This post is part of the 31 Days of Literature Unit Ideas series. You can find links to all the books in the series here. And if you’d like a printable list of ideas for using this book, make sure you pick up my free book- The Ultimate Book of Unit Studies for Literature Lovers-at the end of this post.
Today’s book is one of my favorites to read with young children. There are some fun things you can do reading The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. This book is good for very young readers- toddlers and up. There’s even a board book version, so little ones can hold it and look at the pictures.

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About the book:
Things to talk about:
- Talk about Peter’s excitement at the new snow fall. Have you ever been excited to see snow for the first time of the year? (Or if you’re a Southerner like me who rarely sees snow, ask kids what they have been excited to wait for.)
- Why do you think Peter stops when he sees the big kids playing with snowballs? How does he act when he gets hit?
- Do you think it was a good idea for Peter to bring his snowball inside in his pocket? Why or why not?
- How did Peter feel when he woke up and saw there was still snow? How do you think he would have felt if his dream was true?
Learning/Hands-on activities:
- Talk about/look at pictures of seasons. Ask children what season they think is the setting of The Snowy Day. Why would you choose that season? (This is a good activity for learning to draw inferences. They can site the snow and the cold as obvious reasons that it is winter.)
- Ask children to describe their favorite season and draw a picture of it.
- This video is a reading of the story showing the original book illustrations.
- If you have children who are at least kindergarten age, you can watch this video to learn what make it snow.
- Even if you read this book in the summer, you can make your own indoor snowmen with this “snow.”
- You can even make edible rice krispie snowmen like the ones on this page. (There are some other cute snow ideas here as well.)
- If you’re reading with older kids, these borax snowflakes are a fun science experiment.
- Print this snowman on cardstock and laminate to make a fun lacing card.
- Practice counting with snowmen. Print off this snowman template. Decorate the face and clothing but leave off buttons.Give your child some chocolate chips or raisins. Tell them a number of “buttons” to put on their snowman.

Other resources:
- This site has some great free printables to go along with The Snowy Day.
- Homeschool Share has a great free lapbook for The Snowy Day.
More reading:
- The Story of Snow by Mark Cassino
- Snow by Cynthia Rylant
- Snow by Uri Shulevitz
- Snowballs by Lois Ehlert
- All You Need for a Snowman by Alice Schertle
- The Biggest Snowman Ever by Steven Kroll
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