GARDEN GROVE : Youngsters Have Ton of Fun in the Snow

Grinning mischievously and clutching a snowball, Nicholas Lazenby, 6, went stalking through a winter wonderland.

As his kindergarten classmates climbed atop a three-foot-high mound of snow that had been dumped on the Excelsior Elementary School lawn, Nicholas chose his intended victim, a classmate with his back turned.

Moments later, he unleashed the wet, white clump of powder, hitting the other boy squarely on the seat of his blue jeans. “Yeah!” Nicholas cried, scrambling for another snowball as his victim continued playing on the mound, unaware he was being used for target practice.

The boys were among the more than 90 youngsters who got a hands-on lesson about snow Thursday as part of their continuing study of weather and related topics. For the event, school officials trucked in a ton of snow from a local ice-skating rink.

Giving the children a chance to play in the stuff was much more educational than it appeared, Principal Rosemary Davis said. Many of the children had never seen snow before.

“They’re learning about winter and the weather and the seasons. Instead of reading a book or talking about it, it’s much more beneficial to jump right in. They feel the cold and the wet and get hands-on experience,” she said.

As she spoke, dozens of giggling children scrambled wildly around the mound, tossing snowballs at other students, teachers, trees and anything or anyone else in range. In keeping with the rules laid down before they were unleashed, children refrained from aiming at anyone’s head, however.

“Snow is just fun,” said Amy McNair, 7, a second-grade student who stopped by the mound to play. “You can step on it, you can kick it, and you can throw it. It feels cold when you touch it,” she said.

For Nicholas, the best part of having snow around was getting to thump other students with snowballs: “It’s what everyone likes best. I already hit Diego and Andre. . . . “

Without finishing his sentence, Nicholas, scooped up a fresh handful of snow, launched it into another child’s back, and, laughing, re-entered the fray.

Nearby kindergarten teacher Melanie Greene failed to dodge in time and got smacked in the side with a snowball. She laughed and called out to her assailant: “You can’t hit a teacher! Remember you’re getting report cards next week!”

Later, having sought refuge from the melee, she said the snow provided an excellent teaching tool for getting children interested in topics back in the classroom.

“Look at their faces, it means so much more to them when they get involved instead of reading a book,” she said. “They’ll be talking about this for weeks.”