Winter time is such a happy, cozy time for so many! Here, we usually spend a little extra time indoors because of the colder, wetter weather, so we grabbed a few new wintery books to keep us entertained and enjoying our snuggly indoor time together! Check out these new favorites and grab the ones your little one would be most interested in. :) Just click the specific title or matching picture to check out the book!

Winter Books for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Also…SPOILER ALERT: I’ll give a quick synopsis of what each book is about. Just so I don’t spoil any part of the stories for you, you’ve been fairly warned. Haha! :)

1. A Loud Winter’s Nap

This cute story is about a tortoise who thinks he doesn’t like winter and just wants a nap! He can’t find a quiet spot to fall asleep so he decides to jump in and try some of the fun, winter activities and learns that tortoises DO like winter!

This story has some great repetitive lines, lots of bright illustrations, and cute characters, making it a great story for little ones. It’s also a great way to encourage your kiddos to try new things, even if they’re unsure if they’ll like it or not.

2. The Snowy Day

This classic story is about a little boy who goes out adventuring on a snowy day! He bundles up and notices how his feet tromp through the snow. He finds a stick and learns about gravity, joins in a snowball fight, and builds a snowman before heading home with a snowball. He feels sad when he learns that snow melts in warm temperatures, but is excited for new snow falling the next day.

I love this book for the funny things that happen and the simple ways to make connections to the character. My little guy enjoys this story and was especially interested when we got some of our very own snow to play in this year! :)

3. Bunny Slopes

Oh, little bunny, you’re so funny! :) This story is told from the perspective of a little bunny who is skiing and speaking directly to the reader. The bunny asks the reader to do different things to the book to help him along in his adventures, like “Could you please SHAKE the book to make some snow?” and “Can you TAP TAP TAP the top of the book to pack the snow down?”. I LOVE this unique aspect to it because it allows my toddler to physically interact with the story! These action words are also a great way to learn new vocabulary. The bunny asks you to “tilt”, “turn”, and “jump” the book, giving great opportunities for littles to learn what those words mean and look like. Anyway, it all ends up with the bunny enjoying his time skiing on the snowy slopes and going home to warm up with his mama…seriously, such a fun book to share together!

4. Over and Under the Snow

“Over and Under the Snow” is exactly what it sounds like…a book explaining all about things you see on top of the snow and what you might find if you could look under the snow. It follows a boy and his dad through the snowy forest, finding animals and nature that reside over and under the snow.

I love this book for the great illustrations and the science connection for little ones. It’s a great way to discuss what parts of the book your littles have seen and connect to and ones that they have yet to learn about. We don’t read every single word in this book yet, but we focus on identifying the animals and their position (over or under) in relation to the snow. This book will definitely grow with your little one as well!

There Was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow

5. The Mitten

This story is a CLASSIC and one that I feel that every young kid enjoys. It’s about a boy who loses his mitten in the forest. The mitten is found by very small animals at first, all of whom snuggle themselves into the mitten to keep warm on the cold, wintery day. As the story goes on, the animals who find the mitten get bigger and bigger. They all squeeze themselves in to join the snuggly party until someone sneezes and the whole mitten explodes the animals in every direction!

This book is a funny one to little kids. Haha! My son loves watching each animal snuggle themselves into the mitten until the whole thing bursts open. It’s also a great book for noticing size and making predictions about what might happen next.

6. Arctic Animals

“Arctic Animals” is a book that’s packed with super colorful illustrations and lots of fun facts about arctic animals for little kids! I love this one for the science connections and the simple explanation of new things. Your kiddos may learn a few new words, see some animals that are new to them, or just grab some more knowledge about the arctic animals inside.

7. William’s Winter Nap

Oh MY. This BOOK. It’s just a total, new favorite! “William’s Winter Nap” is about a boy, William, who lets all kinds of animals crawl into his bed and get cozy. The illustrations are completely adorable and I love the simple connection you can make between this book and the classic, “The Mitten”, by Jan Brett.

This story is perfect for comparing with “The Mitten”, it’s great for learning to share and care for other living things, and it’s just a super cute story that your kiddos can relate to and even act out if they wanted to! Grab some stuffed animals and let them add the little animals to their bed for some real life literacy connections. Haha!

8. There Was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow!

This story follows the classic layout of “There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly”, but she swallows ALL winter-related items! She swallows snow, buttons, a scarf…and can you guess what all her swallowed items create at the end?! That’s right…a SNOWMAN! :)

There is a bunch of rhyming in this book and it builds on itself with each thing that she swallows. That repetition is a great tool for helping little ones learn to retell the story, so you can challenge your kiddos to remember what’s next in the book or what happened before to strengthen their sequencing skills.

And there you have it! These are my favorites for now. I hope you found a new book or two to snuggle up and enjoy with your little ones. :)

Wishing you lots of cozy book time together this season, friend!