The Snow Dancer landed in my book piles this fall and I couldn’t wait to share it! It’s a beautiful celebration of dancing and snow days for the kid that is always moving and swaying and leaping. I happen to have one of those kids. This storytime is for that child – in case you happen to have one in your home or library or classroom as well.
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Snowy days were made for snuggling up with great books (in my humble opinion). Although if you like to get bundled up and head outside, I have booklists and storytimes for you too.
Snowy Day Storytime
Sledding Picture Books Everyone Should Know
This Snow Dancer storytime has great read aloud children’s books and some fun creative activities to do after you read together.
Read Aloud Picture Books
The Snow Dancer
by Addie Boswell
illustrated by Merce Lopez
A snow day. Magic words for any child and Sofia sees an extra layer of magic. A dancer at heart, she dances through the fresh snow. When she’s interrupted by the neighborhood kids she finds a kindred spirit to continue her graceful celebration of snow. A lyrical, beautiful book reminiscent of simple childhood fun much like A SNOWY DAY. Perfect for snuggling up with or reading aloud on a snowy day.
Waltz of the Snowflakes?
by Elly Mackay
This is a wordless children’s book about the Nutcracker. Wordless books aren’t usually my first pick for storytime, but this one fits too perfectly and is so beautiful. It is stunning and moving and all about the power of dance. When I use wordless books during a read aloud I lead the kids in talking through what’s happening and encourage them to help me tell the story. This takes a little practice. It helps if you’ve read it before and can share the story with similar dramatics as you would any read aloud.
The Snowy Day
by Ezra Jack Keats
This classic is truly timeless and still captures how kids feel when they wake up on a snowy day. Although adorable Peter doesn’t dance in the snow, I love the way Keats describes how he does move through the snow and it would be fun to compare and contrast how Peter spends his snowy day to how Sofia spends her snow day.
Snowy Songs and Movement Ideas
- A Winter Song from Nancy Kopman’s CD Senses
- Put on some classical music, perhaps the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, and have everyone pretend like they are dancing in the snow like Sofia from THE SNOW DANCER.
Snow Dancer Creative Activities
My first instinct with this book is to go outside after a fresh snow fall and dance. However, if you don’t have a fresh snowfall outside, the proper time or equipment for snow play at the moment, or you happen to live in sunny SoCal like me, then let’s turn to some other creative activities to mimic the joyful snow dancer in THE SNOW DANCER.
Snow Dancer Sensory Activity
This is a fun sensory experience for those of you who don’t mind a little (mostly contained) mess. For this activity you need;
- Cookie Tray (one per kid)
- Shaving Cream (if you’re opposed to shaving cream, this would work with white paint as well)
- Ability to play music (I used a playlist on my phone)
- Paint brushes (one per kid)
- Little People or any plastic washable person (or train or truck) *this is optional
- Wash cloths, wipes or access to a sink
Directions:
- Set out the cookie trays, when each child is ready, spray shaving cream onto their tray.
- Invite your kids to paint their tray with the shaving cream. Encourage them to cover the whole tray as evenly as possible.
- My kids wanted to wash their hands when they were done with this step. A plethora of paper towels or wash cloths would also work okay.
- Put on some dance music. Note: it might be helpful to have a list ready with different kinds of music.
- Encourage your little artists to move their fingers in the shaving cream like Sofia danced in the book. How can they move gracefully? Can they dance slowly? Quickly? I like to change the music every minute or so depending on the age of the children and how interested they are. You may also want to show them the pictures of those pages again as well.
- Then head them off directly to the sink or hand washing station.
Alternative or Additional Option – instead of fingers or after fingers, you can also use any little people to dance in the shaving cream. This feels more like imaginary play. It also offers kids who are more sensory avoidant an option to participate without touching the shaving cream.
You May Also Like:
Snowy Day Storytime and STEM activity
Thanks for the review of The Snow Dancer! (Any time I can be on the same page with Ezra Jack Keats is a glory…) I thought your readers might also be interested in this 6-minute video I made of “How long does it take to make a book?” since I get that question from kids all the time. Here’s the link to the video. Happy holidays!
Thanks for sharing! This is so fun. I’m going to share it with my kids today!