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Winter is a great time to add books about hibernation and migration to your reading time. Here’s a great list of picture books to get you started!
Fill your book basket with these preschool picture books this winter, and learn how animals survive the long, cold winter months.
Kids are fascinated by the fact that there are animals that sleep through the entire winter. Actually, animals have different ways of dealing with the winter weather.
Some animals adapt to their surroundings by turning white so they blend in to the snow. Others hibernate the winter away. Still others migrate to warmer parts of the world.
Books About Hibernation and Migration
Fill your book basket with a great collection of books about animals in winter. Most of these books can be found at your local library or used bookstore.
If you have a hard time finding them, you can order them through my Amazon affiliate links by clicking the images below.
Books About Winter Animals
Big Tracks, Little Tracks: Following Animal Prints – Teaches young readers how to track animals by finding footprints and other clues.
All About Animals in Winter – Celebrates the winter season with beautiful images of animals in winter. Some animals’ fur turns white, and some animals hibernate. Winter is here!
The Animals’ Winter Sleep – A beautiful non-fiction book full of detailed color pencil illustrations. This book describes how 13 North American animal species—such as black bear, ermine, pileated woodpecker, porcupine, river otter, and ruffed grouse—survive harsh winter snows snug inside their dens, nests, burrows, and lodges.
Best in Snow – Sheds sparkly new light on the wonders of snow. From the beauty of snow blanketing the forest and falling on animals’ fur and feathers to the fascinating winter water cycle, this nonfiction picture book celebrates snowfall and the amazing science behind it.
What Do Critters Do in the Winter? – Helps little ones examine how animals hibernate, use camouflage, and migrate to survive winter conditions.
In the Snow: Who’s Been Here? – Follows Cammy and William as they trek the the snow. As they explore, they see signs of life and wonder “who’s been here?”
Who Lives in the Snow? – Introduce young readers to the unseen life in the world of winter. On the surface, the snow looks quiet and serene. But beneath its white expanse, unsociable shrews go hunting, voles tunnel to the surface, and chipmunks awaken to nibble on seeds.
Not a Buzz to Be Found – Answers the question “What do insects do in winter?” Simple text presents a variety of ways that insects or their offspring survive the winter.
When It Starts to Snow – What if it starts to snow. What do ou do? Where do you go?” So begins this winter story, as each animal–from a mouse to a bear–tells us what it will do and where it will go when the snow starts to fall. Each takes cover in its own special home, except for one. Can you guess who?
Books About Hibernation
A Bed for the Winter – Explores the harrowing story of a little dormouse and his frantic search for a safe place to hibernate.
Animals Hibernating – Shows kids which animals hibernate and why, the difference between true hibernators and deep sleepers, where animals hibernate, what happens while they hibernate, and much more.
Hibernation – Helps young readers learn all about animals and what they do during the winter!
Hibernation – Contains simple text and photographs introduce hibernation and how some animals prepare for and experience hibernation each year.
Bear Snores On – One by one, a whole host of different animals and birds find their way out of the cold and into Bear’s cave to warm up. See what happens when he finally wakes up and finds his cave full of uninvited guests — all of them having a party without him!
Hibernation Station – Rhyming text for young readers that introduces them to animals who sleep through the winter.
Don’t Wake Up the Bear! – It’s a cold, snowy night, and a big, soft bear sleeps soundly in his cave. A small hare wanders by, and since his ears are so cold, he snuggles up in the bear’s cozy den. As the night wears on, the nest of sleeping animals expands until a mouse with a cold curls up right in the bear’s ear―and wakes him up with a loud sneeze!
Time to Sleep – A warm-hearted story about animals of the forest settling down for their winter nap. But, like children who must go to bed for the night, they each find a way to put it off just a little bit longer.
Over and Under the Snow – Reveals the tunnels and caves formed beneath the snow but over the ground, where many kinds of animals live through the winter, safe and warm, awake and busy, but hidden beneath the snow.
Books About Migration
Birds in Winter – Teaches young readers how birds migrate or adapt to survive the winter months. Vibrant, full-color photos and carefully leveled text engage early readers as they discover how birds handle the chilly weather conditions.
How Do Birds Find Their Way? – Explains the mystery behind the question “Why don’t birds get lost?” Many birds make long journeys twice each year as they migrate between their winter and summer homes. How do they know which way to fly? Why don’t they get lost?
Migration – Explains to young readers the migration of a variety of animals.
Goose’s Story – Shares the story of one special goose. Every spring, the geese touch down on the pond in a honking, flapping celebration. But this year, one of them is different. As it stands on one leg–shunned by the other geese, unable to search for food, to swim, or even to fly away–a young girl wonders: how can a goose with one foot survive?
Going Home: The Mystery of Animal Migration – Features ten different animal species that migrate. For animals, migration is a powerful compulsion, sometimes over long distances, often skipping meals. Sometimes, as in the case of the monarch butterfly, a round-trip takes several generations. Why do they do it? How do they succeed?
Honk! Honk! A Story of Migration – The story of the migration of the wild goose north to its summer breeding grounds. It’s a magical journey, seen through the eyes of a young girl.
The Peregrine’s Journey: A Story of Migration by Madeleine Dunphy vividly describes one of the most remarkable feats in the animal kingdom. Beginning in Alaska and ending two months later in Argentina, the peregrine falcon’s annual migration is an 8,000-mile flight across the Americas.
Amazing Animal Journeys by Laura Marsh introduces young readers to the treacherous trek of the zebra, walrus, and Christmas Island red crab to overcome obstacles that include hungry cheetahs, stinging yellow crazy ants, and even their fellow species to make the often impossible journey of their lives.
The Journey: Stories of Migration by Cynthia Rylant follows the migratory journeys of some magnificent creatures: locusts, gray whales, American silver eels, monarch butterflies, caribou, and terns.
This “ARCTIC WILDLIFE” quiet book introduces your baby the Polar animals, helps to develop imagination and fine motor skills!
This Arctic small world sensory bin filler includes everything your child needs to engage in beneficial sensory play. Sensory play encourages children to explore their senses and enhances creativity.