We haven’t had snow yet this winter so we’re reading snowy stories and making footprints with playdough instead! In Little Deer Lost, Silver and Sparkle haven’t seen snow before and their story beautifully captures the wonder and enjoyment of their snowy experiences.
The Story: Silver and Sparkle are playing in the woods when it starts to snow. They flick snowflakes with their tails and make footprints but when it’s time to go home everything looks different so they go round in circles until Mummy finds them. They walk home in her footprints and on their way they meet a snowman who has a basket of carrots for them. At bedtime they snuggle up and talk about how much they love the snow.
Silver and Sparkle have so much fun playing and exploring together, their enjoyment and excitement at their new experience transfers to the reader. They have fun catching snowflakes on their tongues, sliding down hills and making their own snow. They need to be brave when they get lost but the dark shadow that comes towards them is Mummy so their uncertainty doesn’t last for long.
Rosalind Beardshaw’s beautiful illustrations capture Silver and Sparkle’s playfulness and their emotions. The lovely warm pink sky on the first page changes to blue as the story unfolds and the day passes. Snuggled up in their den at the end of the day Mummy, Sparkle and Silver look up at the dark, starry sky and Sparkle and Silver discover that Mummy gave them ‘snow names’.
My daughter made the snowman that Sparkle and Silver find using homemade playdough. Then we made tracks in the snow using toy animals. It was interesting for her to see different footstep shapes and we talked about why some animals need claws and others need webbed feet.
A bonus to this activity was a walk in the woods where we also saw horseshoe shapes in the mud, my daughter was fascinated by the idea of horses wearing shoes!
Little Deer Lost is a great story to use to help children discuss new experiences and how they feel in situations where they are unsure and need to be brave. It’s also a lovely story to use in the classroom as part of a topic on the seasons or for inspiring a session on animal footprints.
Age Range: 3 +
Author: Janet Bingham / Illustrator: Rosalind Beardshaw
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