Snowbound!

     After a relatively mild winter thus far, the snow finally decided to grace us with its white, powdery, cold perfection and schools have been closed all week. What do you do with a restless child when you’ve got oodles of time and plenty of fresh snow? Make snow scream, of course! My daughter couldn’t have been more excited to finally see the world outside covered in a layer of fresh snow. Ever since watching the Little Bear episode “Snowbound” she has been asking to make Snow Cream just like Granny and Little Bear and now that we actually have clean snow on the ground, we were finally able to give it a try.

     In the episode, Little Bear and his family are snowed in at Emily’s Granny’s cottage for the night. Granny asks Little Bear to help her make a special dessert. Granny says,

"We take a bowl, an ordinary, empty bowl, fill it full of snow, add a few magic ingredients…
a little cream…and some honey and repeat after me:
 
Whether the weather be cold,
Or whether the weather be hot,
We’ll weather the weather,
Whatever the weather,
Whether we like it or not.”

     Little Bear mixes the concoction together as they all repeat the poem and magically it becomes ice cream! Amazing!

     My daughter absolutely loves this episode. I cannot tell you the number of times we have watched it nor how often we have recited the poem. Of course, after watching it the first time we just had to know if Snow Cream is a real thing and if we could make it ourselves. Turns out there are several recipes out there and they are all pretty simple.

*Note: this post contains Amazon Affiliate links. Any purchases made via the links provided go to support our literacy efforts!

     Before bundling up to go out and collect snow we got our supplies together:

• Two large mixing bowls (one for collecting snow and one for mixing the snow cream)
• One large measuring cup (we used our OXO Good Grips 4-Cup Angled Measuring Cup)
• One mixing spoon (we are partial to the silicone ones made by Core Kitchen)
  
• One can of sweetened condensed milk
• One bottle of vanilla

     Once we had everything gathered, we bundled up in our winter gear and headed outside to find some clean snow. My daughter used the large measuring cup to scoop up the snow and fill her bowl.   

     We weren't quite sure how much snow it would take to make our snow cream, so we just filled our bowl and measuring cup and brought it all inside. After peeling out of our winter gear we got busy with measuring and mixing.

     Making snow cream is not an exact science. We ended up using approximately eight cups of snow, the whole can of sweetened condensed milk and a few drops of vanilla in ours and really enjoyed the flavor. It does not come out creamy like traditional ice cream, or at least ours didn't. It was more icy and extremely cold, but quite tasty. I believe we can thank the subzero, arctic temperatures for the icy consistency. We also gave Granny's recipe with honey and cream a try, but found that the honey didn't mix in well and the taste wasn't really to our liking. Don't be afraid to experiment a little like adding chocolate syrup, caramel, strawberry, lemon or other flavors to find your favorite combinations. The flavor possibilities when making ice cream out of snow are truly endless. Allow each member of the family to have their own bowl to mix up their own unique flavor.

      We followed up our adventures in making snow cream by enjoying some picture books all about snow and winter. Is there any better way to round out a cold afternoon than snuggling up with your little one and a good book?! Below is a list of the snowy related picture books we had on hand in our home library.

William's Winter Nap by Linda Ashman

Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner

Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin

Winter is for Snow by Robert Neubecker

Straight to the Pole by Kevin O'Malley

This Place in the Snow by Rebecca Bond

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost

Little Critter's Snowball Soup by Mercer Mayer

If It's Snowy and You Know It, Clap Your Paws! by Kim Norman

Winter Days in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder

For more winter related picture books take a look at our previous blog Picture Books for Wintry Weather.

Happy creating and reading!

-Kate @ BTBL

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Author

We are three generations that seek a way to get back to basics. It’s not that we eschew technology, but sometimes simpler is better especially in raising our children. Mom was a reading teacher, Amanda is an early childhood educator and Kate a children’s literature specialist and former school librarian along with the latest editions, a daughter for Kate (now 3) and a son for Amanda (now 1.) We advocate reading aloud, the simple toys that use imagination and encourage creativity and learning in the kitchen, which can be a fun mess but also teaches life skills. Join us in raising healthy, happy, inquisitive and intelligent children.