Books, Cuddles and Hot Cocoa: My Top 5 FAVORITE Winter Reads With the Kids! Shared By A Pediatric Speech Therapist
Authored By Elise Weinstein, M.S., CCC-SLP
Speech Therapist at The Village Therapy Place
With all the snow outside, it’s a great time to pull out some favorite winter books, prepare cups of hot cocoa, and cuddle up on the couch for story time. Here are five favorites that I love- I hope you enjoy as well!
1. Froggy Gets Dressed by Jonathan London
· Synopsis:
Froggy wants to play in the snow, but keeps forgetting to put on various articles of clothing.
· Language Goals:
Vocabulary:
snow, winter, melts, scarf, socks, boots, hat, pants, mittens, shirt, coat, underwear
Spatial Concepts:
on/off
Verbs Related to Dressing (large variety!):
put on, slipped on, pulled on, tied, tugged on/off, unsnapped, untied, took off, pulled off
Past Tense:
Regular past tense (e.g. pulled, tied, tugged)
Irregular past tense (e.g. woke, sang)
Retell:
Since this story is repetitive, it’s a good story to have your child practice retelling, using the pictures as a guide.
You can also print manipulatives that your child can use to act out the story (http://www.kizclub.com/storypatterns/froggy(C).pdf).
2. The Jacket I Wear in the Snow by Shirley Neitzel
· Synopsis:
This book describes the winter clothing a boy wears, and how his mother comforts him when he falls.
This book is very repetitive, which is great for young children learning new vocabulary.
· Language Goals:
Vocabulary- Winter Clothing:
socks, long underwear, boots, pants, sweater, mittens, hat, scarf, zipper, jacket
Adjectives:
wrinkled, bunchy, hot, big, stiff, itchy, warm, wooly, red
Rhyming:
lot/hot, me/knee, warm/arm, head/red
Auditory Closure:
This book is a great story to practice auditory closure activities, in which your child fills in the last word/s in a sentence.
You can practice this with the repetitive text (e.g. that’s stuck on the jacket I wear…in the snow) or with all the rhyming pairs (e.g. that I wear with the hat for my head, that matches the scarf wooly and…red).
Print Awareness:
In the text, there are pictures of the clothing items so your child can help you “read.” This is a great way to develop your child’s awareness of print, an important pre-reading skill.
3. The Mitten by Jan Brett
· Synopsis:
A little boy loses his mitten, and winter animals take refuge inside.
· Language Goals:
Vocabulary- Animal Names:
mole, snowshoe rabbi, hedgehog, owl, badger, fox, bear, mouse
Spatial Concepts: in/out
Throughout the story, emphasize how each animal goes in, and (spoiler alert!) at the end of the story, describe how they all come out.
Basic Concepts: small/big
You can compare describe the animals (e.g. the mouse is small, the bear is big) and/or the mitten at the beginning (small) vs. the end of the story (big). You can make this very concrete for your child by looking at one of his/her small mittens compared to your large mitten.
Comparatives and Superlatives: bigger, smallest, biggest
As you are reading, you can talk about how the animals keep getting bigger and bigger, and how the mitten keeps getting bigger and bigger as well. If you print out manipulatives (http://www.kizclub.com/storypatterns/mitten(C).pdf), you can order the animals from smallest to biggest.
Retell:
\Since this story is also very repetitive, it is easier for children to work retell on their own. Using props (see link above) makes this even more fun!
4. Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner
· Synopsis:
Snowmen come alive at night and engage in various winter activities while the rest of the world sleeps.
· Language Goals:
Vocabulary- Winter Activities: drinking cocoa, races, ice-skating, snowball baseball, snowball fight, sledding
Basic Concepts: hot/cold
Compare the snowmen’s cold cocoa to your hot cocoa. Ask your child why s/he thinks the snowmen need cold cocoa? What would happen if they drank hot cocoa? You can even pour some hot cocoa over some snow and watch it melt.
Predictions:
This is a great story to practice making predictions. At the beginning, ask your children what they think snowmen do at night?
It is not important if they guess the activities in the book; rather, it is important that they guess an activity, whether that is sleeping (obvious choice for a nighttime activity) or any other activity (e.g. read a book, go on the swings at the park).
Rhyming/auditory closure:
Can your child fill in the rhyming word to finish your sentence? This gets easier after you have read the book multiple times, as the text is more familiar.
5. Sneezy the Snowman by Maureen Wright
· Synopsis:
Sneezy tries to warm up in the cold winter, but keeps overheating and melting!
· Language Goals:
Vocabulary- Clothing:
Hat, scarf, coat
Basic Concepts: hot/cold
Sneezy is cold so he keeps trying to get hot. Talk about things that are hot and cold in your house (e.g. the freezer is cold, the stove is hot).
You can also act out the events in the story and watch snow melt to make hot/cold and melting come alive for your child. (e.g. put a snowball in a bowl of hot water, put a snowball in a pot on the stove above a fire).
Predictions:
Ask your child, “what do you think will happen to Sneezy after he…drinks the cocoa? goes near the campfire? gets in the hot tub?”
Auditory Closure:
The text in this book is also very repetitive, providing many opportunities for your child to fill in the missing words (e.g. Sneezy the Snowman shivered, “br-r-r,” it’s cold out here, that for…sure).
What are some of your favorite winter story books? Share your suggestions in the comments below!
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