Storytime Fun: Dream Snow Crafts & Activities

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One of the books that our family loves is "Dream Snow" by Eric Carle. This book is perfect for the holiday season-or any time of year that you want to talk with your kids about thoughtfulness, giving to others, and responsibility. Some other reasons that we love Eric Carle's "Dream Snow" include:

Vibrant pictures
Element of texture to pictures
Number words and counting
Snow overlays
Time before Christmas as preparation (I include a discussion of Advent.)
Musical component

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To extend our storytime fun with this book, I developed printable songs and story cards. I also led the boys in 2 craft projects and 1 writing task.

Although this book is directed toward toddler/preschool/elementary ages, I include all of my boys-even my teenager! When I find a book that sends a positive message and has interested art work, I make sure that all benefit!

Crafts & Activities with Dream Snow

Lift-the-Flap Painting

This craft was super fun! I led the boys in a discussion on what they might dream about if they fell asleep in the snow. They were then able to choose one of those scenarios or a character from the book. Here's a list of the materials used for this craft:

construction paper
markers
stapler
scissors
cotton balls
Q-tips
clear page protectors

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paint (we used Crayola washable tempera)

The boys drew or painted their scene. We cut the ends off of a clear page protector and separated into two pieces. The boys laid the matte side up on their drawing. With a cotton ball dipped in white paint, they daubed to cover the character. Then, they took a Q-tip with white paint and made dots of snowflakes.

When everything was dry, we stapled the tops of the clear page protector and drawing together. The boys cut strips of construction paper where we added their names plus "Dream Snow".

Tree Art

My favorite part of "Dream Snow" is the last page. I wanted to help my boys recreate their own "Tree". We had fun creating different versions of what our "Tree" would look like.

Materials for Tree Art:

foam sheets (construction paper would work)--we used blue
paint (again, washable tempera here!)-black and white
foam brush
paint brush
glue
brown construction paper
pom poms
aluminum foil

Boys used white paint on foam brush to make snow. Next, they mixed a bit of black in the white and used a paint brush to stroke on the mix. As the paint dried, they cut a tree shape out of brown construction paper and glued to painting.

The boys had fun tearing small strips of aluminum foil and gluing on as tinsel. Finally, they glued pom poms around the tree.

Writing Fun

To add a bit of writing practice, the boys were given the topic, "What do you think the farmer gave to each of his animals? What was in each gift box?". Writing or drawing (or both!) was acceptable for this writing activity. I drew a large square on plain white paper for them to express their theories in.

Storycards

I created the storycards below to use in a variety of ways. I glued the paper to cardstock to make more sturdy. The boys colored the images and then cut out for use. How to use these storycards?