Christmas With The Squirrels

       ''When Christmas day comes all the little squirrels,'' said daddy, ''meet near the largest tree, which they pick out for the occasion. Then there is a wild scramble up the tree for the branches, where the squirrels perch themselves, and finally the feast begins.''

       "After they have finished their scrumptious Christmas dinner they play 'tag,' or 'hide-and-seek' and many other games, which make the branches wave around as they jump from one tree to the other. Prizes are offered by the older squirrels for the sports and games which are played. The prizes are usually extraordinarily big nuts or very red apples. Sometimes, too, kind children just before Christmas put nuts in the trees where the squirrels can find them. That makes the squirrels very happy, and they call these nuts their Christmas gifts.''

• The letter "S" is for Squirrel
• Two Squirrels for Coloring
• Did You Know?
• Christmas in Squirrel Village

The Juggler

 THE JUGGLER

There was a squirrel once-
An idle rogue was he,
He had no store of winter nuts
Beneath his greenwood tree.

So when the leaves began to fall
And food was getting dear -
"I must do something soon," said he,
"Or I shall starve, 'tis clear."

And so he hung this notice out -
"The Juggler is at home
Most afternoons, at half-past
four,
Bring lots of nuts and
come."

They came, his friends both great
and small,
And brought the nuts beside,
And Whiskers promptly juggled
them,
Into his own inside.

And so the whole long winter
time
In comfort he did feed.
But you had best not copy
him
In case you don't succeed

A squirrel pattern for classrooms

       The following template of a squirrel may be used in craft projects, art assignments, as classroom decoration etc...

An outline of a squirrel eating an acorn.

Craft a moving squirrel cut-out...

Directions for Making the Squirrel:

1. Trace the pattern onto a sheet of cardboard or thick drawing paper.
2. Color the parts of the squirrel. Squirrels may be grey, brown, reddish brown or black.
3. Cut out the pieces care fully.
4. Fasten the front paws to the squirrel's body with brads.
5. Fasten his tail to the body next with a brad.
6. Fasten his front leg next using a brad. The wholes are marked on the printable cut-out.
7. When you are done, your squirrel will look like the small sketch in the corner.
   

Wildlife Stencils for The Classroom

Stencil of bird in flight with out-stretched wings.

    Be sure to click directly on the stencils in order to download the largest file size. These four wildlife stencils for educators to use in their classrooms are duty free: bluebird, jay, running rabbit and a squirrel holding an acorn.

Stencil of a jay sitting on the limb of a tree.

Stencil of a running rabbit or hare.

Stencil of a squirrel holding a hazel nut.

The Hiawatha Paper Cuts Restored

       Below are the Hiawatha paper cuts restored for those of you who are teaching Native American studies to your little ones, enjoy.

       The Song of Hiawatha is an 1855 epic poem in trochaic tetrameter by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow which features American Indian characters. Read more...

       Read the original poem by Longfellow here.

The wigwam of Nokomis.

Nokomis nursed Hiawatha.

Nokomis bound Hiawatha's cradle with the sinews of the reindeer.

Hush! the Naked Bear will hear thee!

The owls spoke their native language.

The birds hid their nests.

The birds sang to Hiawatha.

The reindeer, Hiawatha talked too.

I am Adjidaumo, the squirrel.

The warriors and the women all praised the hunter.
They called him Strong-Heart, Soan-ge-taha.
They called him Loon-Heart, Mahn-go-tay-see.

Hiawatha is running by the Big-Sea-Water.

When Winter Comes

Two squirrels gather nuts beneath a large oak in the forest.

When Winter Comes

by G. H. L.

When winter comes, the squirrels find

Some shelter from the winds unkind;

Some hollow tree where nuts they store,

Enough to last 'till winter's o'er;

There, safe from harm, they build their nest

And settle down to take a rest,

Their larder full of nuts and wheat,

All that they do is sleep and eat;

When winter comes, Ah me! I find

Some thoughtless ones of humankind,

Who never build a cozy nest, 

Prepare for time to take a rest;

Who when they strong north wind blows cold

Are friendless, helpless, hungry-old.

The Snow-Bird

Snowy pine or fir trees and a squirrel eating nuts.

The Snow-Bird 

by Williams Cullen Bryant

The snow-bird twittered on the beachen bough,

And 'neath the hemlock whose thick branches bent

Beneath its bright cold burden, and kept dry.

A circle, on the earth, of withered leaves,

The partridge found a shelter. Through the snow

The rabbit spring away. The lighter Track

Of fox, and the raccoon's broad paths were there,

Crossing each other. From his hollow tree

The squirrel was abroad, gathering the nuts

Just fallen, that asked the winter cold and sway 

Of winter blast, to shake them from their hold

This version was shortened and illustrated for school children. Read the original in it's entirety at the poetry foundation.