. It’s time to bundle up before we go outside and play in the beautiful and fluffy snow. Today’s book gave us a chance to have some fun with the mittens we will have to wear for the next few months!

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The Mitten Tree by Candace Christiansen tells the touching story of Sarah, a little old woman who watches the young children play at the bus stop, but goes unnoticed by them. After a snow fall, she notices that one of the boys doesn’t play with the other kids. When she sees that he doesn’t have any mittens, she decides to knit him a pair. She leaves them on the spruce tree, thus beginning a fun game with the children. Each day they look on the mitten tree for pairs of mittens. This is a sweet story which children and adults can enjoy, while also giving readers a great message about the act of giving, without needing recognition for it.

Learn to Knit – This book provides a great opportunity to introduce children to knitting! If you are a knitter, then you have a head start, but if you are not familiar with knitting, there are many amazing resources online to help you and your child learn. You can also check out local craft stores or community centers for knitting classes. You may discover a new hobby that you can do together!

Collect Mittens – Sarah knits the mittens on the Mitten tree without needing the kids to know that she is the one leaving them there. This is a great opportunity to teach your kids the importance of charity and giving to those in need. Take up a collection of mittens to donate to a shelter in your community. You can purchase mittens, make them, have neighbors donate them, or raise money to buy them. Especially after the busy holiday season, it’s important to remind kids how nice it is to give to those less fortunate.

 

Mitten Handprints – This is a cute craft idea that you can do with your kids to make their own mittens. Cut out two mitten shapes slightly larger than their hands. Dip their hands in paint and place a handprint on each mitten. Punch a hole in the bottom of each mitten and tie each end of a piece of string through the holes. I glued cotton balls to the bottom of ours to give the appearance of fluffy cuffs. My daughter really enjoyed this one, since she loves any reason to get paint on her hands! I will love having these to remember how teeny tiny her hands are now.

Mitten Race – This is a fun game that we played when we were younger. This is a race which can be done with just two kids, or with several teams of kids. Set up two pairs of gloves at one end of a room, with a bowl of Hershey kisses. When you say go, the first two kids have to race down to the end of the room, put on the gloves, and try to unwrap a Hershey Kiss. Once they have unwrapped their kiss, they have to remove the gloves, run back to their team and high five the next person so they can run down and unwrap one. The first team to have everyone back beyond the finish line wins!

**For safety reasons, don’t let kids run with the candy in their mouths. You can make this more difficult for older kids by having them spin around a few times first, or by using thicker gloves or a more difficult candy (the secret with Kisses is to use the little paper tab!).

Can you find the matching pair of mittens?

Mitten Pattern Memory– To set up this game, you will need to cut several mitten shapes out of paper. You may want to add a backing to the mittens if you use different colors, or if the markers or pens bleed through. Let kids create a pattern on the mittens, making sure that each mitten has a match. Once all of the mittens have a pattern and a match, turn them over and have kids take turns flipping them over and trying to find pairs. Kids will love that they created the game, plus they will get practice with patterns, and who doesn’t love a good game of memory?

Hidden Snowball – This is a fun and simple game to play with smaller kids. Cut mitten shapes out of several different colors of paper, as well as a white circle slightly smaller than the mittens. Hide the snowball under one of the mittens and have kids take turns to see who can find it.

Mitten Threading – Threading offers great fine motor practice and can be a great precursor to sewing or knitting. For kids too young to learn knitting, try creating a threading card for them out of cardstock. Cut a mitten shape out of cardstock and punch holes around the border. Show kids how to thread a piece of yarn in one hole and out another to create a pattern. There are many different ways they can thread their mittens, which gives them an opportunity to be creative and make their own designs.

There are so many fun activities that you can pair with The Mitten Tree. Do you have any mitten themed activities that you do? Share in the comments!

 

72 comments on “Warming Hearts and Hands with The Mitten Tree”

  7. This is a perfect book for children! And to top it off, what a great idea to incorporate activities for the kids. I’d have to say this looks fun because I feel like the message of this story will “hit home ” with the kids because not only are they hearing a story, but they are doing! Both of these together make for a great learning experience.

  9. I’m going to get this book not only for my son, but for myself. I have always wanted to learn to knit.
    I feel like the projects that you include with the are perfect for him right now, as he is in a very creative stage!

  10. Not sure if its because I’m hormonal or what but the story made me a little teary eyed LOL poor old lady! I think its so wonderful to teach children to knit while they’re young. I actually wish I had learned as i was growing up!

    • Haha. I was the same way when I read it! I learned to knit when I was a little older and I wish I had learned sooner! It’s a handy skill to have and fun to create new projects! Especially now that we have Pinterest!

  13. How cute! I can’t help but love it since my name is Sarah and, although I crochet instead of knit, we’re both into fiber arts! The activities are great! I especially love the Mitten Race!

  15. I so remember doing the mitten race at birthday parties when I was younger! Great throwback idea! Also love the mitten handprints, too cute. My toddler happens to be obsessed with her mittens right now – so this was a great post for me.

  19. That’s pretty cool that the book ties in how to knit. I feel scissor skills and the fine motor skills it takes to knit, are important for our children. Great recommendation. I could use a few pointers myself.

    • I wish I had learned to knit earlier in life! It’s a great way to keep your hands busy and create something.

    • It is a very sweet book. I wish I had learned to knit and crochet earlier in life! I hope to teach my daughter early.

    • It is a very cute book. There are so many resources available online now to help you learn how to knit! I google everything I have a question about!

    • Thank you! My mom taught me the knitting basics when I was younger, but Pinterest and YouTube have helped me a lot since then!

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