We greeted February Monday with Groundhog Day. The official groundhog lives in Punxsutawney, Penn. His name is Punxsutawney Phil. According to legend, if Punsutawney Phil sees his shadow (the day is bright and sunny) there will be six more weeks of winter weather. If he does not see his shadow (the day is overcast), there will be an early spring.

Phil’s proclamation, as relayed by Mike Johnston, vice president of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club Inner Circle, stated that there will be six more weeks of winter.

One thing young children love to do is to be amateur weather watchers. Have your young children to look outside and predict what they think the weather will be like that day. This can make for early-morning conversational learning and using appropriate thinking skills as children take what they have learned to decide what clothes they need to wear that day.

At home, and in the classroom, children love to be weather helpers. They love to look outside and draw what the weather looks like. Children love to study the different shapes of clouds, such as cumulus, which look like cotton candy; cirrus clouds, which look feathery; and stratus clouds, which are black and gray. An all-time favorite young children love to do is to make shapes out of clouds.

Children love to look and point out the differences in rain, sleet, snow and hail. They love to do experiments with evaporation by wetting a surface like a blackboard or kitchen counter and watch the water disappear. They wonder where the water disappears; this gives parents the opportunity to talk about the water cycle in which water-drops evaporate in the air and go up into clouds to make different forms of evaporation, which fall back to the earth.

Going back to our groundhogs, you can explain hibernation. Ask your young child what they like to do when winter comes and weather becomes really cold. We go on with our business despite how cold it is outside but many animals choose to stay home and sleep through the entire season. We call this hibernation. Bears, groundhogs, frogs, turtles, bats and snakes all hibernate.

In talking about shadows, young children love Robert Louis Stevenson’s poem on “My Shadow.” Just look on the Web for this poem or go to the local library.

In addition to Groundhog Day, February also calls to mind Valentine’s Day. A few Valentine ideas for young children to enjoy are as follows.

Remember: Abraham Lincoln’s birthday on Feb. 12, so show them a penny.

George Washington’s birthday is on Feb. 22; show them a dollar.

As cupid shoots arrows of love toward your child’s way, give your young child your heart, which includes time well spent with them.

Beth Pinyerd lives in Daphne and serves as director of younger children at Faith Family Fellowship in Spanish Fort.

Her column appears every other week in the Daphne Bulletin and Spanish Fort Sun.