Here’s what I’m doing. I did steal some rhymes and songs and an introduction from the Storytime Idea Machine, so credit goes to Cherie Rainwater credit!)
Winter Wonderland Storytime

Introduction:

Getting Dressed for Winter: Hold up items of winter clothing. Ask children to name them – proceed to wear it in the wrong place and ask children to tell you where to wear it correctly.

Repeat. (From the blog Storytime Idea Machine: http://storytimemachine.blogspot.com/2009/08/snow-storytime.html)

Songs and Rhymes:

Snowflakes, Snowflakes

Tune of “Frere Jacque”

Snowflakes, snowflakes,
Snowflakes, snowflakes,
All around,
All around–
Whirling, twirling snowflakes,
Whirling, twirling snowflakes,
Hit the ground,
Hit the ground.

Five Little Snowmen

Five little snowmen standing in a row.
(Hold up five fingers; stand up straight like soldier.)

Each had two eyes and a carrot nose.
(Point to eyes; point to nose.)

Along came the sun and shone all day,
(Form sun with hands; wipe sweat from brow.)

And one little snowman melted away.
(Hold up one finger; slowly “melt” to the ground and say the words slower as you do.)

Four little snowmen…
Three little snowmen…
Two little snowmen…
One little snowman…

Good-bye Song: Winter Pokey (Snow-ky Pokey?)
To the tune of “The Hokey-Pokey”

You put your right mitten in,
You take your right mitten out.
You put your right mitten in,
And you shake it all about.
You do the winter pokey, [shiver]
And you turn yourself around.
That’s what it’s all about!

You put your left mitten in….
You put your right boot….
You put your left boot….
You put your long scarf in….
You put your warm cap in….
You put your snowsuit in….

Five Little Icicles

Five little icicles hanging in the air
The first one said “It’s COLD out there!”
The second one said “The sun is very nice”
And the third one said “Not if you’re made of ice!”
The fourth one said “Drip, drip, drip, drip!”
And the fifth one said “I’m falling! KER-PLIP!”

Snow is Falling Down

(Like the rhyme “Rain is Falling Down”)

Snow is falling down
Shhhhhhhhhhh!
Snow is falling down
Shhhhhhhhhhh!
Sifting, drifting, sifting, drifting
Snow is falling down
Shhhhhhhhhhh!

Books:

Snow Dude (Daniel Kirk)
Snow Is My Favorite and My Best (Lauren Child)
Teddy’s Snowy Day (Ian Beck)
Snowballs (Lois Ehlert)
All You Need for a Snowman (Alice Schertle)
A Winter Day (Douglas Florian)
Names for Snow (Judi K. Beach)
Snowball Fight (Jimmy Fallon)
Thomas’ Snowsuit (Robert Munsch)
50 Below Zero (Robert Munsch)

Craft Ideas:

Icicle Painting: Draw a thick line of glue across the top of a black piece of construction paper (with the paper turned landscape style). Pick the paper up and let the glue run down the page. Sprinkle with irredescent glitter. Let dry.

“Frost” Paintings: Dip sponge stamps, cookie cutters, etc. into white glue and stamp on black or blue paper. Sprinkle with irredescent glitter.

Cupcake Liner Snowman: Glue 3 cupcake liners onto a sheet of construction paper to make the snowman. Use buttons, felt, construction paper, markers, etc. to make it look like a snowman.

Q-Tip snowflakes: Lay a sheet of wax paper on a table. Use Q-tips to make a snowflake on top of the wax paper. Squirt glue on any spot where 2 Q-tips meet. Let dry completely and peel off of wax paper. Don’t forget, you don’t have to use whole Q-tips, you can break them up and use pieces too!

I thought it would be a cool idea to make a snowball that won’t melt, (like the one we read about in The Snowy Day). Unfortunately for the “everyone welcome” storytimes, this just isn’t feasible. But for those of you who have a limited number of kids in attendance, here it is:

• Buy Styrofoam balls (6 at the Dollar Store for $1.25)
• Roll the Styrofoam balls in white glue and stick things like cotton balls, Styrofoam peanuts, white yarn, fabric, to the ball to make it an un-meltable snowball!

Snack: Vanilla Wafer Snowmen
Decorate your cookies to look like snowmen!

The program itself was bit harder because I was exhausted and I got really hot jumping around with the kids. Usually their enthusiasm has proven to give little attention seeking me the fuel to finish the 20 minutes or so of story times. But I think the kids were as restless as I was tired so it was a struggle. Not to say they didn’t have fun… they shook their sillies out, but they spent more time kicking each other than actually listening, haha.

Here’s the outline of the program:

Song: Shake My Sillies Out

Book: What Did You Put in Your Pocket?

Song/fingerplay: Five Green and Speckled Frogs

Five green and speckled frogs,
Sat upon a speckled log,
Eating the most delicious bugs!
Yum! Yum!
One jumped into the pool,
Where it was nice and cool.
Then there were four green and speckled frogs!

Glub! Glub!
Repeat for 4,3,2,1

Action rhyme: Bouncing Ball

Book: The Mud Puddle

Song: Mr. Sun

Oh Mr Sun, Sun Mr. golden Sun
Please shine down on me.
Oh Mr. Sun, Sun Mr. golden Sun
Hiding behind those trees.
These little children are asking you
To please come out so we can play with you.
Oh Mr. Sun, Sun Mr. Golden Sun
Please shine down on me.

Song: The More We Get Together

Book: Jamberry

Song: Head Shoulders Knees and Toes

Book: Peanut Butter and Jelly

Song: Do Your Ears Hang Low?

Book: Slop Goes the Soup

Song: If You’re Happy and You Know It

Actually, I didn’t get to Slop Goes the Soup, cuz the kids pretty much were just bugging each other by the time I got around to “Mr. Sun” but… I had planned it. Overall, I think The Mud Puddle (by the wonderful Robert Munsch) was a bit too old for the majority of the kids, although it’s a great book for story telling and they listened politely. What Did You Put in Your Pocket (Beatrice De Regniers) was possibly a bit too trippy for the kids. It’s a strange book – great visuals , putting pudding in your pocket, but it doesn’t really flow as well as I’d like. I feel like there should be a rhythm (“What did you put in your pocket? What did you put in your pocket? In your pockety-pockety pocket? Early Monday morning…) but somehow I’m not getting it very well. It lent itself well to a great tie-in craft, though: I had the kids make their own “pockets” by cutting out a pocket shape in construction paper, and then stapling a plastic baggie to card stock under the pocket shape. It made a transparent pocket which they could decorate then stuff it full of strange things, just like the book. I gave them glitter, feathers, foam shapes, crepe paper and cotton balls. Hm. Might have to post a picture of that one, haha. So, I think they had fun… Wellll, that’s my report for this “Family Fun Day Monday”… tune in next time for “Hilarious Hats and Headwear” (ohhhhh I am such a children’s programming cheeseball).