Now is the perfect time to pull out all of your best winter picture books. I love engaging children with great read-alouds and using them to springboard discussions and activities. Below is a list of the best winter picture books, broken up by topic. I also share some great activities that go great with these stories. So if you’re looking for some fun themes to use this winter, look no further!

If you don’t care about it being broken into subjects and just want the complete list, click here.

The Best Winter Picture Books About Snow

Snow, in general, is an exciting concept for children. I love finding ways to create thematic phonics and math activities based on the idea of snow!
Here are some of the best picture books about snow.

Non-Fiction Books About Snow For Kids

Let’s face it, snow is magical, even as an adult. But it’s still important to understand the science behind snow. These are some of my favorite non-fiction books about snow.

• Snow is Falling
• Curious About Snow
• Snow
• All About Winter Weather
• The Story of Snow

Some science activities that I love to do after reading these non-fiction books include making fake snow, and exploring snow volcanos!

Fiction Books About Snow for Kids

The best picture books about snow lend to fun discussions and great activities. Here are a few of my favorites!

• The Snowy Nap
• The Three Snow Bears
• Ten Sparkly Snowflakes
• Ten on the Sled
• The Snowy Day
• The Mitten
• Good Morning, Snowplow

Here are some ideas to help you implement snow-themed activities after reading these books.
Salted Snowflakes

All you need is some glue, salt, and watercolor paint for this fun snowflake craft.
Mitten Math
We use this hands-on math center to practice numbers and counting.

Salt Tray Letters
An engaging way to work on letter formation is with “salt trays.” Using their fingers children practice tracing the snowflake letter card they pick. We use the recording sheet to keep track of which letters we’ve worked on and which we still need to practice.

The Best Picture Books About Snowmen

Do I even need to talk about why kids love snowmen? I mean, even I love snowmen! They’re just too stinking cute! Below is a list of the best picture books about snowmen.

• Snowmen at Night
• Snowmen at Play
• All You Need for a Snowman
• Snowman’s Story
• How to Catch a Snowman
• Sneezy the Snowman

Fluffy Snow Paint

One of my favorite snowman crafts is made by creating our very own fluffy paint! You can get the directions here.

Snowman Ten Frames
I found these adorable snowman mini-erasers at Target and just knew that I had to incorporate them into our learning! So I threw them into a sensory bin that was filled with rice and snowman number cards. My kids pick number cards from the bin and then also grab the correct amount of erasers. They then use their ten-frame card to create the number.

Snowman Shapes
We practice forming two-dimensional shapes with these snowman shape cards. I have them laminated so that children can use play-dough and it won’t stick or ruin the paper. These are a great winter center.

The Best Picture Books About Arctic Animals

Lastly, I want to share some of the best picture books about arctic animals. Here you go:

• Reindeer
• Arctic Fox
• Penguins
• Polar Bears
• See What a Seal Can Do
• Walrus

I hope you enjoyed this list! I’ve compiled all of these winter picture books and more into one place for you. Now you can easily shop for these books simply by clicking here.

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14 fantastic snow crafts for toddlers and preschool children. These easy, fun ideas include fake snow sensory bins, snowflake crafts, snowmen painting, and more!

Below is a quick glance at al of the snow-themed fun. Follow the links for more details and pictures of each specific snow craft!

Snow Dough Snow Craft for Preschool

Snow dough is similar to play dough except it’s and a little more crumbly (is that even a word?). Children can use it as a sensory bin filler with a variety of toys and tools, or they can use it to shape and build different snow-related items.

I provided my toddler and preschooler with snowflake foam stickers, mini pom-poms, googly eyes, counting bears, and pipe cleaners. Some of the things they made included smiley faces, snowmen, and snowflake sandwiches.

You can get the directions for Snow Dough here.

Cold Snow Snow Activity

This snow activity was so much fun! It only required two ingredients and it was actually cold! My kids LOVED using this as a sensory bin. Check out the full post here for instructions.

Snow Volcanos

Using our cold snow bin, we continued the fun by making snow volcanos. Nico was so focused and played with this for close to an hour. All I had to do was provide him with some vinegar I colored with food dye. See the full post here.

Snowman Craft with Fluffy Paint

What kid doesn’t want to make their own paint? It was a science and art activity all in one!

We made fluffy paint using liquid glue and shaving cream and then used it to make snowmen.

Check it out here!

Salted Snowflakes

Here is another fun snow craft for preschool. Children trace their snowflakes with glue and then cover them in salt.

For added fun you can even paint the snowflakes…we did!

See more about Salted Snowflakes here.

These math activities go hand-in-hand with the snow crafts shown above. They are the perfect way to incorporate preschool math skills to your snow unit.

Practice counting out objects, identifying numbers, two-dimensional shapes, using ten frames, and basic addition.

See these resources in detail here

Don’t forget about incorporating phonics activities to your snow themed learning.

Work on letter identification, rhyming words, letter formation, and beginning sounds.

These math and phonics activities belong to my Snow Theme Unit, which can be purchased here.

I hope you implement some of these activities with your own children and class. I’d love to see your photos in action! Make sure to tag me on Instagram @mrsvschickadees

The post 14 Fantastic Snow Crafts For Preschool! appeared first on Mrs V's Chickadees.

Here’s an easy to make snowflake craft that works for kids of all ages. It’s a fun winter activity that doesn’t require many materials. Keep reading to see how!

You might also like these snow crafts and activities:

• Snow Dough
• Cold Snow Sensory Bin
• Snow Volcanoes
• Snowman Fluffy Paint
• Phonics & Math Snow Resources

I did this salted snowflake craft with my toddler and preschooler one cold day. It ended up keeping them busy for much longer than I expected, which is always a win in my book! Let me walk you through the steps to this easy snowflake craft.

Materials for Salted Snowflake Craft

This winter craft didn’t require very many materials. All I needed was:

1. Paper (with snowflakes drawn or printed on them)
2. Liquid glue
3. Salt
4. Watercolor paint and paintbrushes (optional)

How to Make Salted Snowflakes

I printed snowflakes onto white cardstock and gave one piece to each child. I then instructed them to do their best tracing of the snowflake using liquid glue. To be clear, I did not expect my 1.5-year-old to do this. In fact, when she started making puddles of glue on her paper, it was exactly what I anticipated from her. I would show you pictures, but she also refused to wear a shirt that day (if you follow me on Instagram you know this a typical day with Brielle).

After tracing one snowflake at a time with glue, we poured salt on top. I had my son do this over a large aluminum tray so that I could then funnel out that excess salt to reuse on his next snowflake.

Once we finished covering our snowflakes with salt, we decided to paint them. This step isn’t necessary because they do look really cool with just the salt. However, this extra step entertained my littles for an extra 30 plus minutes.

In my mind, they were going to use very light colors and have pristine looking snowflakes. In their minds, they were going to mix every color paint we had in the house and make gigantic messes.

But I’m a firm believer in letting kids lead the way with creative tasks and activities. It’s no fun for anyone if I’m micromanaging them during craft time. It’s also not a reflection of them or something I’d want to save if I told them EXACTLY what to do and how to do it. And in the end they came out looking great anyway.

It’s hard to tell in the picture but the salt underneath the paint gives a really nice sparkle to the finished product. Overall, this snowflake craft was easy to set-up and engaging for my kids. I will definitely be doing this again!

Don’t forget to check out our Snow Themed Phonics and Math Resources. They are the perfect addition to any snow crafts you might be doing.

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Making fluffy paint is so much fun and the perfect craft for any snowman unit! You can create beautiful paintings to go along with your winter activities. And all you need is two ingredients!

How to Make Fluffy Paint

Fluffy paint requires liquid glue and shaving cream…that’s it!

For the record, I didn’t formally measure anything, I just let my kids put what looked like equal parts into a bowl.

Mix these two ingredients together using a whisk.

If you have glitter, now is a good time to add some. This is not necessary but it does add a nice touch to it!

Now you are ready to go! You can paint anything with this fluffy paint. We decided we were going to make snowmen so I printed some blank snowmen bodies onto blue cardstock paper. The paint has some weight to it so I do suggest that you use heavier paper like cardstock.

For reference, my son is 4 years old, so it was easier for him to try to paint inside the body.

Whereas my daughter is not even 2 so she was simply painting her entire paper.  I did not give any other instructions other than “paint the snowman.” I believe in letting kids be when it comes to art.

Once they finished painting their snowman craft we let it dry overnight. Once it was dry it was nice and fluffy and puffy and cute!

Now it’s time for us to add the parts to our snowman craft. Using construction paper and mini pom poms, we built a hat, arms, eyes, nose, and buttons! We used a black marker to draw on a smile.

If you’re looking for more ideas for winter crafts and activities, make sure to check out these posts next:

You might also like this snow-themed phonics and math resource.

You can grab your copy here!

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This snow-themed preschool learning pack is a collection of fun and engaging math and phonics activities for preschoolers.

Teaching phonics and math through thematic hands-on activities is an excellent way to help preschoolers retain important information. Here’s a look at some of my favorite snow-themed learning activities for the winter months! They belong to my Snow Theme Pack, which you can purchase here!

Phonics Snow Activities

Beginning Sounds Phonics Mats

Practice identifying beginning sounds and forming the letters with these snow-themed cards. These cards are created to be used with play-dough. This adds an extra element of fun to the letter activity!

Salt Tray Alphabet Cards

Practice letter formation with this hands-on snow activity! Pour salt or sand in a tray or pencil case and have children pick a snowflake card. Using their finger they can practice forming the letter. There are uppercase and lowercase cards and recording sheets for both.

Match the Mitten Rhyming Activity

This rhyming game is great to use in a pocket chart or on the floor. Lay out one of the mittens and stack the others in a pile. Children pick a card from the pile and find the matching mitten by pairing up the rhyming pictures.

Snow-Themed Math Activities

Two Dimensional Shape Snow Activity

Practice identifying and forming 2D shapes with this fun activity. Using play-doh, children will use each card to help them form the shapes shown.

Count It Out Math Game

This snow-themed math game focuses on more than one preschool math skill. First, children pick a number card and must be able to read the card. Then, using manipulatives, children will count out that number and place the manipulatives on their mitten board.

Snowflake Addition

Preschoolers can practice addition to 10 with pictures by using these snowflake cards. Teach children to use manipulatives and pictures to help solve basic addition problems.

Snowball Number Identification

Have fun with number identification by pulling a number card and then finding all of the snowballs that match on your paper. I like using dabbers for this because bringing in a new supply to use always engages children instantly.

Snowman Ten Frames

Becoming familiar with ten frames is an important math skill for our preschoolers. This snow-themed ten frame game is a pre-k favorite!

You can grab this full resource by clicking here!

This resource also includes directions for some super fun snow projects and crafts. Here’s a peek at one of them but you can see more by checking out these blog posts below:

• Making a Snow Volcano
• Fake Snow that is Cold
• Snow Dough

The post 8 Amazing Snow Activities for Preschoolers! appeared first on Mrs V's Chickadees.

This snow volcano science experiment will get kids super excited and engaged! It’s simple to set up, and you probably already have all of the ingredients at home!

You Might Also Like These Posts:     

• How to Make Snow Dough
• Winter Sensory Bins 
• How to Make Cold Snow

Snow Volcano Set-Up

First, you need to make your fake snow. This will allow kids to shape and form things, such as a volcano.
Mix baking soda and shaving cream to do this. If you want the mixture to be cold, leave the baking soda in the freezer overnight. We didn’t measure when making our snow. We just started with the baking soda and just kept adding shaving cream until we had the consistency we wanted.
Now you want to set up your vinegar cups. We used three cups of vinegar and added food dye to each cup.

Grab an eye dropper or syringe and that’s it! You are ready to have some fun!

Snow Volcano Experiment

We didn’t have any liquid droppers on us so we used an old syringe from an infant Tylenol bottle. Since my boy has never used one before, I started by showing him how to pull up the liquid and then dispense it. I told him that baking soda (from the sensory bin) and vinegar have a special reaction when they touch. Let me tell you, he was shocked when he saw what happened!

The baking soda bubbles and rises up, plus the food dye makes for a wonderful colorful display! Nico had a blast squirting the vinegar in all different spots of his sensory bin!

He was determined to cover every white spot he could find with some colored vinegar.

When he finished covering all of the white spots with the food colored vinegar, he asked if he could play with it. He dug right in and got messy with this bin. Then he started bringing in some of his favorite toys to play with. I love how creative kids can be when given no instruction.


This is a great winter activity that takes very little set-up. It’s sure to engage children of all ages!
If you are looking for more snow-themed fun, make sure to check out these activities:

• Snow Dough in Two Simple Steps
• Fake Snow That is Cold!

And don’t forget to check out this snow-themed resource.

The post How to Make a Snow Volcano! appeared first on Mrs V's Chickadees.

What kid doesn’t love playing with snow? Did you know you can make it at home with only 2 ingredients? It is a perfect winter activity for your toddler or preschooler.  Keep reading for this easy tutorial and ideas for your winter snow sensory bin!

How To Make Snow At Home

For me, the making of the snow is a part of the learning. This is a science experiment that is perfect for toddlers and preschoolers! We are taking two ingredients and combining them to make something different.

The two ingredients you will need to make fake snow are flour and oil. I used coconut oil. PLEASE BE AWARE OF ANY FOOD ALLERGIES BEFORE DOING THIS. My son is allergic to some tree nuts, coconut is not one of them so we can use it. However, if coconut oil is not an option, you can also use vegetable oil or baby oil. I took 4 cups of flour and close to 1 cup of coconut oil. Mix these two together until you get a consistency that will allow you to create “snowballs” with it.

If you have glitter, it adds a nice touch, so go ahead and let your littles sprinkle some in.

Winter Activities for Preschoolers

You don’t need winter-themed toys to make this snow sensory bin fun. Create an invitation to play by providing them with a variety of craft supplies and manipulatives.

I keep a bin of random craft supplies in my basement. I went and grabbed some things I thought might work with this fake snow.  I also had some counting bear manipulatives and our typical sensory bin tools (scoops, tweezers, measuring spoons). I put all of this in a chip and dip tray from the dollar store and placed it in between both kids. No directions were needed. They just dug right in and got to exploring.

You can really use anything, just know that whatever they put in the fake snow will most likely end up being garbage at the end. I was able to wash the items made of plastic (bears, scoops, tweezers), but the pom poms and stuff were tossed when we were done.

Playing With Fake Snow

Now it’s time to let the magic happen. Let your children explore and create in any way they want. To me, this is the beauty of sensory bins. There is no right or wrong way of doing it.

This activity can get a bit messy. Be prepared to vacuum up the flour that made it’s way out of their sensory bin. I had my kids at the dining room table. If I do this activity again, I will put them on the floor with a large towel or sheet under them.

When my preschooler started to lose interest, we challenged him to make things with the snow. This brought a new level of excitement to the winter activity. Some of the things he created were a snowflake sandwich, face, and a snowman.

Overall, this activity cost me zero dollars (I had all of the supplies in my house already), took about 3 minutes to prep, and kept my children busy for an hour. I’d say that’s a win!

If you end up making this fake snow, I’d love to hear about it and see your pictures. Make sure to tag me on Instagram @mrsvschickadees

Ingredients

4 cups of flour

1/2-1 cup of coconut oil (can be vegetable oil, olive oil or baby oil)

Glitter (optional)

Directions

Put 4 cups of flour in a bowl

Start by adding 1/2 cup of oil and mixing it up. If the consistency is not right, continue to add oil. You want to be able to make “snowballs” out of the mixture

Sprinkle glitter to add a shimmer

If you are looking for other winter sensory bin ideas check out this post:

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