There is more than a foot of snow on the ground here in Rochester so I thought I should do a snow themed storytime.
Here’s what I planned:
Rhyme Cube: I always start with this.
Sign Language: We learned the sign for “snow” and repeated it often during the storytime.
Opening Rhyme: Open them, Shut them…
First Book: Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
It’s a classic. How could you not read this book during a snow themed storytime?
Flannel Board:
I do a variation of this flannel board frequently but the kids love it every time.
I have four different colored mittens on my board and tell the kids that one of the mittens is hiding a snowball (I put the snowball under one of the mittens). We then recite this rhyme:
“Snowball, snowball, cold and round.
Under which mitten can you be found?”
The board looks like this:
The kids then shout out guesses and I turn over the mittens to see if they are correct.
Second Book: Snow on Snow on Snow by Cheryl Chapman
Flannel Board:
“Five little snowmen riding on a sled.
One fell off and bumped his head.
Frosty called the doctor and the doctor said:
‘No more snowmen riding on that sled!'”
I remove one snowman at every verse.
Song: we really needed to get out wiggles out so we all got up and did the motions along to the following song:
Snowflake, snowflake, turn around.
Snowflake, snowflake, touch the ground.
Snowflake, snowflake, soft and white.
Snowflake, snowflake, snowball fight!!!
Third Book: The Mitten by Jan Brett
So this story is a little long for the age group (mostly 2’s and 3’s) but I love the illustrations so I just tell the story from memory as I turn the pages (inevitably I end up shortening the story).
Activity:
A couple of years ago an early childhood music educator came to one of the monthly meetings we hold for children’s librarians in my area. She taught us a cute song to sing with kids after reading The Mitten by Jan Brett. Before signing the song with the kids, I give them each a laminated animal from the story. Jan Brett’s website has free printables. I just printed them out on cardstock and then laminated them. Here’s the song:
“The mole squeezes in, the mole squeezes in. Help us please so we don’t freeze. The mole squeezes in.” (repeat with each animal from the story)
I let each child put their animal in the giant white flannel mitten as we sang the song. Here’s the flannel mitten:
And here is a picture of some of the animal cards that the kids get to put into the mitten:
That’s what we did this week and it was fun. Hey if I’m buried under piles of snow for the foreseeable future I might as well celebrate it!
AnnesLibraryLife 