We hope everyone is bundled up from the cold outdoors! As the snowflakes fall gently in crisp or slushy or powdery layers on the ground, it’s the perfect time of year to celebrate snow in your Poetry Teatime. Read on for ideas about writing snowflake-shaped poetry, comparing poems about snow, and singing your poetry aloud!
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For today’s themed teatime, we would like to share an activity suggested by a Brave Writer mom on Facebook. The three Robert Frost poems below are all about snow, but he describes snow differently in each of them. Read each one aloud during your teatime and compare them. Are the sounds similar or different in each poem? What different images does Frost use in each one, and what do those images make you think of? What feelings do you have after you’ve finished reading each of them?
Dust of Snow
By Robert Frost
The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree
Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
By Robert Frost
Storm Fear
By Robert Frost
You can also listen to Robert Frost reading “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” here. It’s amazing to hear the words read aloud by their author! Also, in preparation for an activity later on in today's post, why not listen to some of Robert Frost's poems set to music? You can compare the version of "Stopping by Woods" composed by Eric Whitacre here and sung beautifully by a choir here.
Snowy Food & Drinks
Snow ice cream: You’ve probably gobbled up the classic recipe before, but why not try a variation this year! This post from The Kitchen is My Playground gives the recipe for five types of snow ice cream, including maple, strawberry, and chocolate!
Snow cones: Want something even easier than snow ice cream? Want something that’s even less healthy? All you need are some packets of Kool-Aid, sugar, and water for a colorful and simple winter treat! See this recipe on Crafty Morning.
Snowflake-shaped food: If you’ve got snowflake-shaped cookie cutters, bring them out for today’s teatime! Try cutting out slices of cheese, tiny sandwiches, and circles of carrots or cucumbers into snowflake shapes. Or if you want to get a bit more hands-on with cutting your food, you can make cinnamon sugar snowflakes out of tortillas following this recipe from Happy Hooligans.
Winter wonderland popcorn: Nothing better than a bunch of popcorn to celebrate the snow! This recipe from Hungry Happenings is for a special sweet popcorn that’s decorated with wintry sprinkles for some extra flair.
Decorating a Winter Wonderland
Paper snowflakes: What snow-themed poetry teatime would be complete without some paper snowflake-cutting? Find all sorts of patterns on this list from the Balance!
White wonderland: Try to decorate as much as you can with white today. Use white plates (paper plates work!), a white tablecloth (or white paper, or paper doilies), white napkins, and gather white objects from around the house for your centerpiece. You can also serve white foods: glasses of milk, popcorn (see the recipe above for a snazzier version), white chocolate, sandwiches with the crusts cut off, and even boiled eggs.
Snow-Themed Poetry Activities
Singing a poem: Try composing your own melody for one of the Robert Frost poems above. If you have any instruments at home, you can add those, or just use your voice. Poetry and music go beautifully together, and making a tune to match the poem helps you remember the words of the poem forever!
Snowflake poetry: Write a concrete poem in the shape of a snowflake. You can use a paper snowflake you’ve cut out, or draw a snowflake onto a piece of paper and write on the lines, or grab a picture of a snowflake from an image of real snow crystals and use that as your outline. Try to fit your words into the shape of a snowflake!
Poetry Books about Snow
Snow, Snow: Winter Poems for Children, by Jane Yolen
Winter Eyes, by Douglas Florian
Winter Poems, edited by Barbara Rogasky
Iguanas in the Snow and Other Winter Poems, by Francisco X. Alarcon
Winter Bees & Other Poems of the Cold, by Joyce Sidman
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, by Robert Frost
A Snowflake Fell: Poems about Winter, edited by Laura Whipple
