When the Snow Falls Down

You can’t beat a really great snowfall!  I can’t believe it is mid-January and I’m still waiting for the first big one of the season.  At least we have a little blanket covering the land! 

Snowfall brings about so many opportunities to connect with the land in new and exciting ways, and it also prompts so many new questions and wonderings.  Last year I shared with you “Tracks in the Snow”, which is a song all about finding animal tracks and wondering who may have made them.  It’s a fun one worth checking it out, if you haven’t yet!

This year, I have a new song to share called “When the Snow Falls Down”.  This song is all about animal adaptations in the changing seasons, and it offers the opportunity to take a heart-led approach to explore this topic with children.  This song invites children to place themselves in the narrative of the song, relating the song to their own experiences with animals in the land.  The song invites children to wonder about whether the animals they have come to know will stay to play with them throughout the winter.  This then begs the question- if they don’t stay, where do they go?!  What a great launching point for inquiry, don’t you think?!

Depending on the children you are spending time with, you might choose one animal to observe more closely and do some research on.  Perhaps with an older child, or group of children, you might choose to focus on different animals and have them share back with each other what they learn.  Perhaps, in your exploration, you might come across some of the different ways animals ‘leave’ and start to develop a deeper understanding of scientific vocabulary, such as migration, hibernation or brumation.  These words take on a deeper meaning when children have the opportunity to connect them with their lived experiences in the land, and the relationships they have been building with the animals they find there.

I’ve found inquiries such as this continue to nurture children’s relationship with the land. One year, children at my school became enamoured with the worms they found in the dirt in the early fall.  We started learning more about the worms and learned that there are different ways different worms adapt to the colder weather, including digging down deeper in the earth or going dormant.  After we learned this, we started calling down daily beyond our feet to say “Hello worms!” throughout the winter, as a part of our opening together.  That practice of calling out hello to the worms was very joyful.  It also built a lot of anticipation for the coming spring and the day that we would again get to see and play with the beloved worms!

Using songs to support an inquiry brings along many added benefits.  First and foremost, songs are fun!  As we revisit them, they present the opportunity for children to have more time sitting with the ideas within the song, while also giving children the opportunity to explore their voice and to develop their sense of community with those they sing with.

I hope you have a lot of fun with the song.  So many of us are right in the thick of a really challenging school year; perhaps this song can bring some joy to you and to the children in your care.  For those teaching virtually or in a hybrid situation, a song like this might inspire children to spend some time looking out their window, making observations about animals they see and considering how these animals adapt to the changing seasons; what a welcome break from the screens!  No matter how you can connect with the song, with your voice, with the voices of the children in your care and with the land- I hope this song helps bring some JOY to your day!  

I always love hearing from you about how you are using the songs, so please don’t hesitate to drop me a note to connect, or leave a comment below!