Happy Winter, Mai Friends! Does it *snow* where you live? Or perhaps, like here in SoCal, it just gets chilly and cloudy, with no snowy winter wonderland in sight?

Winter is here, and it’s time to trade in the flannels for cozy sweaters, apple cider for steaming mugs of cocoa, and pumpkin spice for all things gingerbread and nutmeg! Here in So-Cal, the chilly, wintery nights have finally kicked in~ cold enough where we have to crank on the heater, and nighttime tea (with a side of popcorn) is a necessity for warming up before bed! It may not snow here, but it’s still chilly enough to warrant cuddling under 3 layers of blankets, lighting all of the cinnamon and sugar cookie scented candles, stringing up the twinkle lights, and spending all evening curled up with a good book and cup of hot chocolate.

To welcome this frosty new season, I’m sharing this collection of Children’s Book Recs, Crafts, and Interactive Read Alouds to bring some winter fun your way! Enjoy some wintery bookish fun with your little learners this season ~ and let me know what some of your favorite winter traditions are. I know I’ll be spending all winter snuggling with Mai very own little lover Cuddle Bear!

Books

Below I’m highlighting a collection of favorite *New Release* Winter books this season! In this wintery lineup, you’ll find not only books of snow and frost, but epic adventures of survival, reads filled with all the animal antices, tales of mystery, stories of friendship, love, and self-discovery, and much more! For the full list and collection of new winter reads and old favorites: 

Click here for the full list of Winter titles and links to order.

Click here for the full list of DIVERSE Winter Titles and links to order.

(Or click on the individual titles below)

Frindleswylde by Natalia O’Hara & Lauren O’Hara // Travel down a hole in the pond to a magical frozen kingdom! When a mysterious boy, Frindleswylde, steals the light from Cora and Grandma’s lantern, Cora is determined to get the light bacl. She follows Frindleswylde into his magical frozen kingdom where she must accomplish three Impossible Tasks if she wants to get the light back.

I Did See a Mammoth by Willmore Alex // When a group of explorers sets off to study penguins in the Antarctic, the youngest explorer discovers something quite different~ a mammoth! But what happens when no one believes her? Did she really see a mammoth …? A hilarious read aloud!

A Winter Treasury: Recipes, Crafts, & Wisdom by Angela Ferraro-Fanning // This treasury is packed full of nature-based crafts, baking recipes, and gardening projects perfect for the season of winter. Enjoy recipes such as berry cookies and hot chocolate, find accessible and fun crafts such as salt-dough ornaments and foraged foilage wreaths, and try out seasonal gardening projects such as planting bare root berry bushes.

Yetis are the Worst by Alex Willan // Move aside unicorns and dragons, according to this Goblin, Yetis are the Worst! Everyone thinks yetis are soooo mysterious, but that’s because they’ve never met one. Gilbert the Goblin is determined to find a Yeti to prove they aren’t as cool and mysterious as people believe them to be. However, they are proving to be harder to find than he thought…or could it be that he’s just not looking in the right places… But what happens when an avalanche launches him right into pit of Yeti-ville?

Only the Trees Know by Jane Whittingham // Little Rabbit is frustrated waiting for spring. She wants winter to hurry and be over, so he repeatedly asks his parents when it will be spring. All they can tell him is that he must be patient. When Little Rabbit asks the wisest rabbit in the forest, his grandmother, to find out when it will spring, she tells him, “Only the trees know.” So Little Rabbit asks the trees and tries to listen to an answer. When he hears no answer, he’s about to give up~ until he begins to notice something different in the forest right underneath his nose…

The Coat by Severine Vidal // All Elise really, really wants is the beautiful, warm, red coat. When it is finally hers, a chance encounter with a family changes everything~ making her question the feelings of true joy. This winter, Elise may just discover that the pleasure that comes from physical belongings is no match for the warm feeling that comes from helping others.

Mending the Moon by Emma Pearl // When one night the moon shines so big and bright that it shatters into pieces and falls from the sky, Luna, her Poppa, and all the animals on the mountain must work together to find the pieces of the moon and mend it back to whole. It’s up to them to set the world right again and to leave their mark on the moon.

So Much Snow by Hyunmin Park // This *mostly* wordless picture book encapsulates the magic and wonder of a deep winter snow. When two children wake up to snow and head outside with their shovels to clear some piles and play, they discover that it snowed *so much* that a shovel isn’t even close to being enough. Just what kind of adventures can two children embark on in so much snow?

Crafts

Prepare for some winter fun with these bookish crafts to extend the learning and play beyond the book. This winter, I’m celebrating the frosty season with some of mai favorite winter-wonderland bookish characters! Check out these Winter crafts inspired by some of your snowy bookish friends.

*Click on the Images for Craft Templates.*

Click here to shop the books.

Interactive Read Alouds

Plus, read along with MaiStoryBook YouTube for interactive, shared-reading read aloud adventures where I ask questions throughout the story, point out main themes and ideas, and introduce vocabulary to keep little learns engaged and participating throughout the story. I’ve curated a collection of Winter Themed Interactive Read aloud videos for you to read along, learn, and celebrate with some bookish fun this Winter season!

Click here to read along with MaiStoryBook’s Winter Read Aloud Playlist

Or click on the image-link below to read along to the individual titles

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I hope you found some reading recommendations to add to your own shelves and share with your littles this Winter. Please share any other Winter Titles  to add to this themed collection.

*~Also, I’d love to  see and hear about your own reading adventures you are having with your little learners, so please share your story times below in the comments ~ Or Tag me on Instagram @MaiStoryBookLibrary , FaceBook , find me on TikTok, or contact me via email . I’d love to hear from you!~*