Family Storytime: Snowmen

We started off our snowman storytime with our opening bean bag song and then got started with our first story, Snowzilla by Janet Lawler. This is a story about building the biggest snowman ever. The kids enjoyed this one and we talked a little bit about the concept big and small.

Our first activity was making our own snowman together on the flannel board. Everyone got a piece to complete our snowman and since the kids were so proud of it, we left it on the flannel board for the rest of storytime.

Our next story was All You Need for a Snowman by Barbara LaValle. This is a good read because it explains what makes a snowman and was a nice transition from the flannel board to this.

For our next activity, we each had a snowman piece to put into our magic envelope. Once we said "Abracadabra" our snowman magically was put together. This is a fun one that the kids really love because it is surprising. My magic was having two envelopes with one of the envelopes having a snowman already made.

Our final book was 100 Snowmen by Jen Arena. What a way to get the kids counting and following along. Loved all these books for our theme!

Our craft was making a snowman using paint, construction paper, and markers.

Other Snowman and Snow Books:

When the Snow Is Deeper Than My Boots Are Tall Jean Reidy

The Biggest Snowman Ever Steven Kroll

The Snowy Day Ezra Jack Keats

The Most Perfect Snowman Chris Britt

Waiting For Snow Marsha Diane Arnold

Dinos in the Snow! Karma Wilson

Pip and Posy The Snowy Day Axel Scheffler

Snowballs Lois Ehlert

Snowmen at Night Caralyn Buehner

The Biggest, Best Snowman Margery Cuyler

The Smiley Snowman M. Christina Butler

Here Comes Jack Frost Kazuno Kohara

Hello, Snow! Hope Vestergaard

Mouse's First Snow Lauren Thompson

There Was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow! Lucille Colandro

Big Snow Jonathan Bean

You Make Me Smile Layn Marlow

A Very Special Snowflake Don Hoffman

When the Snow Falls Linda Booth Sweeney

Into the Snow Yuki Kaneko

I See Winter Charles Ghigna

Best In Snow April Pulley Sayre

Mine, All Mine! Claire Hawcock

Sugar White Snow and Evergreens Felicia Sanzari Chernesky

Snowballs Lois Ehlert

Little Penguins Cynthia Rylant

The Reader Amy Hest

Toddler Art in January

Toddler Art is a 45-minute program I took over after a co-worker went on to a different library. It is for 1-2 year olds with the goal of having the group learn through all of their senses with various sensory activities centered around a certain theme.

In parent's terms, it's a chance for your kids to get messy and interact with other kids without worrying about having to clean up at home.

This is a fun program to put on and a chance for me to experiment with messier crafts than those we tend to pick for storytimes or other programs.

For this program, we usually have three sensory crafts and a sensory bin. This month's theme was snow.

This program went very well and everyone had fun. The group really enjoyed each craft, with no one having a particular favorite. 

We had a reporter come in and interview me and a few parents, as well as take pictures. The group appreciated this and it added to the fun. 

The kids really enjoyed painting with marshmallows, playing with the snowman busy bag, and especially the fake snow. The kids who don't like to get messy even enjoyed this one.

Artwork Station 1: Marshmallow Stamping. The group had to fill in their construction paper snowman cutout with white paint by using marshmallows dipped in paint. They added eyes, buttons, and a carrot to complete the snowman.

Artwork Station 2: Snowflake Painting. The group had to paint around their die-cut snowflakes with blue paint and then peel off the die-cut to reveal their snowflakes. I tried blue paint tape, but it was ripping off the paper when trying to peel it off. The die-cuts with double-sided tape in the center worked much better.

Artwork Station 3: Squishy Snowman in a Baggie. Black marker dots for eyes and mouth and a foam carrot for his nose. Shaving cream and glitter are mixed together and put inside the baggie, along with the carrot nose and taped closed. The kids have to line up the carrot nose in the baggie to where it should be on Snowman's face. I had to use black marker to draw on the eyes and mouth of the snowman because the cutouts were not sticking to the baggie.

Sensory Bin: Play snow with two cups of baking soda and 1/2 cup of white hair conditioner. The perfect consistency for me was two cups of baking soda instead of three. Adding too much conditioner makes it more like shaving cream and less like snow. This lasted for a full day before it hardened.