I have always considered myself a fall person, but so many of my favorite books appear on this winter book list! The Snowy Day, The Mitten, and Bear is Awake are among my all-time favorites 🙂 Check your library for these 15 preschool winter stories and others to enjoy together. Maybe you will discover a new favorite!
There are so many fantastic books that take place in the winter time that this list could be endless! I’ve divided up winter into small lists: SNOWMAN stories, ICE SKATING stories, SNOW ANIMALS books, list of POLAR BEAR books, and PENGUIN stories recommendations for more ideas.
15 Preschool Winter Stories
1. The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats —
This is my favorite book!!! Keats captures that childhood joy of playing in the snow. The boy, Peter, puts on his snowsuit and heads out into the beautiful snow that has descended upon his neighborhood. The illustrations are absolutely beautiful and compliment this sweet story. It is full of fun and whimsy. Peter takes some snow home with him in his pocket only to find that it melted while he was taking a bath. Oh no! Is that the last of snow? Not to worry, the snow is waiting for Peter in the morning.
2. How to Catch a Yeti by Adam Wallace–
My son loves the “How to Catch” series, and this yeti story is his favorite! In this silly snowy adventure, the kids set a whole bunch of clever traps to catch a yeti. However, the Yeti easily escapes and the traps backfire on the kids with hilarious results. If you look closely at the illustrations, you can find “hidden” members of the yeti’s family watching the kids.
3. Winter Dance by Marion Dane Bauer —
This is a sweet story that teaches kids about how animals spend the winter. As the first snowflake falls on the fox’s nose, fox wonders what he is supposed to do in winter. The other forest animals tell him how they prepare for winter. Some fly south, others store food, and some hibernate. Unfortunately none of these ideas will work for fox. Finally, another fox comes along and shares what foxes do in winter — they dance in the falling snow! With such beautiful illustrations, kids will love looking over the pictures and seeing the two foxes twirling about in the snow.
4. Fox Versus Winter by Corey R. Tabor–
In this humorous book, Fox does not like winter. His friends hibernate and migrate, leaving him lonely. Fox gets an idea to make new friends out of snow, but they are not as much fun as his old friends. What’s Fox to do? He decides to fight winter! Get ready to laugh as Fox gets a flame thrower and tries to melt winter. Winter fights back and Fox gets covered in snow. Just then, Rabbit appears. Rabbit teaches Fox to appreciate winter and Fox finds that with a friend by his side, everything can be enjoyable.
5. Bear is Awake: an alphabet story by Hannah E. Harrison–
This is such a cool book! With hardly any words, the reader pieces the story together from the fantastic illustrations and the alphabet letter and corresponding word on each page. In this book, a bear awakens too early ( A = awake) and sets off in search of food. It finds a little girl in a cabin, who, through a series of humorous events, helps bear return to its home and go back to sleep. Zzzzzzz.
6. Little Owl’s Snow by Divya Srinivasan–
Little Owl is so cute! In this Little Owl story, the forest animals are preparing for winter. Some gather and store food, some hibernate, and some stay awake to play in the snow. Soon winter arrives and leaves a blanket of snow in Little Owl’s forest home. Even though Little Owl misses his hibernating friend, hedgehog, he enjoys the snow with his other friends. Preschoolers will love this bold, bright pictures and gentle story.
7. Froggy Gets Dressed by Jonathan London —
Froggy is preschool fan-favorite! His books are full of excitement, fun sounds, bright pictures, and struggles that little kids can relate to. In this story, Froggy is supposed to be hibernating for winter, but he wakes up to explore the snow. He has to put on all of his warm clothes, with “zuts” and “zaps” before he is ready to explore. Unfortunately, he keeps forgetting something important and has take all of his clothes on and off over and over again. Just when he thinks he has everything he needs, his mommy yells that he forgot his underwear! Yikes!!! Poor Froggy trudges back inside. By now he is too tired to play outside, so he climbs back into bed and falls asleep. Kids can pretend to get dressed along with Froggy to add to the fun of this book.
8. The Mitten by Jan Brett —
This is my favorite Jan Brett book. I love her illustrations and the sense of humor displayed in the pictures. One snowy day, the forest animals discover a mitten that a little boy dropped. One by one, the animals squeeze into the mitten to be cozy and warm. Amazingly, the mitten stretches to accommodate even a big bear! But when a little mouse tickles bear’s nose, bear’s huge sneeze sends all of the animals flying out of the mitten! The mitten soars through the air and the little boy catches his missing mitten and carries it home.
9. Snow Day! by Candice Ransom–
This is a short, rhyming story about playing in the snow. School is canceled due to snow, so the children put on their winter clothes and head to play! They have a blast sledding and having a snowball fight. They come home cold and wet to warm up with some hot chocolate 🙂 This a cute story and preschoolers will enjoy the fun.
1o. A Loud Winter’s Nap by Katy Hudson —
Tortoise is just trying to sleep his way through winter, but all of his animal friends are being too loud. The animals are excited about all of the fun winter activities they get to do, like sledding and ice-skating. Their excitement keeps turtle from his slumber, who keeps trying to find the perfect nap spot. When tortoise tries to use a sled as a bed, he accidently takes off down the hill! Tortoise discovers that enjoying winter activities with your friends is a lot of fun!
11. The Hat by Jan Brett —
I love this funny story about a hedgehog who has a stocking land on his head. The stocking sticks to the hedgehog’s spikes and Hedgie can’t get it off. The other animals make fun of Hedgie, who insists that he is actually wearing a hat, not a stocking on his head. By the end, the other animals have stolen the rest of the laundry so that they too can have warm clothes like the hedgehog.
12. Ten on the Sled by Kim Norman–
This rhyming, sing-song story follows the pattern of the Ten on the Bed song. The caribou has a sled and soon his nine friends join him for a sled ride. One by one, the animals fall off and they form a giant snowball. The animals race the giant snowball down the hill, losing friends as they go. By the bottom of the hill, only the caribou is left on the sled. Your kiddo will giggle as wolf wipes out and fox flips out of the sled. Caribou is lonely and he invites all of his friends to join for another sled ride!
13. The Jacket I Wear in the Snow by Shirley Neitzel–
Every parent who has ever had to bundle their child up for snow play and every child who has worn layer upon layer of clothes will appreciate this story! Told in rhyming text, the child tells the reader about all of the clothes that must be worn just to be able to go outside and play. Clothing gets stuck in zippers; the kid feels too hot! Lots of humor and cute illustrations to keep readers entertained.
14. Winter is Here by Kevin Henkes —
In Kevin Henkes’ Winter is Here, preschoolers are introduced to the magic and wonder of the season. In this gentle, soothing story with beautiful illustrations, the reader sees the changes winter brings outside, as well as inside. Colorful clothing, frozen ponds, a cute snowman craft appear. Take a look around and see what winter changes you see. Soon winter fades and spring emerges.
15. Do You Want a Hug? (Disney Frozen) by Kevin Lewis–
Join Olaf in a game of hide-and-seek in the wintery world of Frozen’s Arendelle. This is a fun interactive book, where the reader gets to “play” with Olaf. Olaf’s joy is contagious as he asks the reader to give him a hug. Olaf runs splat into the book page and bonks his nose. He mistakenly thinks that the reader is playing a game and that he can’t get a hug until the game is over. Olaf suggests Leap Troll and Ring Around the Reindeer before settling on hide-and-seek. All right, no peeking as Olaf hides. Can you find him?
I hope you enjoy these preschool winter stories. My son and the preschoolers at the library’s storytime group really liked all of these books. I joined Amazon’s Affiliate program to try and help cover the costs of this site. If you buy something through one of my links on Amazon, then I get a small percentage of the sale (no extra cost to you). Thank you for your support! Happy reading 🙂
Book Activities
My son and I enjoy reading books together and then making crafts that go along with our stories. Check out my Crafts Page for ideas!
- You can make a paper plate fox craft to go with Fox Versus Winter and Winter Dance.
- Make a sparkly craft stick snowflake for Ezra Jack Keats’ A Snowy Day book.
- Paint a paper plate winter cap for Froggy Gets Dressed, Winter is Here, and The Jacket I Wear in the Snow.
- Make a pretend fireplace to warm up by after reading these winter stories.
