Winter is here and for some, it will be here for a while. Whether your winter is marked with lots of snow or instead you barely have glimpses of the cold weather, winter time can be embraced in our music classes or therapy sessions by bringing different winter-time themes like snow, hot chocolate, polar bears, winter clothes, or broader topics such as the seasons, cold vs. warm, animals (fur, nests, hibernation, how they stay warm), holidays and clothing/getting dressed.
On this blog post, we are sharing with you some of our favorite winter music activities, resources and ideas for preschool and kindergarten music time.
You’ll find activities, finger plays, books, visuals, and other ideas to help you plan you preschool and kindergarten music classes during the winter months.
Done-for you lesson plans
Do you need some winter lesson plans? Our done-for-you Cold Weather Preschool & Kindergarten Lesson Plans Bundle will help you have all your music lessons planned out for the whole winter season.
The Cold Weather Lesson Plan Bundle includes 4 of our favorite lesson plans for the winter season.
Lesson plan themes:
🕯️ Lights
🧣 Comfy Cozy
🛷 December
❄️ Snow
This bundle includes a 45-page PDF with chords, lyrics, visuals, and implementation videos for each lesson plan (for even more tips and tricks)!
Music
Do you need some winter song recommendations? We shared some of our favorite winter songs for kids on this blog post (31 songs and counting!). It includes fun and engaging songs that kids will love such as “Ice Skates” by Jazzy Ash, “When It’s Cold” by Laurie Berkner and one of our most popular children’s songs, “Hot Chocolate" by Stephanie Leavell. You can also find the whole Winter Songs For Kids playlist on Spotify or check it out below!
Below you will find a compilation of songs and finger plays to add to your winter lesson plans. Additionally, here’s a link to a list of winter parachute songs by Listen & Learn Music, a free download of one of our favorite songs, the “Polar Bear” song, also by Listen & Learn Music, a blog post by Bear Paw Creek that includes winter movement and literacy ideas, and a blog post with two additional rhymes about snowflakes that might be great as finger plays!
Make a snowball (scarf song)
Spinning Like Snowflakes
by Jenny Focht
Tracks In the snow (fingerplay)
Snowflake, Snowflake In The Sky
Five Little Snowflakes
(learn concept of one less)
Over The River And Through The Woods To Grandmother’s House We Go!
Adapted by Jamie Lawrence of Harmony Garden Music Therapy
Five Little Marshmallows
by Jenny Focht
Books & book-based activities
Ten On the Sled
Ten On A Sled is a picture book that tells the story of some animal friends speeding down the hill on a sled. Count down and sing along to the tune of the nursery rhyme “Ten In The Bed” as they all fall off the sled, from ten to one!
Music therapist, Jamie Lawrence of Harmony Garden Music Therapy on YouTube, takes us through this singable book on the video below.
If you are looking for some visuals, props or extra materials to use along this book in your classes and sessions, this free printable by No Time For Flash Cards might be a great one to have.
Print the animals and make or draw a paper sled that you can place the animals on. Sing the story and count down/subtract the animals from the sled as they keep falling off on the story.
Sneezy The Snowman
Sneezy The Snowman tells the story of a snowman who is very, very cold, and to warm up, he drinks hot chocolate, sits in a hot tub and near a fire. Can you imagine what happens to our friend who’s made out of snow? Yep, he melts so some children help build him up again and make him feel “just right.”
This book by Maureen Wright can be a singable book! Check out this video in which I share with you a melody for this rhyming book.
Sneezy The Snowman’s story is perfect to practice sequencing and retelling. Rowdy In Room 300 has a free sequencing printable in which our students can work as a group, small groups or individually to put in order the sequence of events from the story.
You can print the visuals, laminate them and ask your students to put them in order on the included numbered “board” or print them out and tape them on to popsicle sticks to retell the story!
The Snowy Day
The Snowy Day is a classic picture book that tells the story of Peter, a child who explores his neighborhood after the season’s first snowfall.
Becca Davis of Becca’s Music Room provided a pre-rhythm & composition music lesson plan idea based on this book.
Here are additional resources and ideas based on The Snowy Day:
A list of activities, ideas, and freebies targeting speech goals using The Snowy Day by The Budget SLP.
A preschool lesson plan with movement ideas and more by We Have Kids.
Snow Music
Snow Music gives kids an understanding of what snow could be and sound like (the music it can make!).
On a blog post by Music ConstructED titled “Snowy Stories For The Winter Season”, Jessica Plamer shares “Lynne Rae Perkins’ Snow Music is perfect for a sound story. This beautifully illustrated tale invites the reader to imitate various sounds: the “jingle huff jingle huff” of a dog running through the snow, the engine of a car driving by, and the muffled sound of a radio. If you are teaching in the classroom, explore what instruments you can use to replicate the book’s sounds. Working virtually? Explore what sounds you can create with just your body as the instrument.”
The author also provided some exploration ideas using this book on this blog post.
Walking In A Winter Wonderland
Walking In A Winter Wonderland is a winter song staple that will pair perfectly with this singable book of the same name and with beautiful illustrations!
Wanting to incorporate and explore more musical stories in your classroom/sessions? Here’s a great blog post by A Sound Mind with expansion ideas to use in the music ed classroom.
A Loud Winter’s Nap
A Loud’s Winter Nap tells the story of a tortoise who does not like winter at all but learns that winter can be magical if you have friends by your side.
Here’s a sound story implementation idea break down by Music ConstructED using A Loud’s Winter Nap.
The Mitten
Below you will find a video with a song inspired by the book The Mitten. Other songs based off the book include this version called “The Mitten In The Snow” and this version called “The Animals In The Mitten” both to the tune of “The Farmer In The Dell.”
Music ConstructED also shared 5 teaching processes on this blog post using this book that includes vocal explorations, a movement break and rhythm practice.
Telehealth resources
We have included some of our favorite Boom Cards by BoomLearning.com, which are an interactive educational tool you can use for your virtual classes or Telehealth sessions. All of these BoomCard decks are free (except for one!) and we hope you can find one to extend or compliment your music lesson plan. *We are not the authors of these digital resources or own any of these images, we have included the authors and their respective Boom Cards store.
Click on each of the images to be redirected to the specific Boom Card.
We hope you can find one to extend or compliment your music lesson plan!
*We are not the authors/owners of the digital resources listed below; attribution and links to their respective authors has been provided. We are not affiliated with Boom Learning or receive compensation to share these resources. Digital resources are shared to help teachers and therapists in their lesson or session planning. The resources listed here are free, but please support the Boom Learning stores listed here by following, rating, sharing or purchasing their resources!
Hot Chocolate Counting
Pair this Boom Card with our “Hot Chocolate” song!
Winter Sorting
Winter wear
Matching winter clothes to body parts. Listening comprehension.
Winter vocabulary sensory bins
Adapted Book - Snow Fun!
Listening/reading comprehension.
There Was A Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow: Sequencing Activity
Source: BoomCard Deck “There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow Sequencing Activity” by Cara Brennan SLP on boomlearning.com
All About Snow Bundle
Includes literacy-based activities (Compound Words, Rhyming Words, Short E Words) and math activities.
Source: BoomCard Deck “All About Snow” by Made For Me Literacy on boomlearning.com
Winter board game
Winter Board game
Polar Animals Bingo Board
Source: BoomCard Deck “Polar Animals Speech & Language Bingo” by Itty Bitty Speech on boomlearning.com
Prepositions
Winter Clothing | Expanding Utterances | Where Questions - Body Parts
Source: BoomCard Deck “Winter Questions | Expanding Utterances | Where Questions” by SpeechRUs on boomlearning.com
Winter Vocabulary Interactive Book
I hope you can find some ideas or resources to incorporate in your preschool and kindergarten music classes or sessions for these winter months! And, don’t forget to check out our Cold Weather Preschool & Kindergarten Lesson Plans Bundle for ready-to-use lesson plans (includes visuals, mp3s, chords + lyrics).
