Each day read a chapter from one of the novels (In this case "Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy" or the original fairy tale.)
Watch one of the movies (alternate long and short or go in order of oldest to newest) and read a picture book about snow every so often. Have a party when you are almost done with all the movies and books. Save your favorite for last or watch/read the favorite again if people want to!
This rhythm lasts us about a month usually. We have done it in a shorter amount of time, but it kind of burns people out so it seems to be better for us to enjoy at whatever pace everyone is wanting to enjoy it.
Links and ideas for some "Snow Queen" resources ---
The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe (audio drama and book)
And also both movie versions if you want to really get into it!
The snow queen mini series -- We really enjoyed this one because it not only had the snow queen, but also had each of the four seasons depicted and everyone loved that. Also, it had a little bit of the "Polar Bear King" in it sort of too. The love story between Kai and Gerda was also the best (in our opinion!)
Sigourney Weaver narrated cartoon -- This one seemed pretty close to the original story if you are looking for a classic version.
Shelley Duvall Fairy tale theater version of the snow queen (I found this on Youtube, but that can change often so this link might not stay forever.) I always like the Fairy tale theater versions because they seem to be pretty close to the original story and aren't too long.
2005 snow queen version with people, but lots of cgi so it feels really fantasy-ish, like a story book or painting come to life and the music is lovely.
There were a few other versions that I found, but weren't our favorites so I won't link to those. Sometimes less is more anyway! Still though, if you feel like you want more picture book versions or movies you can search "Snow queen" at your library or on Amazon and more will pop up. A few came up when I did this that seemed to be a bit too scary for my girls so obviously you have to check for the age level and know what your own kids would be into. A good way to include the whole family is to use the resources that are more appropriate for older kids with just them --like a Mommy/Teen date to see "The Huntsman, Winter's War" which is another really interesting take on the Snow Queen's story, but not appropriate for littles. Also, they might not feel as "babied" if the older kids get a special movie or book version for just them when you go to read picture books with the younger kids. Everyone is still enjoying the story, but at the appropriate level for them.
Frozen of course is a snow queen version which I am sure you all know about so I don't need to link to it. Or if you are a bit tired of seeing that cartoon and don't feel the need to revisit the full thing, how about a recap with emojis?
Youtube "emoji frozen" for the show told in emojis!
Science of snow was an interesting video about snow, there are others of course and also books you can search for at your library like "Snowflake Bentley" (There is also a cartoon of the same name "Snowflake Bentley" and of course his books with real photos of the snowflakes!)
Additional type resources could be documentaries on the arctic or snow like this one
Or if you all really enjoyed the Narnia snow queen type version ("The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe") then perhaps a documentary about the author
Other fun ideas!
Get ice shaver for snow cones!
Decorate with all four seasons.
Dress up if people want to for a Poetry Teatime
Retell the story, could be with a rhyming dictionary to turn the story into a poem. Work together or everyone separate.
Get "Instant snow" and make centerpiece for the table.
Cut paper snowflakes to decorate with.
Make ice cream sandwhiches or ice cream "snow men" to eat for the fairy tale poetry teatime.
Maybe have ICE tea rather than hot!
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| Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy (novel) - I absolutely loved this version of the "Snow Queen" because it was told in such a different way! Also, the whole story takes place in a museum so we were motivated to do a trip to our cities museum! |
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| I found tons of snowy type books from our library and set them all out to inspire us! |
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| Our trip to the museum where we bought a post card of the art that we thought went with each season! This is Winter obviously |
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| We thought this looked the most like Spring |
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| This one maybe Summer? I guess it depends on where you live, but it looks windy |
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| Autumn of course. |
We also looked for keys and locks as we wandered around looking for the paintings that matched the postcards we bought in the gift shop. This will make sense if you read the "Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy" book! The girls enjoyed the treasure hunt and remembering the story.
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| Everyone made a wintery chalk board design with birds since we have been studying birds all year too. |
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| The poem on the big chalk board is from Jane Yolan's book "Snow, Snow:" |
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| We hung up the post cards after the Museum trip and decorated our "Poet-tree" with all four seasons! |
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| My youngest (7) is dressed as Spring, Middle (10) is the Snow Queen, and my oldest (12) is Autumn |
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| This is good with frozen raspberries or frozen blueberries! You just pour heavy Whipping Cream on the frozen berries and it sticks to it and basically makes this natural "ice cream" - before pouring the whipping cream you can add a sweetener. |
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| I found some other wintery poems as well! |
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| We had my oldests best friend over for the Poetry teatime and she dressed up as Autumn as well! (I dressed up as Summer) |
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| This was how my 10 year old decided to do her writing project at the end of our Fairy tale marathon. |
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