Right now it seems like all of the United States is in a winter wonderland so let’s talk about the best picture books for winter themed speech therapy today! Ohio, where I’m located is no exception to all of the snow like the rest of the country! I am snuggled up with a mug of hot chocolate and have put together 15 of the best picture books for winter themed speech therapy for you to use the rest of this winter season! Or, you can save for next winter! I have attached the links to all books discussed, which are affiliate links (this just means that if you purchase from them, I make a small commission for recommending them to you). The guesswork for planning your speech therapy session is all taken out for you-I have listed the book summary, speech sounds you can work on, language skills to be worked on, AAC words and ages that work best for each book.
I can’t wait to hear which picture books for winter you use also and which ones are your favorite! Did you know you can follow along on instagram @speechroomlibrary to see all of my book reviews?
15 Best Picture Books for Winter Themed Speech Therapy
📊Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
✏️ Summary: Blizzard is based on John Rocco’s childhood experience during the now infamous Blizzard of 1978, which brought fifty-three inches of snow to his town in Rhode Island. Told with a brief text and dynamic illustrations, the book opens with a boy’s excitement upon seeing the first snowflake fall outside his classroom window. It ends with the neighborhood’s immense relief upon seeing the first snowplow break through on their street. In between the boy watches his familiar landscape transform into something alien, and readers watch him transform into a hero who puts the needs of others first. John uses an increasing amount of white space in his playful images, which include a gatefold spread of the boy’s expedition to the store. This book about the wonder of a winter storm is as delicious as a mug of hot cocoa by the fire on a snowy day.
👄 Speech Sounds: L blends, Z, S blends
🧠 Language: Predicting, Inferencing, Describing, Retelling,
📱 AAC: More, Go, Out
👑 Book Type: Picture Book
🌳 Themes: Winter, Weather
👦🏽 👧🏻 Ages: Preschool, Elementary, Big Kids
📊Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
✏️ Summary: Tacky’s perfect friends find him annoying until his odd behavior saves the day.
👄 Speech Sounds: K, L, S
🧠 Language: Social Language, Problem Solving, Pragmatics, Same/Different,
📱 AAC: Same, Different, Go, Look, It
👑 Book Type: Picture Book
🌳 Themes: Social, Winter
👦🏽 👧🏻 Ages: Preschool, Elementary
📊Publisher: Dragonfly Books
✏️ Summary: It’s snowy cold in the town of Toby Mills. The thermometer is sinking toward zero, and the icicle hanging from the nose of General Toby’s statue is growing closer to the ground. The newspaper headline reads “COLD SNAP!” The people of the town are losing hope—and the feeling in their toes—until the mayor’s wife saves the day with a toasty treat.
👄 Speech Sounds: s blends, L, S, R
🧠 Language: describing, vocab, sequencing, Pronouns, Action Verbs,
📱 AAC: in, out, help, go, together
👑 Book Type: picture book
🌳 Themes: winter
👦🏽 👧🏻 Ages: Elementary
📊Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
✏️ Summary: In this almost wordless picture book, a host of woodland creatures take a child’s sled for a nighttime joy ride. Their whimsical ride is gorgeously depicted in bold watercolor, complemented by humorous expressions and pitch-perfect sound effects. With a timeless tone and classic characters, RED SLED will become a wintertime favorite.
👄 Speech Sounds: S blends, R, Environmental sounds
🧠 Language: Inferencing, Predicting, Describing, WH questions
📱 AAC: go, stop, up, down
👑 Book Type: wordless picture book, picture book
🌳 Themes: winter
👦🏽 👧🏻 Ages: EI, Preschool, Elementary
📊Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers
✏️ Summary: Claudia loves butterflies. Blue ones. Yellow ones. Purple ones with dots. And since she can’t take them home, she paints them in all their beautiful colors. But when winter comes, there are no more butterflies to paint…until she finds a little moth. Suddenly, Claudia sees winter in a whole new light.
👄 Speech Sounds: TH, K, Multisyllable,
🧠 Language: Same/Different, Lifecycle, Easy to tie to nonfiction study of butterflies/moth, cause/effect
📱 AAC: Look, go, same, there, it
👑 Book Type: picture book, fiction
🌳 Themes: winter, bugs, butterflies, lifecycle, art
👦🏽 👧🏻 Ages: preschool, elementary
📊Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
✏️ Summary: With sparkling flakes calling from outside, this sister and brother bundle up for an outdoor adventure with Grandma. In the hushed woods, they see and hear wildlife thriving under a new blanket of snow. In the bustle of town, they help their grateful Grandpa dig out. Then, it’s time to get sledding! Snowy scenes capture the beauty of freshly fallen snow, and the lyrical verse delights in the magic of playing in the snow and the warm comfort of family.
👄 Speech Sounds: S blends, R blends,
🧠 Language: verbs, plural s, winter vocabulary, retelling
📱 AAC: go, down, together, look, in
👑 Book Type: Picture Book, Diverse Characters
🌳 Themes: Family, Grandparents, Winter
👦🏽 👧🏻 Ages: Preschool, Elementary
📊Publisher: Schwartz & Wade
✏️ Summary: A lemonade stand in winter? Yes, that’s exactly what Pauline and John-John intend to have, selling lemonade and limeade–and also lemon-limeade. With a catchy refrain (Lemon lemon LIME, Lemon LIMEADE! Lemon lemon LIME, Lemon LEMONADE!), plus simple math concepts throughout, here is a read-aloud that’s great for storytime and classroom use, and is sure to be a hit among the legions of Jenkins and Karas fans.
👄 Speech Sounds: L (soooooo many L’s haha), R
🧠 Language: math concepts, inferencing, sequencing, cause/effect, problem solving
📱 AAC: no, some, more, done
👑 Book Type: Picture Book, Diverse Characters
🌳 Themes: Winter, Money, Math
👦🏽 👧🏻 Ages: Elementary, Preschool
📊Publisher: Templar
✏️ Summary: Every day, lumberjack Jim Hickory heads into the forest with his trusty ax and chops down trees. Unfortunately, all sorts of creatures, including a bird, a porcupine, and a beaver, lose their homes in the process, so Jim gives them a home in his beard — until one day it all gets to be too much. Time for Jim to come up with a better solution! This funny story carries a green message.
👄 Speech Sounds: J, L, vocalic R, CH, F, S blends
🧠 Language: inferencing, predicting, WH questions, comprehension
📱 AAC: down, up, in, on, off
👑 Book Type: picture book
🌳 Themes: winter, forest animals,
👦🏽 👧🏻 Ages: Preschool, Elementary
📊Publisher: Capstone Young Readers
✏️ Summary: Every year Tortoise sleeps through winter. He assumes he isn’t missing much. However, his friends are determined to prove otherwise! Will Tortoise sleep through another winter, or will his friends convince him to stay awake and experience the frosty fun of winter? Best-selling author Katy Hudson’s charming picture book, now in a board book format, will convince even the biggest winter grouch that winter can be magical if you have friends by your side.
👄 Speech Sounds: R, S blends
🧠 Language: inferencing, synonyms,
📱 AAC: loud, quiet, sleep, up, go, down
👑 Book Type: picture book
🌳 Themes: Winter, Hibernation
👦🏽 👧🏻 Ages: Preschool, Elementary
📊Publisher: Scholastic
✏️ Summary: A tiny snowplow determined to prove his worth battles a blizzard in this supremely charming story in the tradition of Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel and The Little Engine that Could.
My name is Walt,
I plow and I salt.
They say I’m small,
but I’ll show them all.
Small Walt and his driver, Gus, take on a blizzard! All the bigger snowplows doubt that Walt has what it takes to plow the roads in the storm, but Walt is determined to prove them wrong.
Brimming with onomatopoeia and Walt’s affirming chants, this sweet picture book shows that when it comes to strength, size doesn’t matter. Bestselling illustrator Marc Rosenthal’s wintry scenes make this book the perfect cozy read-aloud.
👄 Speech Sounds: S blend, L, L blends, G
🧠 Language: social, figurative language, onomatopoeia, vocabulary
📱 AAC: go, small, down
👑 Book Type: picture book
🌳 Themes: Winter, Snow, Vehicles
👦🏽 👧🏻 Ages: preschool, early elementary
📊Publisher: Scholastic
✏️ Summary: As the rest of the town settles in to bed, one man, his dog, and a trusty snowplow get ready for a night’s work. Follow them through slick roads and swirling drifts in this sweet, rhyming book by Deborah Bruss and New York Times bestselling illustrators Lou Fancher and Steve Johnson.
👄 Speech Sounds: S blends, L blends,
🧠 Language: describing, synonyms
📱 AAC: night, good,
👑 Book Type: picture book
🌳 Themes: winter, vehicles
👦🏽 👧🏻 Ages: Preschool, Elementary
📊Publisher: Two Lions
✏️ Summary: + 1 = 2 snowmen.
3 + 4 = 7 snowmen.
5 + 6 = 11 snowmen.
Finally, 100 snowmen!
As you count and add,
watch the snowmen enjoy a snowball fight,
make funny faces, play hide-and-seek—
and just plain have fun.
And you’ll have fun, too!
👄 Speech Sounds: S blends, R, S
🧠 Language: math concepts, describing,
📱 AAC: more, one, all
👑 Book Type: picture book
🌳 Themes: winter,
👦🏽 👧🏻 Ages: elementary
📊Publisher: Greenwillow Books
✏️ Summary: Rhyme follows rhyme as layer after layer of winter clothing (“bunchy and hot, wrinkled a lot, stiff in the knee, and too big for me!”) is first put on and then taken off to the relief of the child bundled inside. Clever rebuses and jaunty illustrations make The Jacket I Wear in the Snow especially fun for pre-readers and new readers.
👄 Speech Sounds: TH, S blends
🧠 Language: clothing vocabulary, body parts, describing
📱 AAC: on, that,
👑 Book Type: picture book
🌳 Themes: winter, clothing
📊Publisher: Schwartz & Wade
✏️ Summary: Snowflakes? Many snowflakes. Winter is coming. So begins this ever-so-simple story. As the snow starts to fall, the excited penguins pull out scarves, mittens, heavy socks, and boots, and Mama helps them bundle up. But when it’s time to go out, one timid penguin decides to stay home. Filled with waddling baby penguins, playful text, and delightful illustrations, this book feels like a young picture-book classic in the making.
👄 Speech Sounds: M, G
🧠 Language: simple action words, plurals, simple questions
📱 AAC: many
👑 Book Type: picture book
🌳 Themes: winter, arctic animals
👦🏽 👧🏻 Ages: preschool, elementary
📊Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
✏️ Summary: My favorite Wordless Picture Book! Winner of the 2018 Caldecott Medal A girl is lost in a snowstorm. A wolf cub is lost, too. How will they find their way home? Paintings rich with feeling tell this satisfying story of friendship and trust. Here is a book set on a wintry night that will spark imaginations and warm hearts, from Matthew Cordell, author of Trouble Gum and Another Brother.
👄 Speech Sounds: S blends, F
🧠 Language: inferencing, wh questions, describing, narrative skills
📱 AAC: go, find, help
👑 Book Type: wordless picture book, picture book
🌳 Themes: winter
👦🏽 👧🏻 Ages: preschool, elementary
What are your favorite picture books for winter themed speech therapy sessions?
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