Pop Up Groundhog

Materials

• brown construction paper
• groundhog clip art
• small paper cups (make a slit on the bottom)
• tape
• stapler

Background Information

Male groundhogs do come out of their dens during February. They don’t mate yet but they do visit the females to set up their preferences so that they will be ready to mate in the spring.

Story

Groundhog Day by Michelle Aki Becker
Groundhog at Evergreen Road by Susan Korman.

Activity

Help the children cover their paper cup with brown paper. (Open one of the cups and use it as a pattern to precut the brown paper.) Staple the paper to the cup.

The children have just made the groundhog’s den or burrow. Slip a craft stick through the slit in the bottom of the cup.

Tape on the groundhog so that about 1/3 of its body extends out above the craft stick.

Now play with the groundhog letting it pop up to see its shadow. You can play “peek-a-boo” with the younger children.

Activity provided by:

Fontenelle Forest
1111 N. Bellevue Blvd.
Bellevue, NE 68005
www.fontenelleforest.org