Puffy Paint "Snow" Craft and Snow Day Books

Snow, snow, and more snow! Winter hit us hard this year - with lots of snowy days, cold temperatures, and days off from school. Today I'm sharing a few great books that capture the beauty and sentiment of a snowy day. If you are stuck indoors, try our puffy paint activity to make your own snow scene. It's almost as fun as playing in the real snow, and at least you don't have to get all bundled up to enjoy it!

Snow by Steve Sanfield and Jeanette Winter

This book perfectly describes the sights, sounds, and feelings of a snow covered day as a boy explores the first snowfall of the season. The beauty of the text and pictures will make you long for a snowy walk outside to experience this world first hand.

Snow Day by Lynn Plourde and illustrated by Hideko Takahashi

Two children awaken to find "white, glorious white...EVERYWHERE!" This story captures the excitement of snow day activities - a yummy breakfast, indoor games, cuddling by the fire, eating snow day snacks, and playing outside. Children can easily identify with the snow day routine, and will anxiously await their next day of winter fun.

The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats

A list of books about snowy days would not be complete without this classic by Ezra Jack Keats. Follow Peter as he experiences the merriment of discovering a snow covered world. What will he do? What will he see? This book is well known for its artwork, and received a Caldecott Medal in 1963.

White Snow Bright Snow by Alvin Tresselt and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin

Written in 1947, this book and its illustrations have an "old-timey" feel.  The story follows a postman, a farmer, the policeman and his wife, some rabbits, and children as they prepare for and experience the snowfall.  White Snow Bright Snow mixes narrative with poetic text; and coupled with the illustrations (also Caldecott Award winning) that seem to take you back to a simpler time in life, this book is sure to be a hit in your household this winter.

Snow by Uri Shulevitz

The whole city is gray, and then....a snowflake.  An excited little boy exclaims, "It's snowing".  We've all felt the joy of seeing one little snowflake transform life from "gray" to a snow covered dream-like winter world.  Snow captures that amazing moment simply, yet perfectly, and it will capture your heart.  

Puffy Paint "Snow" Craft

If you are looking for a fun inside activity to try on your next snow day, create your own winter scenes like in the stories you've read! This puffy paint craft only uses a few materials and creates a really fun fluffy 3-D substance that you can use to sculpt an indoor "snow" creation.

1) Gather your materials: shaving cream, glue, paint brushes or sponge brushes, construction paper, and any additional decorations you may want.

2) Mix equal parts of the shaving cream & glue. You can add paint or food coloring if you don't want white puffy paint.

3) Create your design! It works best if you "glob" it on.

I did this activity with my youngest with close supervision.
You'll want to do the same if your little one is still into "eating" things.

4) Add decorations. Let your creation dry & admire!

My 4 year old added glitter to hers to make it an "ice storm" and
the stars and letters (constellations) made it an ice storm at night!

I had to join in the fun, and created a snowman.

Hopefully these books and this activity will make your snow days this winter a little warmer!



Winter Word Activity

This week we have been reading winter books such as the The Snowy Day, Snow, and Frozen Noses, despite the fact that it was 65 degrees yesterday.  We don't live anywhere near Florida.  I'm not complaining, really; but I do like ONE nice snowfall of the season.  Watch, I've probably just jinxed myself and we'll be buried knee deep in snow next week and have cabin fever.

I thought I'd share one activity that we had fun doing that was based on these books.  I was inspired by a sight word activity that I saw on I Can Teach My Child.  I chose to focus on Winter words, though, instead.  Here's what we did.

After reading our winter books:

1) we went back through the stories and found all of the winter-related words.  I pointed to them, said them aloud, then asked baby bookworm to do the same.

We found chill, scarf, snow

2) Then, I asked baby bookworm to find some winter related words on her own.  So, for example I would say, can you find the word "winter" on this page, it begins with the letter "w".  Of course, I would help her out if she was stumped.

Identifying the word winter

3) Once she pointed to a word, I then wrote that word on an "index card" that I made out of blue construction paper.  As I wrote the word, I spelled it aloud.

4) When we were finished writing all of our winter words out from the books, I took some glue and traced each letter in the word.  As I traced it, I would ask baby bookworm to identify the letter and its sound.

5) Then the fun part - once I had applied the glue (an older child could have done this himself), baby bookworm sprinkled sugar over the word.

The result was a bunch of pretty and glistening winter words.  Oh, and a kitchen floor with lots of sugar on it.

What a fun-filled way to practice two important pre-reading skills: Letter Knowledge & Phonemic Awareness.  


If you wanted to make this activity more challenging you could try: clapping the syllables in the words, and doing a little blending and segmenting.

If you wanted to make this activity more baby/young toddler friendly, you could write the words in whipped cream or finger paint rather than using glue and sugar; maybe stick to just letters or even winter pictures.  


Learning Tip:
Don't throw your words out!  About a week or so later after doing an activity such as this one, you should go back and review what you've done.  For this lesson, we will actually do a mini version of what we did the first time around (without the craft part).

Five Books That Will Warm Your Spirit This Winter

If the cold weather and after-holiday blahs have got you down - here are 5 cute books that are sure to help you find delight in the winter weather.  And, if you are lucky enough to live in an area of the world that is warm year round - I think these books will help you daydream about all of the good and the bad you are missing.

Frozen Noses by Jan Carr and illustrated by Dorothy Donohue


Yes, winter is about frozen noses and bundling up in snowsuits and boots, but it's also about fun things like drinking cocoa, having snowball fights, and ice skating.  Frozen Noses captures the joy of all things winter.  The illustrations, with their three dimensional appearance, are also captivating.  A perfectly cozy tale for both babies and toddlers.
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The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats


A classic.  In fact, if you would ask me to name the one book that I think of when I hear the word winter, The Snowy Day comes to mind immediately.  It's a book about a boy named Peter that captures the utter childhood excitement of a snowy day.  And, in fact, after reading this book, you'll hope you have a snowy day soon.  This book also happens to be the 1963 Caldecott Award winner.

Grandmother Winter by Phyllis Root and pictures by Beth Krommes


A book that reads like poetry.  A tale of nature's response to winter.  With beautifully colorful illustrations that appear to be etched into the pages of the book - Grandmother Winter gets you in the mood to cuddle up and read this book over and over.

White Snow, Bright Snow by Alvin Tresselt and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin


Written in 1947, this book and its illustrations have an "old-timey" feel - which is why I find it really comforting.  The story follows a postman, a farmer, the policeman and his wife, some rabbits, and (of course) the children as they prepare for and experience the snowfall.  White Snow Bright Snow mixes narrative with poetic text; and coupled with the illustrations (also Caldecott Award winning) that seem to take you back to a simpler time in life, this book is sure to be a hit in your household this winter.

Snow by Uri Shulevitz


The whole city is gray, and then....a snowflake.  An excited little boy exclaims, "It's snowing".  We've all felt the joy of seeing one little snowflake transform life from "gray" to a snow covered dreamlike winter wonder world.  Snow captures that amazing moment simply, yet perfectly, and it has captured our hearts.  We read this book for the first time last winter season, and I'm sure it's one we will return to for winter seasons to come.