Recommended Books
Red Sled by Patricia Thomas. Honesdale, PA: Boyds Mills Press, 2008.
Simple rhyming text and a bright red sled bring winter to life this lovely picture book. Nothing makes a long winter night more fun than a moonlit sledding adventure followed by some hot cocoa!
Soup Day by Melissa Iwai. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company, 2010.
What’s better than a hot bowl of soup on a snowy day? Simple text and colorful pictures depict a mother and daughter preparing the soup, which is ready just as Dad is coming home.
Flannelboard
My Soup
(Pieces needed: celery, onions, carrots, potatoes, zucchini, mushrooms, pasta noodles, meat.)
It’s cold outside, we need to get warm,
Let’s make soup and watch the snow storm.
We chop our celery and add it to the pot,
we add onions and carrots, and let them get hot.
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle, drop more in,
potatoes and zucchini, stir and spin.
Broth and spices will make our soup taste great,
Bubble, bubble, bubble, it’s boiling so we wait.
Mushrooms and noodles and a little cooked meat.
Ladle in bowls, it’s time to eat!
Fingerplay
Chilly Day
When the day is chilly (shiver)
And I don’t know what to do,
Mama gives me my sweater (mime putting on sweater)
I put it on and say, “Thank you.”
But when I am still chilly (shiver)
From the snowy winter storm,
Mama puts a blanket over me, (mime pulling up a blanket)
But still I’m not quite warm.
So when I am still chilly, (shiver)
I know just what I should do.
I say, “Mama, please, I’d like
warm cuddles from you!” (give yourself a hug, or hug a friend or parent)
Poetry Activity
Beautiful Soup: A Poem by Lewis Carroll
(Read or play this classic poem and encourage the children to mimic the actions in parentheses on each verse. LibriVox offers 18 different choices of free audio downloads of this poem here.)
BEAUTIFUL Soup, so rich and green, (mime stirring soup)
Waiting in a hot tureen!
Who for such dainties would not stoop?
Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup!
Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup!
Beau–ootiful Soo-oop! (mime stirring in the opposite direction)
Beau–ootiful Soo-oop!
Soo–oop of the e–e–evening, Beautiful, beautiful Soup!
Beautiful Soup! Who cares for fish, (mime eating spoonfuls of soup)
Game, or any other dish?
Who would not give all else
for two Pennyworth only of Beautiful Soup?
Pennyworth only of beautiful Soup?
Beau–ootiful Soo-oop! (mime holding up bowl and drinking soup)
Beau–ootiful Soo-oop!
Soo–oop of the e–e–evening, Beautiful, beauti–FUL SOUP! (finish with a great big slurp)
Music Activity
“Hot Chocolate” on the Polar Express Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Burbank, CA: Reprise, 2004).
This fast paced song can be paired with egg shakers or other rattles to let off some steam!
Craft
Cocoa Cups
Materials: construction paper, mug cutout (use our Printable Mug Template), cotton balls, white mini pom-poms, glue, crayons
- Glue the mug to the construction paper.
- Color as desired.
- Glue the white pom-poms onto the cocoa for marshmallows.
- Pull the cotton ball apart to make wisps of steam. Glue these above the mug.
Storytime Stuff 
[…] Source: Storytime Stuff […]
[…] Rhyme: Chilly DayWhen the day is chilly (shiver)And I don’t know what to doMama gives me my sweater (mime putting on sweater)I put it on and say, “Thank you!”But when I am still chilly (shiver)From the snowy winter stormPapa puts a blanket over me (mime pulling up a blanket)But still I’m not quite warmSo when I am still chilly (shiver)I know just what I should doI say, “Mom & Pop, I’d like some warm cuddles from you!”(give yourself a hug, or hug a loved one)Credit: Storytime Stuff […]