Young children are fascinated by the seasons. As you read through the season or create lesson plans for your preschool or kindergarten class, you can use books about winter to explore these changes, look at how animals adapt in the winter, and encourage outdoor exploration.
Books About the Seasons
Mary McKenna Siddals’ book Tell Me a Season is a very simple book with clear pictures and a strong message about the changing seasons. The book moves from a spring morning to a winter’s night, and each picture shows the colours, plants, animals and children as the light and the seasons change.
When the Wind Stops by Charlotte Zolotow is a more complicated book about seasons and change. A little boy talks to his mother about what happens when the day ends, and this starts a conversation about how all natural cycles continue in different ways. Night turns to day and back to night, and the seasons change again and again.
These two books are excellent ways to introduce seasonal change into a lesson and to introduce outdoor activities that encourage preschool aged children to learn about winter.
Snuggly Stories
Astrid Lindgren’s The Tomten is an adaptation of an old poem. The Tomten is a quiet, soothing tale of a small elf who lives on a farm. On winter nights, the Tomten visits the animals and takes care of them, reassuring them that spring will be there soon. This is also a good introduction to what farm animals do in the winter.
Karma Wilson’s book Bear Snores On is a humorous book and a cumulative story. Animals come to bear’s den to keep warm, and they eat and drink and dance far into the night. Bear snores on. When bear finally wakes up, chaos ensues, and then the party goes on. This book is a good introduction to hibernation and what animals do in the winter time.
Exploring Outdoors
White Snow, Blue Feather traces the steps of a boy who encounters a jay. Julie Downing’s book is rich with simple, striking pictures. It is a call to children to explore outside in the winter time.
The Caldecott award-winning book Owl Moon follows a father and a daughter as they explore in the snow and dark of a winter night. Jane Yolen’s prose gives vivid vivid descriptions of what it feels like to be outside on a cold, winter night. The pair look for owls and find one.
Outdoor Gear
Jan Brett’s snowy day books are humorous tall tales. In The Mitten, a little boy loses a white mitten in the snow. Animals squeeze into it for warmth, until one sneezes and the mitten flies up in the air. The boy finds the mitten again, but it is much larger than the one on his hand. Brett also has a French book called Le Chapeau (The Hat) that is very similar to The Mitten. These picture books work well as part of a discussion of outdoor wear and about winter animal homes.
The Canadian Robert Munsch is brilliant at crafting funny picture books that connect with young children. In Thomas’s Snowsuit, Thomas absolutely refuses to wear a snowsuit, no matter what the adults ask him to do. This is a fun, slightly naughty book that children and children at heart will both enjoy.
Whether you’re cuddling with your preschooler this winter or telling stories to a group, there are so many wonderful stories of winter to be told. From introductions to the seasons to books that laugh at the comedy of winter clothing, winter books are full of good times and quiet moments for you and your preschooler.
Sources:
Bear Snores On, Karma Wilson
The Mitten, Jan Brett
Owl Moon, Jane Yolen
Tell Me a Season, Mary McKenna Siddals
Thomas’s Snowsuit, Robert Munsch
The Tomten, Astrid Lindgren
When the Wind Stops, Charlotte Zolotow
White Snow, Blue Feather, Julie Downing
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