Will spring arrive early, or will winter linger for six more weeks? It all depends on Punxsutawney Phil, the famous groundhog, and whether he catches sight of his shadow! Dive into the excitement of Groundhog Day with these twenty-two fun-filled groundhog activities and an adorable groundhog craft for kids. This engaging Groundhog Day unit offers a perfect blend of science, math, literacy, and social studies—ideal for kindergarten and first-grade students.

These groundhog activities can be completed whole group or as a center. Each day, we aim to complete two pages in our interactive groundhog shape book.

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At the end of our Groundhog Day unit, students will have an entire groundhog shaped book containing all sorts of facts about groundhogs. It’s a great way to reinforce what they’ve learned and showcase their knowledge!

Literacy Groundhog Activities

To activate prior knowledge, we kick off our groundhog unit by completing the “K” portion of our KWL anchor chart followed by the “W” portion.

Students love having an opportunity to share what they know (or at least what they think they know) about groundhogs before we begin reading our nonfiction text all about groundhogs.

This groundhog nonfiction text is not only great for introducing students to facts about groundhogs, but it is also a great opportunity to expose students to nonfiction text features. Students will learn about the life cycle of a groundhog, location of a groundhog, their habitat, appearance, and more with bold words, diagrams, maps, labels, captions, and a picture glossary.

After reading the nonfiction text, we come together as a group to complete the “L” section of our KWL chart. This provides a valuable opportunity to address any misconceptions and reflect on our learning.

After the group discussion, I ask students to write down three facts they have learned about groundhogs on their student page.

Later in the week, we also complete our Can, Have, Are chart whole group and then students complete their own sheet independently during centers.

Another way we incorporate literacy is with this emergent reader and matching pocket chart sentences.

As we read our emergent reader, we identify the words we’ve already learned. Finally, we use a pocket chart to rearrange these sentences. Throughout the week, students independently practice at our pocket chart center.

Next, we complete a rhyming words activity as we learn all about a groundhog.

We also work on labeling the parts of a groundhog and a cut and glue sentence activity (not shown).

Science Groundhog Activities

In addition to our literacy groundhog activities, we also work on several science activities. We explore vocabulary words, the life cycle of a groundhog, predators, their habitat, diet, and more!

Throughout our groundhog unit, we learn several new key vocabulary words. We use a pocket chart to keep track of the words we learn.

We then spend time exploring the life cycle of a groundhog. With the help of picture cards and our nonfiction text, we recreate the life cycle of a groundhog on an anchor chart.

Then, the students color, cut, and glue the groundhog life cycle in their shape book.

Next, we complete a whole class sort identifying foods groundhogs eat and foods groundhogs do not eat. Then, the students color, cut, sort, and glue the diet of a groundhog in their shape book.

This is also when we talk about the groundhogs incisors and how these powerful front teeth are key to their diet.

Next, we explore the habitat of a groundhog as well as discuss how groundhogs hibernate.

We also talk about the shadow of a groundhog, but more on that when we look at the groundhog math activities.

Last, we identify predators of a groundhog and color our corresponding sheet.

Math Groundhog Activities

As we are working on our literacy and science activities, we also integrate several math groundhog activities.

This color by number page is great for working on number recognition and learning about the appearance of a groundhog.

Another great activity for working on numbers is this tracing numbers page.

Students also learn about the mother groundhogs, as they practice addition with this picture addition problem.

But the best math activity is predicting whether or not the groundhog will see his shadow! As a whole class, we cast our vote as to whether the groundhog will or will not see his shadow.

We add our voting cards to a pocket chart, but gluing them onto anchor chart paper works great as well.

We then complete our “Prediction of a Groundhog” page to add to our groundhog shape book.

Social Studies Groundhog Activities

We can’t forget to include a little social studies in our groundhog unit!

We learn all about the history and legend of a groundhog and how a groundhog can predict the beginning of spring. This is when we learn about Phil, the famous groundhog from Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.

Last, we determine the location of a groundhog and glue one groundhog in the central/eastern part of the United States and one in Canada.

Groundhog Shape Book Craft

At the end of the week, it is time to assemble our groundhog shape book craft, but… first, the students must make their groundhog cover.

They add the ears, eyes, incisors, and nose to the head before stapling all of the pages to the cover. This is a fantastic way to display and solidify our learning!

All About Groundhog Activities and Craft for Kids

Grab all 22 interactive groundhog activities and adorable groundhog craft for Groundhog Day here!

More Groundhog Activities for Groundhog Day

Predict whether the groundhog will or will not see his shadow with this Groundhog Day craft for graphing and analyzing data!

To see these Groundhog Day graphing activities in action, head to this post!

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