Today our little ones had a wonderful time celebrating World Snowman Day.
It was a day full of cheer and creativity. The snowman has an advantage few winter themes can match: it is a character any child can draw, however good they are at drawing. Three circles, a few details, and the result looks right. And when the result looks right, a child finds the courage to add the rest — the hat, the scarf, the expression, the story behind it.
From there the activity opens up by itself. We talked about snow, about the cold and about why a snowman can only exist for a while — a theme which, handled gently, is one of the first chances to talk about things that come to an end.
Small celebrations like this have a place in the programme of a long winter. January is the month when the post-holiday enthusiasm has already faded, and the short days and the cold help nobody. A day with a cheerful pretext, however slight, changes the whole shape of the week.
A winter's day exactly as it should be: busy hands, good spirits, and a celebration invented purely for the pleasure of celebrating.