We hope these activities bring the excitement of the Iditarod into your home and provide a rich learning experience for your child. Happy exploring!
- Iditarod Colors: Provide coloring pages of sled dogs and sleds (like the sheets at bottom of this page), encouraging your child to use a variety of colors. Ask your child what colors they will choose for the dogs, musher, and sleds
- Counting Dogs: Use pictures or toy dogs to practice counting. Start with smaller numbers and gradually increase as your child becomes more confident.
- Sled Dog Math: Create simple addition and subtraction problems using sled dogs. For example, “If you have 5 sled dogs and 2 more join, how many sled dogs do you have in total?”
- Shape Sorting: Provide a variety of shapes and ask your child to sort them into categories, such as circles, squares, and triangles, relating them to parts of the sled and gear.
- Big and Small Dogs: Show pictures of different dog breeds, comparing their sizes. Ask your child to describe which dogs are big and which are small and have your child arrange them from smallest to largest.
- Dog Watching: Watch a short video clip of the Iditarod and ask your child to describe what they see. Discuss the details they observe about the dogs, sleds, and environment.
- Meet the Mushers: Read stories or watch short biographies about Iditarod mushers. Discuss their roles and what it takes to be a musher.
- Map Exploration: Use a map to trace the Iditarod trail, pointing out key locations and geography of our state.
- Caring for Dogs: Discuss the importance of taking care of pets, including feeding, grooming, and exercising. Relate this to how mushers care for their sled dogs.
