Beyond the Book (and Off to the Park) with Denise Fleming's "Time to Sleep"

We were not spared by last week's polar vortex and temperatures here dropped below freezing for several days in a row. It was the perfect time to be learning about winter and animals' behavior during that time--we all felt like hibernating here! S has been delving into these topics in school and I planned that this week we would delve back into some of our Winter Story Stretchers at home.

So, of course temperatures have risen from a frigid low of 17 degrees last Tuesday to a high this past Tuesday of 71! It was the perfect afternoon to go to a favorite park nearby where they recently remodeled the playground equipment. (I actually took Y on Monday to test drive the new slides while S was at school but we didn't tell him...shhhh!) I knew the park would be packed and crowded and that there was only about an hour left of daylight once we would get there. I also knew that very likely the boys would be more interested in the playground equipment than sitting down to a book together, but nonetheless, I packed my bag with Time to Sleep, a beautifully illustrated book about animals preparing for winter hibernation by Denise Fleming, a basket of animal characters and a couple more empty baskets we saved from a family trip to a U-Pick berry farm over the summer.

I'm big on literacy at home and in the classroom. However, I'm bigger on love of literacy than any other area of its development in young children. Reading together doesn't need to be a sedentary, indoor activity in my home (or in my classrooms). Taking books outdoors is a great way to extend the life and setting of a good story! It's also often challenging to get outdoors with our children in the winter months, and while we definitely stayed mostly inside during last week's polar vortex, it feels very important to soak up every bit of sun when we can be outside together. We can teach about winter and animals in winter through direct instruction indoors, but when we take the lesson outside, children can experience and explore the season in action and through all senses and learning styles.

We started our park visit at a picnic table, enjoying a little dinner and S actually asked to read our book. Y was feeling a bit more eager to try a swing, so you know what? I stopped reading in the middle of the book! And that's OK! I have actual memories of playing school as a child and reading a book aloud to my imaginary students when I would realize the book was too challenging for my current reading level or that I was bored of reading it and I would struggle as I put it down with the internal question of whether it was ever OK for a teacher to not finish a book. Furthermore, was it ever OK for a person to put a book down and not read it from cover to cover? I am here today as a fully literate and recovered reluctant reader who has a passion for early literacy to tell you--YES, it is OK to put a book down. Even when you are teaching. Even when you are a parent. Even for yourself. Whether or not you pick it up again later, the next day or never again. It is OK to put a book down.

S found seed pods, acorns (many of them emptied
by something or someone snacking before winter,
even dried corn kernels on the ground, and of course,
many interesting sticks--his current currency of choice.

At first, S wanted to use some items from nature and spaces near the playground to build dens for our animal toys and puppets to hibernate in. Then he saw the new climbing structure and our animals were restored to their cozy basket and hung from the hook on the handle of our double stroller to watch as the boys played, climbed, ran and slid for the final moments of daylight. Then, I did a sneaky parenting type of thing as it was time to go where I trick the kids into doing something slightly educational and lots of fun. I offered, as it was time to go, to go the "short way right to the car" or the "long way, around the pond to walk and gather nuts and seed pods and other treasures in our gathering baskets and pretend the we are going to hibernate!" (See what I did there? Guess which option they picked? Which would you pick?)

Nature walks like this are so valuable in so many ways. We work on skills like observation--where might an animal look for food to gather for winter? How might an animal move about to find things? We talk about the idea of gathering things from nature--leaving what is still alive and growing in a way that we found it, taking only small amounts of treasure for ourselves and leaving the rest of nature in nature (and not taking anything from areas that are under preservation restrictions or private property). We also work on basic safety skills like staying together, being aware of our surroundings and proximity to water or dogs and pedestrians or surface changes.
As a parent of young children, I find it is easiest to keep my boys buckled in our double stroller as we stroll around the pond. I know where they are, no one is running up ahead, there's no danger of falling into a body of still very cold pond water! Those fears grow in size with Y, who has a very different attitude about walking independently in public places than S did at that age. I remember practicing staying together in this park with S and he was so eager to listen when I would say or sing the directions to stop and wait. Y....not so much! He is a young man with a mission. The mission is always evolving. He is also a young man with a visual delay and low vision. Although he has glasses to support this, using his eyes as a resource is not his first mode of navigating the world around him. And he's busy. And fast. At least once a day, I am muttering the words "remind me to thank his physical therapist" through clenched teeth as he ascends to new heights and darts off to new distances... It takes so much energy and focus for me to refrain from constantly uttering the words "be careful!" I want him to observe and navigate his space with confidence. I also want him to be safe. I try to verbalize this in ways that encourage him to observe his surroundings while also maintaining a healthy level of cautious confidence.
For some little ones learning to navigate large outdoor or public spaces more independently, having something to hold and focus on like a gathering basket can be very helpful. Y preferred to abandon the basket and bask in the sunset. We both had a great opportunity to work together on staying together at the park last night and rather than avoiding these scenarios, I will intentionally be pursuing them continually with him (and perhaps toting along a soothing travel mug of tea for myself...)

Y was quite fond of the snail in the book, insistent
upon wearing the finger puppet for most of the
evening. S and I were so amazed to learn that
snails seal up their shells for winter hibernation!

Learning about winter and animals in winter can be such an exciting way to actively embrace a season that is often thought of as barren and dormant. There are definitely barriers this time of year, whether you live in a climate prone to winter weather and especially if you live in one not prone to winter weather. Nonetheless, getting outside and reading--and playing--together is a great way to fight off those seasonal blues and soak up the learning and vitamin D while you're at it. My original plan with this book was to gather the toy animals indoors and pitch our play tent and allow the boys to build dens, nests and sleeping spots for each one and maybe for themselves. I'm so glad that some unexpected sunny days led us outdoors instead, story and story basket in tow. We've left our target book out in our living room library shelf and the story basket set in front. Story drama through the use of small toys, puppets or play acting is a great way for children to expand on what they have learned through reenacting story sequences or adding on their own elements.





If you'd like to expand upon this particular story stretcher, a teacher friend of mine did a beautiful STEM setup using toy animals from the book and a collection of natural and nature-based loose parts for her students to build dens for the animals to hibernate. It's also a great book to use alongside this simple clay sensory bin and play about animals in winter. We've mixed in forest and arctic animals, but you can choose one or the other, or specifically the animals in the book. The clay becomes a perfect medium for observing animal tracks as well as for constructing dens, caves, nests or even igloos.

I hope this leaves you with a bit of whimsy and inspiration. Whether you're indoors and avoiding an arctic chill or outside soaking up unseasonable summer temperatures in the middle of winter, it's the perfect season for reading together and, as always, happily playing!

Winter Story Stretcher: "The Story of the Snow Children" by Sibylle von Olfers

The wondrous world that exists in Sibylle von Olfers' children's books may be teeny tiny, but they truly stretch the imagination to new heights. S and Y still frequently ask to hear The Story of the Root Children before bedtime and this winter, I was eager to add The Story of the Snow Children to our collection. These whimsical tales naturally lend themselves to storytelling and play acting, so I knew that this would be an integral part of this story stretcher in our Winter Break Story Stretchers Playcamp. \

I introduced our book and a simple craft to decorate winter crowns for our Morning Work activity the day before we were to do our story stretcher. We used snowflake stickers and glitter crayons to decorate our crowns as we would be playing the part of guests at the royal feast of the Snow Queen and her little Princess on her birthday. I love setting out a small world display to introduce our book and morning activity. I used our peg doll family and a collection of peg doll snowmen pulling them on a tiny sled. The boys enjoyed playing with that as much as making their crowns.

When it was time to start our story stretcher, the boys were greeted on the rug with a welcoming song and our own makeshift sleigh. But before it was time to board, we danced around the room like the snow children do in the book and bundled up in warm clothes like Poppy, the main character, just as she is about to embark on her wintry adventure. Our sleigh took us to the table where our own royal feast was ready to be served: iced tea (as in the book) and "snow snacks" (Muddy Buddies I prepared in advance from this recipe since we did not have white chocolate as mentioned in the book). The boys loved having iced tea poured from our fanciest tea pot!

As the boys sipped and snacked, I finished reading the book. S and Y donned their winter crowns for the royal dancing around our living room...

S really wanted to act out the story again from the beginning! I told him he can retell it and act it out as many times as he'd like! That's the wonderful thing about storytelling and great literature. We gathered once more at the table for a story related craft, making "crystal" flowers like the ones described in the icy garden in the Snow Queen's royal kingdom. We used recycled plastic bottles that I cut and prepared ahead of time to look like flowers. The boys used permanent markers in cool wintry colors and some blue and silver gem stickers to decorate their flowers. Later we would string some dental floss through a hole I punched in each one and hang them from our dining room window to capture the light and bring some colorful life to our own winter season.

Great authors are the ones that make you want to read and retell again and again. Sibylle von Olfers may not be among the most popular of children's authors in our country, but she is truly a beloved one in this household. If you can get a hold of any of her books, they truly do warm and heart and spark the imagination. We will be back soon with another ice cold story stretcher--even as our winter break draws to a close and we prepare to go back to school. Until then...a happy and healthy new year and, of course...

Happy Playing!

Art Together: "Frozen" Mixed Medium Paintings on Canvas

If given the opportunity, Y would probably paint all day long. Give him a brush, a stick, a sponge or just his own two hands and he's one happy dude as long as there's paint involved. He'll probably ask for a "samock" [smock] to go with it... Y goes through phases of liking to paint and being less drawn to that medium. I like to include process art opportunities at home working with plenty of mediums. I also know the value in open ended exploration of high quality art materials, so I do include supplies like real canvas, quality acrylic and watercolor paints, "real" brushes, oil pastels, chalks, clay and more. When I saw how teacher Sally Haughey of Fairy Dust Teaching used a collaborative art activity with her preschool class to capture her students' interest in the motion picture "Frozen," I was inspired! Over the course of several days, she introduced a large canvas and a variety of painting mediums and loose parts for her students to work together and create a truly chilling masterpiece.

I love the idea of stretching out an art experience over more than one day. I think that so many times when it comes to creative work and art with children, we push a "deadline" and "production" mentality. This does not honor the time it may take to fully experience and explore materials and it does not value the child's process in that. For some children, this may become apparent when they have difficulty transitioning from a project. For others, it may manifest as a lack of interest in beginning or staying with an art activity. Different children feel differently about art and require different amounts of time. Additionally, they may be more drawn to certain mediums than others--especially if sensory preferences come into play. One thing I do believe universally is that children engage more with the experience of exploring art when we join in. So while I opted to provide separate canvases for each artist involved rather than to collaborate on one, I did make this an "Art Together" activity here--one where we would all sit (myself included) and work on the project each day. Both boys (and I!) came to look forward to adding the next step each day and watching the paintings transform. The experience was incredible and the finished results were museum worthy! Here's a peek at our process:

Day 1: We used acrylic paints in a variety of cool colors and some textured sponge roller brushes on canvas. Each of us had a recycled sushi tray with paints lined up side by side. We mixed, rolled, dipped and rolled again. S, usually a minimalist, filled his canvas from corner to corner with colorful layers of paint. Y, usually a page filler, restricted his work to the center of the canvas, leaving the borders white.

 Day 2: This time, I set out six sectioned pallets with purple and blue tempera paint and black and white on either side. I provided Q-tip brushes, and the boys were encouraged to mix colors, shades and hues as they desired. S loved using the Q-tip to make squiggles and dots. Y started off with the Q-tip, but transitioned to his fingers. S, who often does not like to finger paint, did want to try it that day, and used his finger as well to make dots, then covering them up with more lines and squiggles. I tried both methods, making Q-tip dots on one corner and finger squiggles coming down from the opposite corner.

While S is often averse to getting "hands on" in paint, he was
inspired by Y. Having wet washcloths at the ready can help
a sensory sensitive artist feel more comfortable to explore.

Day 3: If there's anything I love just about as much as process art, it's loose parts. And the two of those combined are a match made in heaven! The only thing that could possibly make that an even more desirable combo for my little guys is the addition of glue. Yes, glue! Today, our "paint" was concocted of glue and food coloring. A sectioned tray was set up with a variety of small glass gems, silver hex nuts, and beads--all in wintry shades. Each artist was given a cup filled 2/3 full with clear gel glue and a wooden craft stick for mixing. Each artist also got to choose a color to add and small loose parts to mix in. I love using recycled plastic fruit cups for this as they are translucent for easy viewing and the perfect size for "portion control." We mixed our "ingredients" in the cups and poured, drizzled, scraped, spread and sprinkled the concoctions over our canvases.

I really loved watching how they mixed, poured and got hands in and hands on with this step. We worked slowly and intentionally. We didn't worry about being sticky or getting messy (smocks and a disposable tablecloths help with this). Nobody worried or fought about not having "enough" materials because the cups really helped designate a space for what we needed. I am actually quite happy I captured a few moments on film during which S remarked that the glue concoction reminded him of jelly. I quickly turned off the camera just as Y thought S meant it actually was jelly and then wiped a lovely shade of purple sticky goo from his bottom lip!

Day 4: Oh, is it ever wistful when good things come to an end, but at least the "end" of this art experience will leave us with a lasting souvenir. On the final day of our painting, we each mixed a small recycled cup of white school glue with glitter in blue, white and silver.There were wooden craft sticks and wide paintbrushes for everyone to use. S was the first to mix his "paint" and then Y. S asked if he could pour his paint again and I said he could. Y opted to use his craft stick to spread and scrape it on. I tried pouring, drizzling and then brushing thinner layers over flat spaces and edges. And what's the only thing in the world that's better than glitter? Why, more glitter, of course! S asked for more glue and glitter and then asked if he could also sprinkle glitter over the top of his painting. I love being able to say yes and on this day, "Yes" was brought to you by a disposable tablecloth we've used again and again for almost a year. I knew that I could roll it up and toss it when we finished and before I knew it, we were all three eagerly shaking glitter over our canvases.

I'm pretty impressed with the finished results (even though in the photo collage above, the glue is still drying). But even more than my joy in seeing these on display in our home is the joy I got in creating them together. I really look forward to concocting and creating some more family masterpieces together in the future. I also especially love this article with 5 Paint Invitations to Embrace the Explore Stage for more ideas on how to encourage and introduce painting to young artists at home or in the classroom. This was such a fun addition to our Winter Break Playcamp and we will be back next week to share some more fabulous story stretchers with you. Until then...

Happy playing!

Winter Story Stretcher: "Snowmen at Night" By Caralyn and Mark Buehner

I don't know how I missed author and illustrator team, Caralyn and Mark Beuner's Snowmen book series until this year, but if you haven't seen them yet, run--don't walk--to your local library! Snowmen at Night is a delightful story written in captivating rhymes that tells the imaginative story of what snowmen do all night long while we're fast asleep. It's always a wonder to come outside in the morning and see your snowman flopping to one side or missing a few parts. S's knowledge of snow science helped him solve the mystery of our own snowman as he melted, but it's still fun to imagine a world where snowmen sled, skate and have snowball fights and baseball games only to return, slightly disheveled to their posts in our yard by morning.

It's so much fun to imagine about this that I thought S in particular would enjoy making his own Snowman at Night story and both boys would love to illustrate it. Most times when we do a story stretcher activity, I begin with the book. But with a book we have already read or sometimes even one we haven't, it's fun to go in reverse order. On the morning we were going to take Snowmen at Night beyond the book, I set out our theme related art activity for Table Time.

The boys were greeted in the morning by 5 little snowmen on display with our target story and black card stock, Crayola Metallic FX Crayons (great for dark backgrounds) and a selection of white crayons, oil pastels and chalk for creating their own nighttime snowmen scene. I also set out some fun snowman and star stickers. Both boys surprised me with their response to this activity. Y loved sticking and re-sticking the snowman face stickers around his paper. He then took a white oil pastel and drew dots of "snow" all around the page. S expressed some anxiety about being "able to draw" a snowman and asked me to do it for him. He does not typically ask for help with artwork when we do more process oriented art. I think the formality of more "directed" drawing threw him off at first--and that was even before he got to the table! I wondered then if I should not have put out my own version on display, but it didn't seem to bother him once he sat down. In fact, with a quick statement of reassurance that there are many right ways to draw about and tell a story and that each person's picture would be different and unique, he sat down and got quite busy. He told a story as he drew and used his stickers about snowmen going to space. He then wanted to know if we had any rocket ship stickers he could use (we did-with robots on them, too!) and added that to his illustration and story.

S was so delightfully proud of his work and his story that he asked to bring it as "show and tell" to our story stretcher time on the rug. Y brought along our snowmen to hear the story as well! Both boys shared their version of the story that I took down as dictation on separate paper. We hung their finished illustrations and dictations on our "museum wall," a space for family artwork along our staircase. Next, we read the story together.

This was a shorter stretcher than some we do. Sometimes if you're short on time, one simple activity is really all you need. If you'd like to do more, incorporate some science and sensory play with Fizzy the Snowman!

We also love this cute little winter fingerplay, sung to the tune of "10 Little Indians:" (note: this is not my own song and I also do not know to whom credit for it is due, but you are welcome to enjoy it as much as we do!)

Five Little Snowmen

Five little snowmen sitting in the snow
Waiting for the winter winds to blow
Along came the sun, and what do you know
Slush, slush, slush and away one goes!

Four little snowmen sitting in the snow...
(continue until the last snowman melts and...)
Slush, slush, slush and away he goes!




You can sing this song with your fingers as snowmen, but I have loved using handmade stick puppets in the past or, this year, little plush snowmen I found at Dollar Tree and a makeshift sun puppet from some recycled artwork we made over the summer. I remember how much S loved this song as a baby and toddler (and he still does). Now it is Y who eagerly carries over the snowmen in their basket, our sun puppet and a laminated song sheet (even though we all have it memorized) so we can sing and act it out again and again!

Whether your world outside is white and wondrous or your only snowmen are indoor versions right now, I hope you're enjoying our Winter Break Story Stretchers so far. We will be back soon with another one and some other great Winter themed play activities to keep you busy at home or the classroom.

Until then, stay warm (not too warm if you happen to be a snowman) and...

Happy Playing!

Winter Story Stretcher: "The Fox and the Falling Leaves" by Julia Rawlinson

Most folks would probably think of Julia Rawlinson's The Fox and the Falling Leaves (also under the title Fletcher and the Falling Leaves) as Fall themed book and, indeed it does whimsically share the tale of a young fox, Fletcher and his fruitless attempts at "saving" his favorite tree from this thing called Autumn that is responsible for causing all of its leaves to fall off. As Fletcher tries again and again to help restore his poor, beloved tree to its leafy Summer self, he is confronted again and again by Autumn's seemingly gravitational pull and some other woodland critters who are of little help. There is a magical Wintry surprise at the end that makes this the perfect book to transition seasons. We chose this book for a star role in our Winter Break Story Stretchers Playcamp on the afternoon before Winter solstice and to celebrate and honor Autumn's departure with a fun STEAM activity to go along with it.

Lest you think that our Story Stretcher times look picture book perfect, there's Y wandering in the background and S trying to hear the story over his singing...

"Tree, tree!" shouted Y, gleefully bringing me the pipe cleaner tree from our activity setup at the table!

We gathered (more or less) on the rug for our story together, and then took to the table for our STEAM Challenge to Build a Winter Tree. This is the perfect activity to combine fine motor skills, art, engineering and creativity as the children got to use cotton ball "snow" and a prepared pipe cleaner tree trunk (I found a great tutorial and the inspiration for this project on the blog Play Trains!) If you have older kids, they can shape and form their own tree trunks and branches from pipe cleaners. Cotton balls have a lovely way of sticking to the pipe cleaners and Y even discovered how to pull them apart and stretch the cotton like drifts of snow. I was quite impressed! S followed suit. The harder challenge is getting loose parts like glass gems, sea glass and mosaic tiles to withstand slipping through the branches to taking the whole tree down! It's a challenge we were up for! As the boys were busy building, designing, constructing and reconstructing, I thought it might be fun to add in some Fletcher to Fox characters, and offered them each a small toy fox from our collection of winter forest animals.

I love using the collection of building prompts from Pocket of Preschool's Winter STEM pack to introduce our activity at the table. It supports the print rich environment I strive for and provides visual inspiration as well. To try this activity at home you will need pipe cleaners (black or brown) for your tree base and cotton balls for snow (alternatively you could use fiber fill or wool batting). Glass gems, mosaic tiles and/or sea glass make a lovely optional addition and the addition of a toy fox or other small toy woodland animals could make for some great small world play and storytelling.

I almost never know what activities will draw the boys in (one or both) and which will sustain their attention and curiosity. This one was a huge winner!  I aim to set up our area in ways that are thought provoking and visually appealing. The formality of wooden bowls added a sense of beauty and reverence to their work area and I think that goes a long way in capturing their interest. I love finding these at secondhand stores. I find them super inexpensively and they are great for storing and organizing art materials, loose parts, small toys, even jewelry and small personal objects. They are also a lovely addition to dramatic and sensory play. Both boys really had a great time with this activity and were quite pleased when I showed them that all of the parts to recreate it are readily available in our Winter STEAM drawers or other easy to access areas in our play space. I think it is especially important when children do take an interest in an activity like this to make it available for recreation and repetition.

With that, we've officially said so long to Autumn and welcomed Winter! And we will be back soon with some more Winter themed Story Stretcher fun. Until then...

Happy Reading and Happy Playing!

Winter Story Stretchers: "Owl Babies" by Martin Waddell

Owl Babies by Martin Waddell has been a favorite children's book of mine since my own mother used to read it to me. I still remember the little squeaky voice she used when playing the part of little Bill calling out "I want my mommy!" (And yes, I use the same squeaky little voice when reading it to my students or to S and Y.) It is not specifically a winter themed book, but I tend to read it a lot in the wintertime along with other books about owls. Last year I needle-felted a set of baby owls for the purpose of storytelling with this book and they were a hoot to add to this year's story stretcher as well! We chose this book as a story stretcher on a particularly mild morning. Y was actually napping at the time, so it was just S and I. We took the book along with some accessories (and of course, our little owls) out to the play garden to read and then retell the story.

S wanted to read it together on the front stairs. I also brought along National Geographic Kids: Hoot, Owl!, a non-fiction book about snow owls and plush owl we bought from our last Scholastic order. This easy reader had great photographs of actual snow owls and some interesting facts about them as well. We learned that the color of the owls' feathers help it to camouflage and keep safe from potential predators. Since we have been winterizing our play garden and trying to make it a place where birds and critters who do stick around for the season can eat and rest, S had in mind to make some bird seed treats. I had not actually planned this as an activity on that particular morning, so quite last minute, we gathered some materials from around the house. I typically use pine cones for this popular craft, but we didn't have the opportunity to gather any outside and with Y fast asleep upstairs, a walk to the woods nearby was out of the question. Instead, I raided our recycling bin for some cardboard tubes and punched a couple of holes in the top to thread yarn through for hanging. We brought those, along with some natural peanut butter and a plastic knife to spread it as well as a dish of birdseed outside with us. S decided he was worried about getting peanut butter on his mittens (which he didn't want to take off) so I spread the peanut butter. He helped sprinkle seed on top and I helped roll and press it on. We hung the finished treats on our big front bush (we don't actually have any trees on our property here) and they are ready for our feathered friends! We also refilled our half empty bird feeder with the remaining seed.

Next we decided to retell the story of Owl Babies using our needle-felted set of baby owls and our larger, plush owl as the mother. We took turns (per S's lead) playing the part of hiding the mother and filling in details about what she was doing while she was away. One time she was eating bird seed. Another time, she brought the owls a stick for their nest. Yet another time, she went away to gather some pine cones and seed pods to bring them to eat.

Some fallen branches made the perfect "trees" to stick into the ground for the owl babies' home.

They fit just perfectly inside the branches!

In this retelling of the story, S had Mother hide in the bush where she was eating a birdseed treat!

Mother has returned to her owl babies with flowers for their garden, and some delicious seeds for the babies to nibble.

I love the power of retelling stories from children's literature through play drama. Whether using small toys or large props, play acting story lines and adding to or altering the story can help children recall and comprehend the sequence of what they have read as well as take control over problems in the plot or parts that were disconcerting or frightening. It also helps them to work through their own personal problems or worries through play. This book is a great one for supporting the concerns children have over separation anxiety and typical childhood fears in general. We had such a wonderful time playing about it outside that when it was time to gather our owls and come in, S continued to play inside! He wasn't sure what to use for a tree at first but quickly resolved his own problem and headed to a large basket of recycled cardboard tubes we were gifted from a friend and fellow early childhood educator. He quickly had three little trees set up for the babies and one large tree for Mother Owl to hide in!

We will be back with more winter story stretchers and even some more owl themed and tree themed fun to come! Until then...

Happy Reading and Happy Playing!

Winter Story Stretchers: The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats

Winter Break is here! And although the snow we had outside has melted, we are enjoying some winter themed story stretchers at home (and some time playing and exploring outside as well). This year for our Winter Break Story Stretchers Playcamp, I've selected 10 of our favorite winter themed books along with some fun play, storytelling, sensory, art, science and STEM/STEAM challenge activities to go along with them. If you're at home over these next couple of weeks and looking for some play at home fun, these are great! If you're traveling and busy, they're great to store in the vault for an unexpected snow day or weekend at home. And if you're a classroom teacher looking for some theme related activities when you return, here's your source!

Those tiny little toes belong to baby S!

This first story stretcher was a bit of a sneak preview here since we did it on a snow day a couple of weeks ago. The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats has been a favorite book of ours for four years and just as many generations! It's a book I remember reading at my own grandmother's house, one that held a special spot on my mother's bookshelf and one of the first ones we bought for S as a baby.



Before we got our own copy of the book, I borrowed it frequently from the library. Our local branch had a set with extension activities that I photocopied to make our own laminated Peter stick puppet (and a snowman). S still loves that Peter puppet! You could draw, photocopy from the book, or print off your own picture of Peter to make a Peter puppet if you wish.

S and Y like to read this book all year round, but on our snow day, it was the first choice S grabbed from the bookshelf while Y took his morning nap. Once Y was up, we went out into our own snow and brought along some special ingredients to build our own snowman. We also brought along some ziplock sandwich bags for each boy to collect his own snowball to take home. But unlike Peter, who stores his in his coat pocket, we decided to store ours in the freezer. This has become a winter tradition here for the past few years and it is always such an exciting day (often a day close to Pesach when we are cleaning out our freezers, longer after any snow has melted here) when we take out our special snowballs to play with inside!

When we got inside, I had a fun process art activity set up at the table. I made some "Snow" Puffy Paint using about equal parts white glue and shaving cream. I mixed in some silver glittter and set out a cup for each of the boys. I offered both a wooden craft stick and a paint brush for them and had some wet wash cloths ready for sticky hands. If they wanted to go all in and fingerpaint, we were ready! If they didn't, there were options for that as well. We used dark blue card stock for our background.

Both of the boys LOVED the paint. It was fun dab, dot, drizzle and smear. One thing I did not take into consideration was that the white glue would dry clear, so if you want your Snow Puffy Paint to dry white, you'll want to add some white paint to the mix or use a flour and white paint mixture for your snow paint rather than glue and shaving cream. What I loved about the results was that it actually dried a shade of light purple that really reminds me of Keats' beautiful illustrations in The Snowy Day!

When we were done, the paintings needed to dry overnight. The next morning, I set the dried paintings at the boys' Morning Work table along with a red paper cutout of a snowsuit like Peter's that I drew and cut from red card stock, a printed photo of each boy's face to glue on top so they could play the role of "Peter" in the painting and a selection of winter themed stickers we had for them to add. I love how they each chose to add to their paintings and how they turned out in the end. I mounted them on black construction paper and we hung them on display in the living room for all to see.

This activity is the perfect combination of process art where the boys totally used the materials in their own way and "prepared project" where we added more formal components (like the "Peter" I helped to prepare and the stickers). They had a lot of fun taking this creative spin on a familiar book. So many times, we think we need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to preparing activities and children's book extensions for our children and I am here to say with confidence that good things are worth repeating. A great book is worth reading again and again and again. We've done story stretcher activities with this one before (you can check them out along with some other great winter themed activities here). We will probably do more in the future. And even if the snow outside is only left in small piles here and there where it has yet to melt, we can have our very own snowy day reminder inside! We'll be back with another great winter story stretcher soon.

Until then....

Happy Reading & Happy Playing!