All You Need for a Snowman

is mashed potatoes, green beans (2 whole and one sliced for eyes and buttons), and a piece of carrot!

Who said it's bad to play with your food?

All You Need for a Snowman by Alice Schertle is about a group of children coming together to build snowmen.  We are particularly fond of the very large snowman that requires the reader to turn the book sideways to view it properly.  The watercolor illustrations are perfect for creating the snowy scenes and the simple text is great for young children.

Snowmen

I took two sugar cookies right out of the oven and added chocolate chip details (eyes and mouth on one cookie, buttons on the other cookie).  The chocolate chips melt, but stay in position nicely to look like snowman details.  I added an orange icing nose, a fruit leather scarf, pretzel stick arms (attached with a tiny bit of white icing), and a plain sugar cookie for the bottom.  

These are delicious served with white hot chocolate (melted snowmen?).  The white hot chocolate recipe (actually called Snow Flake Cocoa) can be found at allrecipes.

One of our favorite snowman books is The Snowman by Raymond Briggs.  This is a beautiful, wordless book about a little boy who makes a snowman (all by himself, no less) and at night the snowman comes to life.  The boy shows the snowman all of the wonders of human life (television, a lamp, ice cubes, etc.) and then the snowman takes the boy on a magical, wintry adventure.  The boy is returned to his bed before his parents wake up, but the next morning he runs outside to find only his new friend's melted remains and a few lumps of coal.


What is your favorite snowman book?

Make Your Own Snowman Snack

This week, we read Snowmen at Christmas by Caralyn Buehner, a great book about how snowmen celebrate Christmas.  This is a companion to the best selling book,Snowmen at Night, and it is just as wonderful.  We love the little snow children and snow dogs, and little details like the snowman crossing sign on one page.  The illustrations are beautiful, and there are hidden pictures to find on each page.


To go along with this book, we enjoyed a make your own snowman snack.  I gave the kids banana slices, 
pretzel sticks, raisins, mini chocolate chips, and orange icing.  

You could also add fruit leather for scarves and berries or sliced fruit for hats.  There are so many possibilities!