sneezy the snowman! a winter story and more!

Our Grand Lives
24 minutes ago
8 min read

Monday, January 19, 2026

If snowmen could talk, they’d probably tell us

that winter is the perfect season for

giggles, mittens, and snowy-day fun with our Littles!

In today’s post, we’re sharing our January choice for

Our Monthly Story Time!

It’s a delightful story that will bring laughter to your Littles

and

plenty of chances for them to create, play, and enjoy the magic of the season!

So, let’s jump into a little snowman-inspired fun!

This regular feature has continued to be

one of our favorite posts each month!

Since the beginning of this school year,

we’ve shared a book each month that we simply love!

We’ve also shared reading strategies along the way,

ones we’ve used over the years with young Littles!

You can find our past stories and ideas by clicking the following links:

Back to School – The Kissing Hand

September – Ten Apples Up on Top

October – Go Away, Big Green Monster

November – Turkey Trouble

December – The Gingerbread Man

This is the ideal time of year to snuggle up and read with your Littles

and in this post Laurie shares the BEST winter book you will EVER read!

Are you ready for story #6?

Our Choice for January’s Story Time is….

Sneezy the Snowman

This book, written by Maureen Wright and illustrated by Stephen Gilphin,

is a delightful story

about a snowman who attempts to warm himself with some silly results!

B-R-R-R-R! AH-CHOO!

In this story, Sneezy the Snowman keeps shivering and sneezing because he is so cold. He gets silly ideas about what he can do to warm up, and things go very wrong.

Fortunately, the children rebuild him each time, offering clothing to keep Sneezy warm! After a few mishaps along the way, Sneezy’s problem is eventually solved and he feels “just right”!

When you are done reading/listening to the story, ask your Little to tell you what happened in the story. Talk about why Sneezy kept melting! Then get ready to do the project together!

After you’ve read the story with your Little,

ask this important question:

Why did Sneezy keep melting in the story?

It won’t take your Little long to figure out the answer!

By the end of the story, Sneezy has figured out what was causing him to melt!

Cause and effect is a foundational concept where Littles learn "if I do this, then that will happen," Research proves that through simple observations, trial-and-error and play these skills grow fostering curiosity and problem solving along the way!

Other fun conversations to have about the story might include

✱ brainstorming other ways Sneezy might melt!

✱ rereading the story and, as you do, have your Little join in on the repetitive phrase,

What should we do? OR Make me brand new!

Littles will also have fun completing rhyming sentences in the story!

They rebuilt Sneezy as snowflakes flew

A cold winter wind swirled and (blew)!

✱ acting out the story… Littles love melting!

Keep reading for more snowman fun!

BUT FIRST…

Before we move on,

we’ve included a link to the Youtube version of Sneezy the Snowman…

That way, if you don’t have access to the actual book

(which is always our preference, of course)

you can still introduce your Little(s) to this delightful story and enjoy it together!

Now that we’ve met Sneezy and followed his silly adventure,

here are a few of our favorite activities to keep the excitement going.

Each would be fun and fairly easy to prep and pull off,

especially when hibernating this winter!

Melted Snowmen Paintings!

When you are done reading the story,

get ready to do this simple project together!

1. Fill a plastic cup with about a ½ inch of glue; add shaving cream and fill to near the top of the cup.

2. Stir, stir, stir! A craft stick works well!

3. “Paint” a melted snowman on a piece of construction paper (blue or black works best). Add a nose, mouth, eyes, hat, scarf or whatever you would like from scrap paper.

What does Sneezy look like when he is all melted?

FOR YOUNG LITTLES (Toddlers & Preschoolers): To make this project successful for young painters - like Laurie’s Little P - mix the glue and shaving cream on a paper plate or in a low bowl. As an added step, trace an outline of a snowman on the paper before your Little begins, as shown below!.

Isn’t Little P’s Sneezy so cute?

Sticky Snowmen!

Speaking of cute snowmen, check out this project!

You know how much we love our clear contact paper!

We always have a roll on hand, ready for fun with our Littles!

Laura is sharing a great way to use it!

I’m afraid I didn’t do a very good job of photographing the prep for this project, so you'll need to imagine what Steps 1 and 2 would look like! Oops!

1. Unroll the contact paper and place it on a counter with the side without the protective covering on top. Using a permanent marker, draw the outline of a snowman and a snowbank (as shown in the photo above.)

2. Carefully peel the protective covering from the contact paper, revealing its sticky side. Then tape the contact paper to a table top or window (again, as shown above).

3. It’s time for your Littles to create their snowman! Little L and Little P added googly eyes, paper carrot noses, mouths, scarves and stick arms. They also added a few real buttons that I had available. Older Littles can cut out their snowman features but for my young Littles I asked them what they’d like (i.e. a purple scarf) and I’d cut it out before they added it! Do what works best for you and your Littles!

4. Now the fun part! Little L and Little P used cotton balls to “stamp” snow onto their artwork. They simply dotted the sticky contact paper with a cotton ball and each time they lifted up “snow” appeared!

Did you happen to notice

that we created a daytime snowman and a nighttime snowman?

These snowmen definitely made us smile!

(As did the cotton ball snowfall fight that followed!)

A Few Yummy Ways to Enjoy the Story!

By now, many of you know

that Laura loves to spend time in the kitchen with her Littles!

Over the years, they’ve had snow much fun making these winter treats!

Warm Up with Hot Chocolate!

There’s nothing like a mug of cocoa to celebrate the winter season! Recently, we tried these hot chocolate toppers and we not only loved making them, we loved eating them, too!

Snowman Donuts!

This was the perfect addition to our morning brunch a few years ago! My, how Little L has grown since we last built these snowmen!

We threaded three mini powdered sugar donuts onto a wooden skewer and then added the extra decor - eyes, nose and buttons (mini M&M’s), a scarf (fruit roll up), a mouth (mini chocolate chips), two arms (pretzel sticks) and a hat (orange segment).

As I recall, Little L wasn't sure she wanted to eat her special snowman!

(SPOILER ALERT! She did!)

Snowman Pancakes!

Here’s another favorite breakfast treat that I was reminded of when visiting Jen’s blog, Show Me + Sweet Tea a few years ago. I had made these with our own daughters when they were younger and it was fun to recreate them with Little L during one of my visits!

We made round pancakes (different sizes) and then added them to a plate to represent the snowman. We turned a piece of bacon into our snowman’s scarf! Mini chocolate chips were used for its mouth and eyes and mini M&M’s for its nose and buttons. A few mini marshmallows represented the snow on the ground! Finally, we used an orange segment and a strawberry slice to make the snowman’s hat and we broke a pretzel stick in half for its arms! Older Littles use their own imaginations to create their own snowman pancakes! I may have to do this once again when I see our Littles next!

Snowman Place Settings!

We couldn’t wrap up this post without including this idea from Laurie. She shared it on Instagram recently!

For a family gathering last winter, I set the table in a fun way!

I turned placemats vertically to create a background for each snowman. For each snowman place setting, I used the following:

BODY - a salad and dinner plate

(I got mine from the dollar store but you could use paper/plastic plates, too)

HAT – made from construction paper (I added a few star stickers for interest)

SCARF – a colorful napkin (paper or cloth)

ARMS & HAT BRIM - silverware

BUTTONS - Hershey Kisses (or other candy)

EYES – unwrapped Hershey Kisses

NOSE – a carrot stick, of course!

These place settings would brighten up any winter meal!

Do you have a “kid friendly” winter activity

a favorite children’s book that you love to read this time of year?

If so, or if you have any other ideas or insights for us,

PLEASE SHARE!

Feel free to comment at the end of this post!

THANK YOU!

We’ll be back later this week

with a new post geared toward GRAND Sips for the Season!

🍸 Cheers to Winter! 🍸

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As the last pages of this month’s story, Sneezy the Snowman, are turned, we’re reminded that winter tales are even sweeter when they spill into real-life play! From snowy crafts to yummy snowman treats, these moments invite our Littles to imagine, create, and laugh right alongside us.