Snow Bears by Martin Waddell with its lovely illustrations by Sarah Fox-Davies is a beautiful children’s story that I have enjoyed reading with my preschoolers over and over again, especially on cold days that are perfect for getting warm and cozy.
The timing of when to have story time can make a big difference in the children’s level of engagement and attention to the story. After they have had a good run and active playtime outdoors and are then feeling a bit tired and in need of some time to be calm and relax can make story time more quality time as that is when the little ones are ready to sit for a few minutes and engage in a quite activity.
A great children’s book doesn’t need to be read from cover to cover, but like this beautiful story, each part of the story is an invitation to linger and wander. Depending on their mood, young children may want to just linger on a certain page or chat away about a particular picture that reminds them of an experience or an outing that was meaningful to them. If a child is missing their parent, they can find a bit of comfort in chatting together about some fun things they like to do with their parent and that is something I find so valuable about this particular children’s book; while the story line is quite simple and repetitive, it speaks very well to children’s emotions and to those times when they simply want to think and talk about some of the fun things they like to do with their parents.
I also love children’s books that naturally lend themselves to sensory and pretend play. Children love to be playful. The last time my preschoolers and I read this story, when we got to the page where they are having a snowball fight, we simply put the book down and all pretended to have a snowball fight inside. We had some great fun making all the “Splat! Sploosh! Splash!” sounds that our pretend snowballs made. Cotton balls can also be a great bit of sensory play for a pretend snowball fight indoors.
When snow has freshly fallen, I like to get a basin and scoop some out that I can bring indoors and save for some indoor sensory play later on. Little ones will find great enjoyment making snow bears of their own, or playing with different toy animals and covering them with snow.