Sneezy the Snowman

Sneezy the Snowman quickly became a fan favorite once I started using it in therapy a few years ago, and my toddler has been running around shouting “Make me brand new!” for the past week so I think it’s safe to say it’s a hit at our house, too!

Repetitive Lines

One of the things I love about Sneezy is the repetitive lines throughout the book.  Kids love getting to fill in/join in with repetitive parts of books, which encourages participation and creates a positive experience around reading! (You can read more about the benefits of using repetitive books in therapy in this blog post here.)

Some of the repetitive lines throughout the book I use for fill-ins are:

“Brr! It’s cold out here, that’s for sure”
Part I use: “brr!”

“He said with a smile, ‘I like this a lot.’”
Part I use: “I like this a lot”

“The children cried out, ‘What should we do?’”
Part I use: “What should we do?”

“A voice from the puddle said ‘Make me brand new!’”
Part I use: “Make me brand new”

“The snowman sneezed a gigantic, ‘ah choo!’
Part I use: “ah choo”

“Then let’s share.  I have something you can wear.”
Parts I use: filling in “share” and “wear” at the end of those lines

If you’re using this book for circle time, the opportunities to fill in “Brr!” And “Ah choo!” to fill in are great participation opportunities for your littles who are just starting to imitate verbally, since environmental/play sounds can be easier to imitate than other types of words.

Core Words

Sneezy the Snowman is full of opportunities to model core vocabulary words and phrases on your students’ AAC devices:

• “I like this”/“I like it”
• “What do?”
• “Help”
• “Make me”
• “Make more”
• “I have some”
• “You”
• “No”
• “Eat”

Other Vocabulary:

Winter clothing: Pair activities for winter clothing vocabulary with this book, since the kids dress Sneezy with a winter hat, scarf, and coat.

Basic Concepts: Target basic concepts “hot” and “cold” with this book since Sneezy keeps alternating between these two temperatures throughout the story!

Sequencing

Sneezy is great for tying in sequencing of building a snowman, and, the story itself has a lot of repetition in the sequence of events, giving your students a lot of opportunities to practice sequencing by building on the repetition!

Example: Sneezy drinks cocoa, melts, gets rebuilt, gets a hat. Sneezy sits in a hot tub, melts, gets rebuilt, and gets a scarf. Sneezy goes next to a fire, melts, gets rebuilt, and gets a coat.

Science Experiments

I love doing simple science activities in therapy to practice following directions, requesting, predicting, and sequencing/retell! Click here for a blog post on easy science experiments to use with Sneezy the Snowman.

Ice Cream Theme Pairing

Sneezy the Snowman obviously fits in with any winter/snow theme, but it also fits in with a “hot cocoa” theme AND an ice cream theme, too! Speaking as a former school-based therapist, I know it can be stressful to feel like you don’t have enough materials to fit in with every weekly/bi-weekly theme in the preschool classrooms– so repurpose your summer-themed ice cream activities and use it this winter with Sneezy!

You can use an ice cream set to work on lots of communication goals, like..

• play sounds (mmm, lip smacking, eating sounds)
• targeting core vocabulary words like “eat” “like” “good” “want” “more” “make” “in” (the bowl), scoop it “out”, “put it on” a cone
• “Who” questions by making ice cream for different animals or character figure toys
• /sk/ blends by practicing “scoop the ___” each time you scoop a different flavor.. see how many you can stack! Can you make a cone 7 scoops high like Sneezy?
• /st/ blends by practicing, “stack on the ___” and choose a color/flavor to stack onto your ice cream cone or in your bowl
• object functions for bowl, spoon, ice cream, scooper
• concepts/following directions for making different flavors of ice cream cones/cups. Talk about concepts like top, middle, and bottom.. e.g. “I want chocolate and strawberry, and I want chocolate on the bottom.” “My cherry is on top.” “Which flavor is under the vanilla?” “Which scoop is in the middle?”

The Melissa & Doug ice cream counter set is my favorite, but it’s on the pricier end of toys. I’d invest in it if you’d use it at home with your own kids and could bring it in during weeks you plan to use it at work, or if you’re fortunate enough to have spending money available through your work. The smaller M&D magnetic set is also a great option! I picked up one of these for work through Facebook Marketplace for only $5! “Buy Nothing” groups on facebook and Nextdoor are great ways to find toys, too.

If an actual ice cream set isn’t an option, colorful pom poms make a great ice cream sensory bin! You could also use large pom poms for individual scoops and put them in a bowl for different flavors or make “ice cream cones” from wrapping brown construction paper.

If you want a printable list of these book targets/activity suggestions, enter your first name and email in the form below to get a PDF sent to your inbox. Sheets like these are a huge timesaver for me to be able to stick inside the book or in a zip bag/envelope with my other printable materials so I always have it on hand!