Once winter comes and snow settles everywhere, little ones turn into bundles of hats, scarves, mittens, coats, and boots. So what would be more relatable to them than a winter clothes storytime? I would guess not much unless, maybe, it’s a winter poems program. Below you will find plans for toddler and pre-k laptimes. To gear the laptime program to toddlers, it should ideally last about 20 minutes using a few songs/rhymes and one or two books, followed by a play activity. Preschoolers attention spans are lengthening and so they stay engaged for two books (not more than three), a flannel board activity, songs and fingerplays, and a play activity. They often want to carry on with the theme so a take home activity idea or an in-house craft or activity are great extensions to provide.
Winter Clothes Rhymes and Songs
Snow Clothes: song sung to the tune of “If You’re Happy and You Know It”
Hat and Scarf, Mittens and Boots: song sung to “London Bridge Is Falling Down”
Mittens: rhyme that identifies mittens with different colors, materials, and texture.
10 Warm Mittens: counting down rhyme, easy to adapt to a flannel board activity
Mittens for Me: rhyme focusing on hands staying warm while making a snowball
Many Kinds of Mittens: another rhyme that mentions the many colors, textures, materials, and purposes of mittens
Snowball, Snowball: flannel board hide and seek game where a snowball is hidden behind a mitten and little ones guess which color mitten is hiding the snowball.
Books for a Winter Clothes Storytime
Soomi’s Sweater
by Susie Oh
Little Soomi gets a new sweater but it’s too big! With help from her mom, Soomi is able to wear the sweater to school where she has some mishaps with the sweater. Her friends attempt to help her fix her sweater but things get a little crazy and Soomi gets overwhelmed. How will her sweater get fixed? Find your copy of Soomi’s Sweater on Amazon.
One Snowy Morning
by Kevin Tseng
One snowy morning two friends find something new in the snow. Using their imaginations they create a party for the rest of their friends and then try to put everything back where they found it, almost. Find a copy of One Snowy Morning on Amazon.
One Mitten
by Kristine O’Connell George
A very creative girl uses her imagination to think of all the things she can do with her one mitten. But that’s only half the fun. When she finds her second mitten, she imagines new possibilities. Find One Mitten on Amazon.
Literacy Tip
Dramatic play provides opportunities for toddlers and preschoolers to learn and practice vocabulary which builds reading comprehension.
