FREE Groundhog Day Printables & Activities for Kids (2024)

Ah, Groundhog Day: the most consistent, yet most forgettable, holiday to happen on the same day every year.

You shouldn’t cast Groundhog Day aside, though, because kids really seem to get a kick out of it!

Having some printable Groundhog Day activities for preschoolers can keep them busy for a little while, too.

If you’re a preschool teacher, the groundhog- and shadow-theme activities below are great ideas for your class.

If you’re a mom looking for ways to kill time on February 2nd, you might actually enjoy some of this – especially all of the food ideas!

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Preschool-Level Groundhog Day Books

I’ve rounded up 10 books below that read well at a preschool level. They all have excellent illustrations and fun stories that toddlers would enjoy as well!

Groundhog Day (Rookie Read-About Holidays)

This book is aimed at teaching 3- to 6-year-olds the history of Groundhog Day with a glimpse into the annual festivities.

The Night Before Groundhog Day

This rhyming story includes diverse illustrations and a lovely cadence.

If you live near Punxsutawney, you’ll notice the inaccuracies of the actual Groundhog Day celebration, but it won’t ruin the story for the children!

Groundhug Day

A great way to segue Groundhog Day into the fast-approaching Valentine’s Day, this is an adorable story about a group of animal friends trying to make sure Groundhog doesn’t see his shadow so he can attend a Valentine’s Day party.

Groundhog’s Day Off

Groundhog is feeling unappreciated in this story about a town realizing they’ve taken him for granted all these years after they’re unable to find a replacement animal for shadow-watching February 2nd.

Lots of excellent illustrations and a reminder to think more of others than what they can do for us!

Groundhog’s Dilemma

The consequences of fibbing AND bribery are carefully covered in this preschooler-friendly Groundhog Day book.

After telling his animal friends he can actually control the weather (instead of predicting it), Groundhog also accepts bribes from animals trying to sway him toward winter or spring.

Don’t worry – he comes clean by the end.

Groundhog Day (Robin Hill School)

Since they don’t have a real groundhog on hand, the kids in this class decide to find out if their class hamster can see his shadow instead.

Cute, simple story that children can imagine happening in their own classroom!

Geoffrey Groundhog Predicts the Weather

This is a cute twist on the “celebrity” surrounding Groundhog one day a year, and how a mistake left uncorrected can morph into a much bigger issue.

Ten Grouchy Groundhogs

Count backward from 10 and learn a whole slew of adjectives starting with the letter G in this sing-song story that flows along the same line as “monkeys jumping on the bed.”

Grumpy Groundhog

Bright illustrations and rhyming patterns can be found throughout this book.

It’s about a groundhog that doesn’t want to get out of bed, so the townspeople have to coax him out… Hmm, this one reminds me a LOT of my daughter!

Groundhog’s Runaway Shadow

This is a cute little story about a groundhog whose best friend – his shadow – ends up running away after a falling out.

Your kiddos will get an idea of where the groundhog’s shadow might be if it doesn’t show up on February 2nd!

Preschool Groundhog Day Printables

I know time is precious and not everyone has the resources to make their own printables, so I’m happy to share them with you other moms out there.

And teachers aren’t given enough resources (we ALL know it). So I want you to have these Groundhog Day activities for preschoolers FREE.

For these Groundhog Day preschool printables, I’ve made:

• Free Groundhog Day word search (preschool level)
• Coloring page
• Connect-the-dots coloring page (numbered 1 to 20)
• Shadow matching game

Now, I think the shadow-matching game is the coolest part. I recommend printing on cardstock, or at least laminating the cards after you’ve cut them out (I recommend this laminator if you don’t already have one).

You can play the game two ways:

• Print one color set and one shadow set, and have your child match the groundhog to his shadow, or
• Print two color sets and flip them over to play the classic matching game.

Groundhog Day Cookie Recipes

Molasses Groundhog Cookies

Ashley over at Wishes and Dishes has a great recipe for some tasty molasses cookies that happen to be cut into adorable little groundhogs.

Because OF COURSE there’s a groundhog-shaped cookie cutter, right?

Assembled Groundhog Face Cookies

Fork and Beans creator Cara came up with a brilliant way to make Pinterest-worthy groundhog faces with pre-made cookies!

Not gonna lie, rolling and cutting dough is one of my LEAST favorite baking activities, so this is perfect. Just use some melted chocolate to hold all the parts together!

Pop-Up Groundhog Cookies

Back to Organic has come up with an… interesting Groundhog Day cookie recipe, to say the least.

They’re creepy-cute and full of all the good stuff – fudge rounds, no-bake cookie mix, and tootsie rolls. It doesn’t get much sweeter than that!

Groundhog Day Cupcake Recipes

Reese’s Head Groundhog Cupcakes

Angie at Bakerella topped some chocolate cupcakes with a clever combination of candies to look like the cutest groundhog you’ve ever seen.

It’s made of a Reese’s cup, M&Ms, AND Hershey drops. Perfection.

Almond Joy Groundhog Cupcakes

This Food.com recipe has Almond Joy groundhogs popping up out of their delicious frosting dens.

If you have an almond allergy or just don’t like them (and don’t be ashamed – you are my people, I hate almonds too), I got you covered! There’s a similarly styled cupcake at Tablespoon.com made with Cocoa Puffs cereal bars instead.

Sprinkle Fur Groundhog Cupcakes

Craft Create Cook has a simple little cupcake where the whole top is the groundhog’s face, complete with chocolate sprinkle fur, Reese’s pieces ears (mm, I’m digging all these Reese’s recipes), and Whopper cheeks.

Groundhog-Themed Foods

Groundhog Day Pancakes

Start February 2nd off right with some groundhog pancakes!

Joys of Boys creator Kara’s Groundhog Day pancakes idea just adds a little extra fun to celebrate the quirky holiday!

Groundhog Day Pudding

Kim at Best Ideas for Kids came up with a great idea for jazzing up a Nutter Butter to look like a groundhog that can burrow into a cup of chocolate pudding.

I have warm feelings toward Nutter Butters; they’re one of the types of cookies my great-granny always kept in the house when I was growing up.

Preschool Groundhog Day Crafts

Groundhog Paper Bag Puppet Craft

The groundhog lends itself well to becoming a paper bag puppet, and Kids Activities Blog writer Melissa has it all lined out for you here.

Groundhog Face Paper Plate Craft

Tara at Homeschool Preschool came up with a super-simple, preschool-friendly paper plate groundhog face craft.

Also, I’d never heard of dot markers before I saw this. They are basically bingo daubers for kids, and now I am obsessed.

Pop-Up Groundhog Paper Plate Craft

Kids Soup has a slightly more advanced paper plate craft template, but I like it because it actually allows your kiddo to play around with the groundhog’s shadow on the plate itself.

Play-Doh Groundhog Sculpting

There’s just something about play dough and modeling clay that kids can’t get enough of.

I don’t get the obsession of squeezing weird textures between your fingers, but I have Obsessive-Compulsive Personality, so that’s probably why… But my kids love shaping things out of dough, and I’m sure yours does, too.

Just grab yourself a pack of brown clay or dough, show them a cartoon picture of a groundhog, and let them go to town!

Groundhog Day Math Activities (for Preschoolers)

Addition & Subtraction Groundhog Day Flash Cards

Alex at the Kindergarten Connection whipped up some pretty cute printable math flash cards with groundhog dens on the equation cards, groundhogs on the matching solution cards, and a number line to help out with the solving.

Measuring with Groundhogs

Megan from Coffee Cups and Crayons came up with a cute idea that works really well for preschoolers – especially if you have more than one!

Just print out an image of a groundhog (if you click the one above, it’ll take you to a letter-size image) to where it completely fills the paper. Cut around the groundhog, and let your kids hold it against each other’s shadows OR bodies to count how “big” they are in groundhogs.

I’d recommend printing on cardstock for sturdiness and attaching a popsicle stick from the side of the groundhog to make it easier to hold and move.

Groundhog Day Science Activities (for Preschoolers)

Shadow Physics with Animal Silhouettes

Little Bins for Little Hands has a great printable pack of animal silhouettes you can attach to sticks or straws.

Let your kids play with them outside or with a strong indoor light source (through a window or with a flashlight) to learn about how changing light changes shadows!

Shadow Sidewalk Chalk Art

Nell of Rhythms of Play has a great post that combines science and art together!

Teach your kids how the groundhog’s shadow works by letting them capture their own with sidewalk chalk.

Just trace their shadows with regular old sidewalk chalk (or let them trace each other), then let them paint their silhouettes with some liquid sidewalk chalk!

Groundhog Day Gross Motor Activities

Body Shadow Experiments

Cool idea from Pre-K Pages. Along the same veins of drawing their shadows outside, just let kids experiment with their body shadows!

They’ll practice gross motor skills as they try to use their bodies to form different shadow shapes. Plus, they’ll learn about how light and shadows move differently from physical objects in the process.

Block Shadow Matching

I love this idea from Jamie at Hands on as We Grow so much!! But you might need to use a fixed indoor light source instead of relying on window light because it might move and change the shadow a bit.

You just build your own block structure in front of the light source, trace the shadow on a large piece of paper, then take the blocks apart and let your child figure out how to build the blocks back up to match the shadow.

It’s a super cool puzzle made of light and blocks!

Don’t have a set of blocks like these? Melissa & Doug makes a really awesome, affordable set.

Shadow Tag

This requires no supplies whatsoever and still challenges kids’ gross motor skills.

Start up a game of Tag, except instead of touching another person’s body to make them “it,” you have to step on their shadow!

This game requires some critical planning and strategy and is wonderful for children on the spectrum who like to play but don’t like to be touched.

Educational Video about Groundhogs

Let your kids watch this short video (less than 7 minutes) about groundhogs! It’s got some general information about the animal, history about Groundhog Day, and the ever-annoying but wildly attractive-to-children Woodchuck Song.

I hope I took some of the work out of finding Groundhog Day 2023 activities for preschoolers for you.

If you’re a teacher, PLEASE use these resources to convince your students that Groundhog Day is important. We need to keep the tradition alive!

If you’re a mom like me, I hope you’ve gotten some great ideas for honoring the great Punxsutawney Phil this year.

Psst: don’t forget that the Super Bowl is coming up, too! Check out these Super Bowl Commercial Bingo Cards! The whole family will have a blast playing along.

What are your plans for Groundhog Day this year? Have you tried any of these activities? Let me know how it went! And please don’t forget to share this post with your fellow moms and preschool teacher friends!