Winter Play and Book Ideas for Young Children

There are so many opportunities for young children to learn and play in winter - whether you live in a snowy climate or not!

Help children enjoy the season with special activities, so they can explore the outdoor environment and do seasonal activities indoors as well.  Today we're sharing some ideas for indoor and outdoor winter play, inspired by Days With Grey.  See their website for "40 Fun Winter Activities for Kids" and several other articles on fun learning activities for winter.

Here are some activities to keep young children busy on cold winter days!
 
Indoor Play:

• Snuggle up with a blanket and a book. Read to your child and also let them see you reading for pleasure!
• Act out favorite stories, letting children choose props for retelling (“What could we use for a magic wand?” “How would the farmer in the story dress?” “What could we use to make a pretend castle?”
• “Pretend” skate inside
• Practice putting on sweaters or jackets and socks.
• When doing laundry, have children help match socks or mittens, or compare sizes.
• Play a “freeze” game like freeze tag or “freeze” when the music stops.
• Make soup or hot chocolate together: measuring, mixing and tasting! - 

Speaking of cooking, my preschool classes used to enjoy reading Stone Soup by Marsha Brown and cooking their own.  This is a great cooperative activity that can involve all the children's families as they each contribute an ingredient to the soup.  You may want to invite them to join the children for the feast!

Outside Play:

• Prepare by talking about cold weather safety, dressing for the weather, and walking on snow and ice.
• Observe and describe nature’s changing seasons, weather and activities, like melting snow or ice, differences in shady areas compared to sunny places.
• Place a shallow container of water outside when temperatures are expected to get below freezing. Add found objects before, make predictions, and talk about what happens.
• Try winter sports and activities like sledding or hockey.
• Make a birdfeeder: (as simple as a pinecone covered in peanut butter and rolled in birdseed)

Inside or Out:

• Build a snowman, real or pretend (playdough, pillows, paper)! 
• Toss snowballs, real or pretend (paper, yarn, wool).

Children interested in science and nature may look for flowers, seeds, plants, and/or insects or animals. Talk about roots underground, animals hibernating or migrating, and other signs of nature's changes in winter. Nothing in nature is active in every season, except young children! 

​​Letting children experience new things through play is priceless! Please comment with your children’s favorite play activities in winter!

Book Ideas

Here are 6 more "oldie but goodie" winter books we love - and some fun follow-ups that they inspire:

1.  The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
What can The Snowy Day teach us about play?
Here’s what ECS team member Marjorie Wild has to say:
“One of my favorite Winter books to share with kids is The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. I love the illustrations and the chance to do collage art with my young students. Living in Louisiana, we never experienced the deep snow seen in the story, so it depicted something curious and unknown to us through the eyes of a little boy. As I looked again at the book this week, I thought of something else. Peter, the boy in the story, experiences a snowy day through unstructured play. (I do not recommend sending a small child out in the snow to play alone!) For the purposes of the story, and perhaps reflecting a time when children were allowed more independent play, (it was first published in 1962), Peter puts on his snowsuit and safely navigates his neighborhood learning all kinds of things about snow! And so does the reader.” 

In the story, Peter:
-Describes the sound of walking through the snow
-Makes footprints then drags his feet, making tracks in the snow
-Finds out what happens when he hits a snow covered branch with a stick
-Makes a snowman and snow angels out of snow
-Slides down hills
-And he finds out what happens when he brings a snowball home in his pocket!

What do you think Peter has learned through play?  And what do your children learn on a snowy day?

2.  Snow by Roy McKie and P.D. Eastman
This is a Random House Beginner book with simple words and rhyming text.

Follow up suggestions to the above two books: 
-Give your children a chance to explore their own snowy day.  Or, if it doesn't snow in your area, either of these children’s books will introduce the concept.
-Then provide opportunities for play with ice and water 

3.  The Mitten (Ukrainian folktale) book by Jan Brett
Act out The Mitten using stuffed animals and a blanket or pillow case as a pretend mitten. Or as I did, sew a super size “mitten” out of stretchy fabric for kids to be the characters in the story themselves!

4.  Snowballs by Lois Ehlert 
Talk about the found objects in the pictures and then use found objects to make your own real snow family or indoor collage art. Take a picture of your snowperson to share like those in the back of the book and learn “What makes snow?” in the book’s backmatter.

5.  Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman
This book has rhyming verse, descriptive language, predictable text, animal vocabulary, onomatopoeia, and a story of friendship! Act out bear waking up and let children make predictions throughout the story. Then make popcorn and tea for your own party!

6.  Snow is Falling by Franklyn Branley
This is a non-fiction book with kid-friendly illustrations and explanations of the effects of snow on people, animals and plants. On a snowy day, take a walk outside, look at a snowflake with a magnifying glass, and recall concepts from the story.

Notes About Winter Books:
Check your local library or favorite bookseller for these and other books about winter. You can also check online for read-aloud video versions of these books.  Check online on YouTube and our website store for our eepworm books, too. Although they are not about winter, they are perfect for your kids to spend some cozy winter snuggling time with you and a cherished comfort object! 

Remember to include non-fiction books in your classroom collection.  They can help answer  many of the “why” questions that young children may have.  They can also help them - and us - understand the science and nature that surrounds us.

Sharing reading with your children helps build personal connections and develop important literacy skills. Positive experiences with books lead to lifelong learning!

​What are some of your favorite books about winter?

---

References

Branley, F. M. & Stone, H. (1963). Snow is falling (Let's Read-And-Find-Out Science, Book) Ty Crowell Co.
Brett, J. (1989). The mitten: a Ukrainian folktale. New York: Putnam
Brown, M. (1947). Stone soup: an old tale. Charles Scribner's Sons.
Ehlert, L. (1995). Snowballs. Carion Books
Keats, E. J. (1962). The snowy day. New York: Viking Press.
McKie, R. & Eastman, P. D. (1962) Beginner Books, a division of Random House, Inc.
Rosenbleeth, B. M. (December 9, 2022). 40 fun winter activities for kids. Days with Grey. https://dayswithgrey.com/fun-winter-activities-for-kids/
Wilson, K., & Chapman, J. (2005). Bear snores on. New York: Scholastic/Weston Woods Studios, Inc