Toddler Book Club One Snowy Day

We had our first meeting of the Toddler Book Club that I'm hosting last week. It was so much fun. The only thing that didn't go according to plan was that I wasn't able to prepare a themed snack or drink. It wasn't missed though, the fun activities took up all of our time. The book was One Snowy Day by. I'll give a review of the book soon. The character in the book is a penguin, so I found a penguin figure we've got and made some signs for our book club. The first one was a welcome sign, set where we'd be reading, that included the title and author of the book.

 Making the signs was a really simple touch that took only a few minutes and added so much cuteness. Even children who can't read themselves yet benefit greatly from being in an enviornment where lots of words (such as signs and labels) are around. As you can see I laid out a big quilt over the floor to make our reading space feel a bit cozier. After everyone was settled, I read the book. There's only two kids in the book club right now, so it's very easy to make sure they both see the pictures.

Now for my(our) review of the book: it's great! The perfect book to read in winter, preferably after it has snowed. As you'll see, it inspires many ideas for activities after reading. My favorite thing about it for my 2 year old daughter though was that it's a counting book. From 1 to 10 with a fun penguin, awesome!

After reading the book, we moved on to our first activity. Hot cocoa painting craft station!

This is how I had it set up. I had prepped it earlier by using a glue stick to attach white printer paper to colored construction paper. I did this so the paper would be more sturdy, but I ended up loving how it made an adorable border. I provided them each with their own bowls of hot cocoa paint (just some shaving cream mixed together with a packet of hot chocolate). I had the brushes in the bowls, ready to go. Added for cuteness was a little rubber ducky that looks like a penguin with a winter hat on. And of course there was signage!

Once the kids had painted with the delicious smelling paint until their hearts were content, we moved on to our next activity: Sparkling Snow Sensory Math.

I was so excited about this! We're really big on sensory play here, so doing it with others brings us joy. Plus, it really went along with the book. To make the snow just fill up a bin with baking soda and add water in very slowly. I add just a bit and then mix in with my fingers, over and over until it's the right consistency. You should be able to form a ball with it and crumple it again. Too much water and it'll just turn into a liquid! Once you've got it how you want it, sprinkle in quite a few generous shakes of iridescent glitter and mix that in. Finally, to top it all off and make it math fun add in some magnetic numbers!

As you can see the kids dug right in and really enjoyed themselves! I set out another bin since toddlers LOVE to transfer.


 After that I grabbed a big bin of snow (yes, real snow) that I had sitting outside. I put that down on the table where they had painted before. Along with a spray bottle that I had filled 3/4 of the way with water and then added a packet of lemon lime Koolaid to. Bringing snow inside is great because it allows kids to play with it without being totally cold outside. And "painting" it in this way is great fine motor work. Both kids did great with the squirt bottle and practiced taking turns.

 I ended up filling up a cup of water with another Koolaid packet and a turkey baster. This added more colors and another way to practice fine motor practical life skills.

 That was our last activity! Then we read the book again to conclude the book club meeting.