Storytime: Snow

Books

*The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats

Outside by Deirdre Gill

Into the Snow by Yuki Kaneko

*Cleo in the Snow by Stella Blackstone

Snow by Cynthia Rylant

Under My Hood I Have a Hat by Karla Kuskin

I always select around six books for a storytime, but only end up using two or three. Books marked with * are the ones I ended up using for my storytime. Any theme I do will have a huge variety of potential books to fit it, so mine are only suggestions. I try to have as much diversity as possible in the characters in my book selection. It's important for kids to be exposed to people of all different races and ethnicities at an early age. For this selection both The Snowy Day and Snow feature people of color as the main characters.

For my song, rhyme, and craft ideas click read more.

Songs and Rhymes

No matter what the theme, we start every storytime with "Hello Bubbles" and end with "Goodbye Bubbles." The kids love bubbles too much to cut them out of storytime. We do them at both the beginning and end so that anyone who comes late doesn't miss out on bubble fun! There are more songs and rhymes here than I would use for one storytime. For songs I will almost always use scarves, shakers, bells, or rhythm sticks to accompany them. The kids in my group love scarves! I get songs from many different resources and adapt ones of my own. Activities marked with * are the ones I used for the storytime. Because of extenuating circumstances as outlined in the "How it Went" section, we only did one flannelboard and no songs. If it had been a normal day, I would have done at least two more songs and a transition rhyme.

Song with scarves: “Snowflake Dance”

(Tune: Frere Jacque)

Dance like snowflakes, dance like snowflakes

In the air, in the air

Whirling, twirling snowflakes, whirling, twirling snowflakes

Here and there, here and there.

Dance like snowmen, dance like snowmen

Big and round, big and round

Whirling, twirling snowmen, whirling, twirling snowmen

Up and down, up and down.

Dance like children, dance like children

In the snow, in the snow

Whirling, twirling children, whirling, twirling children

High and low, high and low.

Song with scarves: “Snowflakes Dance Around”

(Tune: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star)

Snowflakes snowflakes dance around

Snowflakes snowflakes touch the ground

Snowflakes snowflakes in the air

Snowflakes snowflakes everywhere

Snowflakes snowflakes dance around

Snowflakes snowflakes touch the ground

Song: “Snowkey Pokey”

You put your mittens in,

You take your mittens out,

You put your mittens in,

And you shake them all about.

You do the Snowkey Pokey and you turn yourself around.

That’s what it’s all about!

Verses: boots, hat, coat, scarf

Song with bells: “Jingle Bells”

Dashing through the snow

in a one horse open sleigh

O'er the fields we go,

Laughing all the way (ha ha ha)

Bells on bobtails ring,

making spirits bright

What fun it is to laugh and sing

A sleighing song tonight

Oh, jingle bells, jingle bells

Jingle all the way

Oh, what fun it is to ride

In a one horse open sleigh

Jingle bells, jingle bells

Jingle all the way

Oh, what fun it is to ride

In a one horse open sleigh!

Transition Rhyme: “The Snow is Falling”

The snow is falling down

Hushhhh

The snow is falling down

Hushhhh

Whisper Whisper Whisper Whisper

The snow is falling down

Hushhhh

Flannelboards

*Flannelboard: “Five Little Snowflakes”

One little snowflake with nothing to do,

Along came another and then there were…two!

Two little snowflakes laughing with me,

Along came another and then there were…three!

Three little snowflakes looking for some more,

Along came another and then there were…four!

Four little snowflakes dancing a jive,

Along came another and then there were…five!

Five little snowflakes, having so much fun!

Out came the sun, and then there were none!

Craft

Paper plate snowmen! I love crafts, but I'm the first to admit that I'm really bad at coming up with crafts that are appropriate for young children. Fortunately, there are a ton of resources out there for great kid's craft ideas! Crafty Morning has some great simple kid’s crafts. I pulled this one from them!

How it Went

I ran this storytime two weeks ago. This was the first storytime I planned. The weather ended up being far too appropriate for the theme and only one family showed up about 15 minutes before storytime was due to end. We did our opening "Hello Bubbles" song, read The Snowy Day, did the "Five Little Snowflakes" flannelboard, read Cleo in the Snow, and at that point storytime was already over so we sang "Goodbye Bubbles" and called it a day. We ended up not doing the craft and I just printed some snowflake coloring sheets for the kids. I think this storytime has a lot of potential if I had the whole time to run it, but with the circumstances it wasn't a particularly amazing storytime.