Preschool Winter Clothes and Staying Warm in the Winter Theme

Do you need helping planning your Winter Clothes theme? Use the suggested learning objectives and vocabulary ideas found on our Theme Map to help you plan your own Winter Clothes Lessons.

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Planning your Winter Clothes and Staying Warm Preschool Theme 

Club Members can download our Winter Clothes activities and theme guide for free!
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Download our Free Winter Clothes Preschool Sample Lesson Plan

Featured Plan Activities

Below you’ll find activity ideas featured in our Winter Clothes sample plan.

Art & Creativity
Create a Winter Hat Craft
Provide construction paper, card stock, or paper plates along with a variety of art supplies for children to create a winter hat. For younger children consider cutting out the shape for them or providing a variety of shape cutouts to make designing the hat easier.

Dramatic Play
Add Winter Clothes to Dramatic Play
Add a variety of winter clothes to the dramatic play center for children to explore. Consider adding boots, snow pants, winter jackets, mittens, winter hats, and scarves. Hang a clothesline and provide clothespins so children can practice hanging clothes up to dry.

Building & Small World Play
Winter Scene
Invite preschoolers to build a winter scene in your small world play area.


Language and Literacy
Mitten Letter Match
This Mitten Letter Match activity is perfect for preschoolers learning their letters! Simply match the uppercase and lowercase letters by placing the mittens on the correct snowflakes. A fun and hands-on way to practice letter recognition and matching skills!

Mathematics
Mitten Ten Frame Counting Mats
These adorable Mitten Ten Frame Counting Mats are perfect for preschoolers to practice their counting skills! They are a fun and educational printable activity that will help little ones develop their number recognition and counting abilities. Grab these cute mats on pages 16-21 and have a blast learning with mittens!

Science & Discovery
Mitten Test
Gather mittens and gloves in a variety of qualities and materials. Provide snow inside a sensory bin. Invite children to predict which mittens/gloves will keep hands the warmest. Then, invites children to play with the snow using the variety of mittens and communicate their findings.

Physical Fine Motor
Winter Dough Mats
Add Winter Dough Mats to your dough center to encourage children to work their hands. These mats further motivate children to move their hands in a variety of ways to create objects to add to each mat.

Physical Gross Motor
Winter Clothes Relay Race
Set up a winter clothes themed relay! Practice putting on winter clothing in the correct order, increasing their efficiency. With a basket of winter clothing and a checklist or guidance, children will enjoy participating in this relay race and learn the importance of dressing appropriately for winter weather.

Other
Winter Changes in my Community
Students can share what they know about Seasonal Changes, Clothing, and Community Events in winter.

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*Create a Winter Hat Craft

Provide construction paper, card stock, or paper plates along with with a variety of art supplies for children to create a winter hat. For younger children consider cutting out the shape for them or providing a variety of shape cutouts to make designing the hat easier. View Member Instructions

Mitten Painting

Provide the children with mittens, or gloves, construction paper and your choice of paint colors. Let them explore painting with the mittens on. They will create their own artwork while painting in an untraditional way.
See the full tutorial here on my blog. 

try this!

I Can Make My Own Scarf

Provide children with fabric markers along with a strip of fabric that works with your chosen markers to make their very own scarf!
​Find all the details along with tips on our Make Your Own Scarf blog post. ​

Try this!

Marble Painting Mitten

Print out a picture of mittens onto cardstock, place mittens in a ziplock bag with paint and marbles. Invite preschoolers to move the marble around to paint their mitten. View Member Instructions

Decorate a Sweater

Invite preschoolers to decorate a sweater, mittens and scarf picture with  sequins, gems, glitter, stickers, and crayons. These templates are included in our Winter Clothes Activity pack

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Paint the Snow 

Bundle up and head outside to paint the snow!  Encourage preschoolers to think in advance what they might need to keep warm during this activity. Can they use gloves while they paint? Try having them see the difference between painting without mittens, with mittens, or with gloves. 
View Member Instructions
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Add Winter Clothes to your Dramatic Play Area

Add a variety of winter clothes to the dramatic play center for children to explore. Consider adding boots, snow pants, winter jackets, mittens, winter hats, and scarves. Hang a clothesline and provide clothespins so children can practice hanging clothes up to dry. View Member Instructions

Winter Clothing Goods Store 

Include various winter clothing items to create a store where your students can purchase clothes. They can use a cash register, money and include price tags on the clothing.
Combine items from around the house with the printable signs, labels, and props from My Department Store Dramatic Play . 

Ice Rink

Include a big white piece of paper for the ice, have a ice skate rental booth and a shoe locker. Encourage the children to skate across the ice.

Hot Chocolate Stand

Nothing warms you up during the cold winter months like a cup of hot chocolate. Transform your dramatic play area into a hot chocolate stand. Try out this Hot Chocolate Stand from Pre-K Printable Fun

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Hibernating Animals Small World Play

Provide your student with materials to create dens and burrows for hibernating animals such as cardboard tubes and nesting material.  Add photos of animals hibernating and animal figures such as bears to your space. View Member Instructions

Winter Scene

Provide Materials for creating a snowy scene in your block area this week.  Add cotton balls for snowballs, white felt for snow, miniature winter-themed figurines and toys (e.g., animals, people, trees, houses, vehicles, snowmen, etc.), blue or white fabric or paper (optional for a backdrop), small blocks or risers (optional for elevating parts of the scene), and miniature props like small rocks, twigs, or snow covered trees. View Member Instructions

*Mitten Letter Matching

Set up a twist on mitten matching with this uppercase-to-lowercase matching activity.
Use this one as a file folder game, table activity, or play like memory with your preschooler.

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Snowy Writing Tray

Using white sand, sugar, salt, craft snow or white glitter create a writing tray. Include letter cards and a mitten, invite the child to put on the mitten and practice tracing the letters.
See our full Snowy Letter Tray tutorial on my blog

Try this!

Winter Word Wall Activities

 This Winter Word Wall Activity Pack is full of a variety of literacy activities to keep your preschoolers engaged all winter long. 

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Create Letters with a Scarf

Provide a scarves and encourage children to manipulate the scarf in a variety of ways to create letters. View Member Instructions

Alphabet Soup Matching

Use play dough to make noodles to use with these fun soup mats from our Winter Clothes activity pack

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Winter Seek and Find

Use these Winter Seek and Find activities to engage in conversation about winter clothes and staying warm during winter activities! 

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Mystery Mitten

Fill a mitten with plastic letters. Preschoolers take turns removing the mitten and identifying the letter. View Member Instructions

The Mitten Book Companion Set

The Mitten Book Companion Printable is a collection of activities designed to complement the book "The Mitten" by Jan Brett. These activities promote early literacy skills, vocabulary development, and fine motor skills. The set includes vocabulary and discussion questions, a book review worksheet, and a lacing mitten and story retelling activity. Buy Now

​ A Hat for Minerva Louise Book Companion Set

Join the lovable Minerva Louise on a charming adventure with our Printable Preschool A Hat for Minerva Louise Book Companion Set. Specially designed to complement the delightful story by Janet Morgan Stoeke, these activities engage young minds, promote language development, and build comprehension skills.

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The Mitten Pre-K Book Companion

The book The Mitten by Jan Brett is a wonderful story perfect for exploring in the winter. Preschool students, and their educators, are sure to enjoy the beautiful illustrations as well.

Our Preschool The Mitten Book Companion Set includes a carefully crafted collection of activities designed to complement the book; fostering early literacy skills, and vocabulary development.

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The Jacket I Wear in the Snow by Shirley Neitzel
The Mitten by Jan Brett
The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
The First Day of Winter by Denise Fleming
Snowballs by Lois Ehlert

View all of the Winter Clothes Books in Our SHop

*Mitten Ten Frame Counting

Ten frames are an engaging tool for supporting children with a variety of math skills. 
Use the printable counters included in the Winter Clothes Activity Pack or add your own fun counters like these sparkly pom poms for added engagement. 

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Sorting Winter Gear

Use the Winter Clothes Word Wall Cards as labels to invite children to sort winter gear.
This activity supports sorting & classification skills, as well as language & literacy development. 

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Winter Hat Match Up

Cut out simple winter hats from felt, and have preschoolers match the corresponding color pom pom to the hat. View Member Instructions

Measure with Mittens

Have preschoolers measure each other using mittens, have preschoolers keep a record and compare the measurements. A great way to practice non-standard measuring. View Member Instructions

Sort into Groups

Inside our Winter Measure, Graph and Compare pack you can find this printable sorting by category set!

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Identify shapes and patterns on winter hats

Show the children pictures of various shapes (circle, triangle, square, rectangle, etc.) and patterns ask them to identify and name them. Provide students with hats that feature various shapes, and patterns have students look at each winter hat and identify any shapes or patterns they see. 
View Member Instructions

Let's Match Pairs of Mittens or Gloves

Scatter the mitten pairs on a table or on the floor, making sure they are mixed up. Show the children how to pick up one mitten and then search for its matching pair among the scattered mittens. As they find a matching pair, have them place the pair together. Encourage them to take their time and enjoy the process of matching mittens. View Member Instructions

How Do We Stay Warm?

Grab a bowl of ice water, and first have the child dip their hand in there, you can record how long they can keep their fingers in. Next, using shortening to create blubber, cover one finger with a thick amount and then have the child dip their finger into the ice cold water again. Talk to them about the difference before they had the blubber from now. Talk with the child about how arctic animals have blubber and the difference between what keeps humans warm. 
​Find more details for this activity on our How do Polar Bears Stay Warm blog post. 

Try this!

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Animals Staying Warm in the Winter*

Match up photos of animals to the habitats that keep them warm. Learn more with our animal's winter homes resource. 

Mitten Test

Gather mittens and gloves in a variety of qualities and materials. Provide snow inside a sensory bin. Invite children to predict which mittens/gloves will keep hands the warmest. Then, invites children to play with the snow using the variety of mittens and communicate their findings. ​
View Member Instructions

How Do Animals Stay Warm In Winter?

Challenge your students to come up with a variety of ways animals stay warm. Extend this activity by comparing the needs of people an animals. How are they the same? How are they different? View Member Instructions 

Animal Migration

Coming Soon!

What to Wear in the Winter  

Are you ready for winter? Join us for a fun and educational activity where we will explore different types of winter gear. From cozy jackets to warm mittens, we will discuss how to stay warm and comfortable during the chilly season. Get ready to have fun and learn about what to wear in the winter! 
View Member Instructions

Hanging Mittens

Collect a variety of mittens, gather in a pile separated from their mates. 
Invite children to match-up the mittens. Provide a clothesline (simply hang sturdy string across the room) for children to hang each pair using clothespins. This is a great fine motor workout, add gross motor fun as well by placing the mittens across the room from the clothesline or placing the mittens in a variety of places that require children to jump, stoop, crawl, and reach for them. View Member Instructions

Winter Dough Mats-Fine Motor

Add Winter Dough Mats to your dough center to encourage children to work their hands. These mats further motivate children to move their hands in a variety of ways to create objects to add to each mat. 

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*Winter Clothes Relay Race-Gross Motor

Gather a basket of winter clothing in a variety of sizes, place on one side of the room. On the other side of the room children will wait in line (or they can all start at once depending on group size and development appropriateness), children travel over to the basket and put on the winter gear one at a time. Provide a checklist or guidance about the order in which to put on winter gear. This is not only a great workout but it will also help children be more efficient when putting on their winter gear. View Member Instructions

Shovel Snow 

Practice shoveling indoors or out! Outdoors supply child-sized shovels for children to use. Indoors you can use small kids shovels, or dust pans with brushes to help your kids learn to shovel. Place cotton balls or paper bowls throughout the room to practice their shoveling skills. 
View Member Instructions

Ice Transfer-Fine Motor

Using small or regular size ice cubes give your students a paper of tongs or kids tweezers work. Have them practice transferring the ice back and forth between two bowls.  Encourage preschoolers to count the cubes as they transfer. ​​View Member Instructions

Mitten Lacing-Fine Motor

Lacing mittens is a fun fine motor activity for this theme! Get this printable in our Winter Clothes Activity Pack

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Snowball Toss-Gross Motor

Using crumbled paper, or a pair or matched white socks in balls. Have preschoolers practice tossing the snowballs into a basket. 
View Member Instructions

Snowflake Balance

Using blue tape on the floor, make a snowflake and have preschoolers walk the lines while maintaining balance. View Member Instructions

Staying Warm Gross Motor Dice*

This Staying Warm Gross Motor Dice is a fun and interactive way to keep your preschoolers moving and warm during the cold winter months! Simply roll the dice and get moving with various gross motor actions to stay warm and active. Perfect for preschool classrooms or home play. Get your free printable activity now! Buy Now

Social and Emotional Ideas for your Preschoolers

 *Winter Clothes Dress-Up  Game-
Practice Taking Turns

Preschoolers love this roll and play game! 
Practice taking turns by rolling the playing cube, then dress the child up for winter play! This game is included in the  Winter clothes Activity Pack. 

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Winter Gear Around the World

Explore how other locations prepare for winter weather! Also explore what type of weather other locations are experiencing. If you live in a very cold and snowy climate contact someone in a warmer climate, have them describe the type of weather they have or even better share a photo!
View Member Instructions

What to Wear in the Winter Chart

Have a class discussion about all the winter gear you need, make a list.

Warm and Cold Weather Sort

You can either have the children sort through magazines for warm and cold weather clothing and create a collage or you can provide them with pictures to sort the different types of clothing.
View Member Instructions

Discussion: How do people stay warm?

Challenge your students to come up with a variety of ways they can stay warm in the winter. View Member Instructions

Explore what winter is like in your community

Students can share what they know about Seasonal Changes, Clothing, and Community Events in winter

There is no bad weather, only inappropriate clothing from Sugar Spice and Glitter

I'm a Little Teapot

Nothing like a hot drink to help get warm! This is a great theme to introduce this rhyme and you can make it interactive with our  I'm a Little Teapot Props and Digital Song board set (members only)

Members download this for free in our shop!

Find Winter Activities for Preschoolers

Finding plenty of engaging indoor activities for winter can be a challenge! 
Educators need a lot of tools in their pocket to keep kids busy through those chilly days. 
We've rounded up a bundle of fun activity ideas from our community members, visit the blog to see the ideas and photos shared by our members.  

Sign-in Activities

Add some literacy to your daily routine! Daily Attendance Activities support Name Recognition and a Sense of Belonging in the program. 
The PKPF pack of Editable Daily Attendance Activities includes plenty of themes to use throughout the year. 

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Theme up Your Calendar!

The scarf number cards included in my Winter Calendar Activities  set is perfect for adding your theme to your calendar activities. 
We've also included 15 games to play with your preschoolers during calendar time all winter long!

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Winter Clothes Conversation Cards

Support your child in developing back and forth conversation skills. My set of Winter Conversation cards are a great way to encourage this skill. Each card has a full color photograph and questions to get the conversation started. 

Winter Countdown

Countdown to the first day of Winter with this Member Exclusive countdown printable! Members: easily download this printable in our Winter Countdown shop listing

Member Exclusive!

Winter Clothes that fit Just Right

Gather up winter gear from family members and invite your preschooler to try them on. This is a fun and silly activity, great time for practicing life skills (and fine motor development) by zipping and buttoning, and an opportunity for talking about size and getting the right fit.  Warm winter clothing should fit just right to keep the cold, wind, and snow out and keep you warm. View Member Instructions

Winter Clothes Exchange

Encourage families to bring in gently worn winter gear, to exchange with each other.
Donate leftover items to a local charity. 
View Member Instructions

Related Products

Winter Clothes and Staying Warm Preschool Activity Pack

$7.00

Get ready for winter by engaging in fun preschool winter clothes activities featuring winter gear and activities to keep warm! These 32 easy to set up winter themed activities are perfect for preschool learning centers, busy bags or tot trays. Support literacy, math, and motor skills with activities little ones will love.

⭐ What’s included in this 129-page Preschool Winter Clothes & Staying Warm Activities pack?

• Coat & Button Color Match
• Mitten Color Match
• Mitten Pattern Match
• Winter Clothes Patterning
• Which Sweater Doesn't Belong? Cut & Paste
• Snowball Shape Clip Cards
• Hanging Mittens Counting Mats 1-10
• Mitten Counting Mats with Frames
• Winter Clothes Count and Clip Cards
• Mitten Puzzles 1-10
• Mitten Letter Match
• Winter Clothes Word Wall Cards
• Missing Winter Gear Match
• Winter Clothes Dress Up
• Roll & Color Winter Clothes
• Mitten Lacing Cards
• Fireplace Number Mats
• Spin and Color Numbers Quilt Game 
• Packing for Hot and Cold Climates
• I can get dressed for snow cut & paste sequencing
• Rhyming sweater puzzles
• Soup Mat and Recipe Cards
• Noodle Letter Cards uppercase and lowercase
• Winter Clothes Mats (Dough, Loose Parts, Collage)
• I can sort buttons
• Sort Winter Objects into Groups Sorting Center
• Roll, Color, Count, and Record Mittens
• Count and Compare: Winter Objects with Instruction Cards
• More vs. Less Winter Object Clip Cards with Instruction Cards
• Winter Clothes Play Fough Mat
• Which Sweater is Different Clip Cards
• Staying Warm Movement Activity

Also includes Cover, Directions, TOS, and Graphics Credit

Pre-K Printables Club Members

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Winter Word Wall Activities

$4.00

Freshen up your preschool writing center with this Winter Word Wall Activities pack

This set includes a variety of activities to engage preschoolers and kindergartners as they explore the 50 winter words in this pack. 

Inside this 47-page pack you will find the following printables:

• Directions
• Word Wall Cards (fantastic for games and using in your pocket chart)
• Syllable Sort Game
• Pocket Chart Categorizing Cards

Reproducible Sheets

• I Can Seek Color & Trace Words
• I Can Build or Write Words
• I Can Tell a Story About Winter dictation sheet
• Winter Word Work
• TOS, Graphics Credit, Contact Information

Pre-K Printables Club Members:

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Winter Sensory Bin Scavenger Hunt Activities

$4.00

This flexible set of preschool winter seek and find activities can be used: with sensory bins, inside, or even outside. Use this set to help young children build new vocabulary skills.

PKPF Learning Standards met through play :

Language and Literacy: Visual discrimination skills, Understands print carries a message.

Science: Notices similarities and differences in objects, Uses senses to explore the environment

Social Studies: developing a sense of direction and location

Physical Development: Gross Motor Development (go on a walk to seek & find using the checklist); Fine Motor Development (Hide the object cards in a bin of cottonballs, provide small scoops)

​Approaches to Learning: Can focus on an Activity despite distractions

Winter Recess Sensory Bin Scavenger Hunt Set

•  Small and Large Object Cards 
•  Checklist (Color and B&W)
• Scene

Snowman Fun Scavenger Hunt Set

•  Small and Large Object Cards
•  Checklist (Color and B&W)
•  Scene

Mountain Cabin Sensory Bin Scavenger Hunt Set

•  Small and Large Object Cards
•  Checklist (Color and B&W)
•  Scene

Winter Sports Sensory Bin Scavenger Hunt Set

•  Small and Large Object Cards
•  Checklist (Color and B&W)
•  Scene

Also included: Directions, TOS & Graphics credit

Pre-K Printables Club Members:

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Winter Dough Mats

Animal Homes in Winter

Winter Word Wall Activities

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Winter Circle Time Rhymes

$4.00

This set of 6 printable Winter Rhymes and pieces is a fun way to add music and movement to your group time. These rhymes support your pre-k students in developing important math and literacy concepts such as letter identification, vocabulary words, rhyming, one to one correspondence, shape recognition, counting, and positional phrases.

This 12-page set includes:

• Add a Star
• Five Little Cookies
• Sleeping Bear
• Three White Snowflakes
• Winter Clothes
• Five Little Penguins
• Pieces for Magnet or Felt Activities

Also included: Directions, TOS & Graphics credit

Pre-K Printables Club Members:

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Winter Calendar Cards

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Winter Calendar Display and Calendar Games

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Use this set of preschool winter calendar cards inside your pocket chart calendar or use them to create a linear calendar. Inside, you will also find more than 15 educational calendar games to play with your students all season long.  

Inside this 82-page PDF you will find the following printables as well as suggested activities, directions and learning standards for each:

Months/Season WINTER (Northern Hemisphere)

Months/Season Winter (Southern Hemisphere)

Year

Day of the week cards

Holidays and Special Days

Calendar Number Cards

• Christmas Tree Number Cards
• Gingerbread Number Cards
• Hot Chocolate Number Cards
• Snowman Number Cards
• Scarf Number Cards
• Snowflake Number Cards
• Heart Number Cards
• Groundhog Number Cards
• Candy Hearts Number Cards

Blank Card Covers

B&W Number Cards 1-31

Color heart Cards

2D Shape Cards

Sorting by Size Cards

Number Frame Cards (1-20)

Number Words (1-31)

Word Problem Cards

Estimation Scene

Sequencing Activity “I can build a snowman”

Visual Discrimination Activity

Uppercase Letter Cards

Lowercase Letter Cards

First Sounds Cards

Rhyming Cards

Directions and Graphics Credit

Pre-K Printables Club Members, Once you are logged in, click here to download this product for free!

Not a member? Find out more here!

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Ice Skating Rink Preschool Dramatic Play Set

$5.00

Transform your classroom into a winter wonderland with an Ice Skating Rink Dramatic Play Set which includes signs and props to create your own, ice rink, skate rental booth, and snack stand - inspiring imaginative play, gross motor skill development, and teamwork through pretend figure skating and hockey activities.

Inside this 47-page PDF you will find:

• Welcome to the Ice Skating Rink Sign
• Ice Rink Open/Closed Sign
• Ticket Booth/Skate Rental & Pro Shop
• Snack Stand/Ice Rink
• Skate Return/Locker Area
• Skating this way/Exit
• Ticket Prices Poster
• Snack Stand Menu Poster
• Skate Rental & Pro Shop Poster
• Skate Rental Forms
• Snack Stand Forms
• Labels

Printable Props:

• Cookies
• Tickets
• Wristbands
• Punch cards

• When I work at the Ice Skating Rink I can .. Poster
• When I visit the Ice Skating Rink I can.. Poster
• Ice Skating Lessons Poster
• Ice Skating Rink Rules Poster
• Ice Skating Fun Poster
• Ice Skating Rink Bunting
• Editable ½ page Signs
• Editable Labels
• Editable Bunting

TOU, Graphics Credit, Contact Info & Previews

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