Storytime: Let it Snow

Regular storytimes are back! After a couple week’s break over the winter holidays, we’re back for a new year, with a few tweaks to the Itty Bitty programs at my library. I took the plunge and have started a program for pre-walking babies, who had been lumped together with toddlers in the past. It’s new for me, so I spent a lot of those three weeks off (and some time earlier, too…) figuring out what and how I’ll do things differently now that the age groups I’m serving have shifted a bit.

I’ll do a separate blog post for that baby program, but shifting there also means that one of my other programs has also shifted. What used to be “Book Babies” is now “Toddler Time” serving kids ages 1-2. The other two sessions remain the same: “Teddy Bears” is ages 2-3.5, and “Family Time” still serves 0-3.5. My resolution this year was was to expand my repertoire by incorporating some new hands-on props beyond shaker eggs and scarves – instruments, rhythm sticks, ribbon bracelets, etc. I jumped in with two feet by starting with the parachute!

In the past I’d been hesitant to incorporate parachute play where we had very mobile three-year-olds in the same room as crawlers or unsteady walkers. Separating them (in most classes) means I feel better about using the parachute with both groups.

You may also notice that there aren’t a ton of activities marked (TT) – that group was super wound up this week! I didn’t do half of what I’d planned, but we got out the parachute and they enjoyed that, and they spent a little extra time during free play, so it all evened out.

This week was a very common January theme, snow. We danced like snowflakes and made a blizzard with the parachute and some cotton balls, too!

Early Literacy Tip: Seeing patterns and trying to recognize things that are alike and things that are different is a fun game for children. Such activities help them develop the mathematical concepts of patterns and relationships.

Welcome Song: Hello, Friends* (TT) (TB) (FT)**

Warm Up Song: Wake Up, Feet* (TT) (TB) (FT)
This is a repeated song that everyone seems to enjoy. I always begin and end with feet and tummies, but find two other body parts to wiggle in the middle. This week was knees and cheeks.

Lifting Rhyme: Toast in the Toaster* (TT) (FT)

Rhyme: This is Big, Big, Big* (FT)

Intro: This is the season for snow! Does anyone like to play in the snow? Let’s pretend it’s snowing right now.

Action Song: Watch the Snowflakes (TT) (TB) FT)
(tune of Frère Jacques)
Watch the snowflakes, Watch the snowflakes
Floating down, Floating down
Oh so very slowly, Oh so very slowly
To the ground, To the ground
(repeat: from so very high, quickly, twirly)
Source: Jen in the Library

Transition: If You’re Ready for a Story* (TT) (TB) (FT)

Read: Mouse’s First Snow by Lauren Thompson & Buket Erdogan (TT) (FT)

This is such a beautiful book, with stunning crisp photographs and a very simple, lyrical text. This group was fascinated. Bonus, it’s by an Indiana author!
Read: Best in Snow by April Pulley Sayre (TB)

I loved that Mouse got to do lots of fun things in the snow, like sledding! Here’s a rhyme about sledding.
Rhyme: Here’s a Hill (TT)
Here’s a hill (tilt one arm diagonally)
And here’s a hill (tilt other arm diagonally)
All covered with snow (wiggle fingers downward)
I’ll put on my coat, (mime putting a coat on)
And jump on my sled (hold the rope of a sled)
And ZOOM, down the hill I go! (clap, slide hands)
Source: Storytime Katie

For this one, we really emphasized going slow at the beginning, and fast at the end.
Bounce: Sledding (TT) (FT)
(tune of Row Your Boat)
Crunch, crunch, Crunch, crunch, crunch (sway slowly)
Up the hill so slow
Sliding, sliding, Sliding, sliding (bounce quickly)
Down the hill we go!
Source: Yogibrarian

I think it’s getting ready to snow again!
Action Song: A Snowy Sky (TB) (FT)
(tune of A Ram Sam Sam)
A big white sky, A big white sky
Snowflakes falling from a big white sky
A big white sky, A big white sky
Snowflakes falling from a big white sky
A winter breeze – BRRR!
A winter breeze – BRRR!
And snowflakes falling from a big white sky!
Source: Storytime in the Stacks

I see some colors through the snow.
Flannel Activity: Colors in the Snow (TB) (FT)
Based on this post by Abby Johnson on the ALSC Blog (and in turn, inspired by Mel’s Desk!), we looked at some colorful shapes.
The idea is to lay out several shapes of one color, saying something like, “I see a white snowflake. And a white cloud. And a white rabbit. And a white pumpkin!” The kids will likely correct you that no, that is an ORANGE pumpkin, thank you very much. Then you start again with orange things, messing up at the end of each line. When all your items are out, you can say you see something that has all those colors, what could it be? A snowman!
My shapes were mostly die cuts, though I did search for a few shapes online like the cat, crow, cloud, rabbit, and leaf.

I was so enamored with this snowman with his jaunty eyebrows that I copied it exactly from Storytime in the Stacks!
Flannel/Puppet Rhyme: A Chubby Little Snowman (TB) (FT)
A chubby little snowman
Had a carrot nose
Along came a bunny,
And what do you suppose?
That hungry little bunny,
Looking for some lunch
Ate that snowman’s nose,
With a nibble, nibble, crunch!
Source: Storytime in the Stacks

This is a very catchy tune – fair warning, it’s been stuck in my head all week!
Action Song: Once there Was a Snowman (FT)
Once was there was a snowman, a snowman, a snowman
Once there was a snowman – Tall, tall, tall!
In the sun he melted, he melted, he melted
In the sun he melted – Small, small, small!
Source: Jbrary

Parachute Time!
We started by practicing a bit, lifting up and down, shaking fast and shaking slow

After one repetition through this song, I threw a couple of handfuls of cotton balls in the middle – fun! After a couple of songs when most of them had “jumped” off, we took a short break to collect them and throw them back in the middle. After Parachute Fly, I asked the kids to find and bring up the scattered cotton balls, which they were very happy to do.
Parachute Song: Snowflake in the Sky (TT) (TB) (FT)
(tune of Twinkle, Twinkle)
Snowflake, snowflake in the sky,
Love to watch you floating by
Down you fall upon the ground,
Down you fall without a sound
Snowflake, snowflake in the sky,
Love to watch you floating by
Source: Jbrary

I accidentally planned two songs that use Frère Jacques. Oops.
Parachute Song: Dance Like Snowflakes (TT) (TB) (FT)
(tune of Frère Jacques)
Dance like snowflakes, Dance like snowflakes
In the air, in the air
Whirling twirling snowflakes, Whirling twirling snowflakes
Everywhere, everywhere
Source: Jbrary

I watched a bunch of YouTube videos of using parachutes with kids to prepare, and saw this song used by several Gymboree classes. It seems like a good one for putting the parachute away. Hopefully in time I can teach the adults to actually let go at the end – this first time took us a couple tries!
Parachute Song: Parachute Fly (TT) (TB) (FT)
tune of Skip to My Lou
Up, up, up it goes
Down, down, down so low
Raise our parachute to the sky…
Count to 3 and watch it fly!
Spoken:
Up on 1…
Down on 2…
Up on 3, and Fly!
Source: Gymboree

Action Song: Zoom, Zoom, Zoom!* (TT) (TB) (FT)

Craft: Puffy Snow Paint (TB) (FT)
Sometimes it’s nice to do a messy craft – it may inspire some families to try it at home, and it might be the one chance kids from more fastidious families might have to be messy! This really cool puffy paint is easy to make, stores easily in between uses, and dries actually puffy. It’s made with equal (ish) parts foam shaving cream and white school glue. I mixed and kept it in a large zip-top bag with the air squeezed out, and it stayed good for 3 days. There was white chalk to draw with as well, and I free-hand cut out some small black circles and orange triangles in case they wanted to make snowpeople. Fun and cute!

Play Time
The toddlers have two laundry baskets of baby toys – rattles and cars, sorters and stackers, toy phones and spinners. For the older kids, I have foam blocks, soft food toys, puzzles, and a few other items that are a little more sophisticated than the baby toys. For Family Time, I gauge the overall age of the group and put out what seems right for them. We play for 5-10 minutes at the most, then I ring the bell and ask the kids to help me clean up. I think the clean up bit is good practice for them!

Goodbye Song: See You Later Alligator* (TT) (TB) (FT)

Goodbye Rhyme: Tickle the Stars* (TT) (TB) (FT)

Other books I had available for families to browse (and may work for you on this theme)
The Snowman Shuffle – Christianne Jones & Emma Randall
In the Snow – Sharon Phillips Denslow & Nancy Tafuri
Winter Is Here – Kevin Henkes & Laura Dronzek
One Snowy Morning – Kevin Tseng & Dana Wulfekotte
The Snowy Day – Ezra Jack Keats
A Big Bed for Little Snow – Grace Lin
In My Anaana’s Amautik – Nadia Sammurtok & Lenny Lishchenko
Making a Friend – Tammi Sauer & Alison Friend
Ten on the Sled – Kim Norman & Liza Woodruff
Over & Under the Snow – Kate Messner & Christopher Silas Neal

This storytime was presented in-person on 1/9, 1/10, & 1/11/23.

Storytime Handout:

*Lyrics to these songs can be found on the Repeated Songs & Rhymes page.

**These symbols indicate the program sessions I used the activities for:
(TT) Toddler Time, ages 1-2
(TB) Teddy Bears, ages 2-3.5
(FT) Family Time, ages 0-3.5