The foggy mornings, the misty tree leaves, the shorter days and longer nights, the cold breeze, and the white snow make winter a pleasant and a favorite season for all. Winter is the time for donning our sweaters and other woolen clothes. The season is also marked by the winter vacation, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve.
Entertaining children during the winter vacation is a challenging task for parents. One of the innovative and engaging activities that you introduce your children to is reading or writing poems. Poems can help children develop their language skills and make them dream.
In this post, we have curated a few poems that glorify the winter season.
Famous Winter Poems For Children
1. Who Has Seen the Wind?
Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor you:
But when the leaves hang trembling,
The wind is passing through.
Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I:
But when the trees bow down their heads,
The wind is passing by.
—Christina Georgina Rossetti
2. The Frosted Pane
When I wakened, very early,
All my window-pane was pearly
With a sparkling little picture traced in lines of shining white;
Some magician with a gleaming
Frosty brush, while I was dreaming,
Must have come and by the starlight worked through all the quiet night.
He had painted frosty people,
And a frosty church and steeple,
And a frosty bridge and river tumbling over frosty rocks;
Frosty mountain peaks that glimmered,
And fine frosty ferns that shimmered,
And a frosty little pasture full of frosty little flocks.
It was all touched in so lightly
And it glittered, oh, so whitely,
That I gazed and gazed in wonder at the lovely painted pane;
Then the sun rose high and higher
With his wand of golden fire
Till, alas, my picture vanished and I looked for it in vain!
—Evaleen Stein
3. Winter Time
Late lies the wintry sun a-bed,
A frosty, fiery sleepy-head;
Blinks but an hour or two; and then,
A blood-red orange sets again.
Before the stars have left the skies,
At morning in the dark I rise;
And shivering in my nakedness,
By the cold candle, bathe and dress.
Close by the jolly fire I sit
To warm my frozen bones a bit;
Or with a reindeer-sled, explore
The colder countries round the door.
When to go out, my nurse doth wrap
Me in my comforter and cap;
The cold wind burns my face, and blows
Its frosty pepper up my nose.
Black are my steps on silver sod;
Thick blows my frosty breath abroad;
And tree and house, and hill and lake,
Are frosted like a wedding cake.
—Robert Louis Stevenson
4. Talking In Their Sleep
“You think I am dead,”
The apple tree said,
“Because I have never a leaf to show—
Because I stoop,
And my branches droop,
And the dull gray mosses over me grow!
But I’m still alive in trunk and shoot;
The buds of next May
I fold away—
But I pity the withered grass at my root.”
“You think I am dead,”
The quick grass said,
“Because I have parted with stem and blade!
But under the ground,
I am safe and sound
With the snow’s thick blanket over me laid.
I’m all alive, and ready to shoot,
Should the spring of the year
Come dancing here—
But I pity the flower without branch or root.”
“You think I am dead,”
A soft voice said,
“Because not a branch or root I own.
I never have died, but close I hide
In a plumy seed that the wind has sown.
Patient I wait through the long winter hours;
You will see me again—
I shall laugh at you then,
Out of the eyes of a hundred flowers.
—Edith Matilda Thomas
5. Picture Books In Winter
Summer fading, winter comes—
Frosty mornings, tingling thumbs,
Window robins, winter rooks,
And the picture story-books.
Water now is turned to stone
Nurse and I can walk upon;
Still, we find the flowing brooks
In the picture story-books.
All the pretty things put by,
Wait upon the children’s eye,
Sheep and shepherds, trees and crooks,
In the picture story-books.
We may see how all things are
Seas and cities, near and far,
And the flying fairies’ looks,
In the picture story-books.
How am I to sing your praise,
Happy chimney-corner days,
Sitting safe in nursery nooks,
Reading picture story-books?
—Robert Louis Stevenson
6. February Twilight
I stood beside a hill
Smooth with new-laid snow,
A single star looked out
From the cold evening glow.
There was no other creature
That saw what I could see—
I stood and watched the evening star
As long as it watched me.
—Sara Teasdale
7. The First Sleigh-Ride
O happy time of fleecy rime
And falling flakes, and O
The glad surprise in the baby eyes
That never saw the snow!
Down shining ways the flying sleighs
Go jingling by, and see!
Beside the gate, the horses wait
And neigh for you and me!
—Evaleen Stein
8. Snowflakes
Out of the bosom of the Air,
Out of the cloud-folds of her garments shaken,
Over the woodlands brown and bare,
Over the harvest-fields forsaken,
Silent and soft and slow
Descends the snow.
Even as our cloudy fancies take
Suddenly shape in some divine expression,
Even as the troubled heart doth make
In the white countenance confession,
The troubled sky reveals
The grief it feels.
This is the poem of the air,
Slowly in silent syllables recorded;
This is the secret of despair,
Long in its cloudy bosom hoarded,
Now whispered and revealed
To wood and field.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
9. The Little Fir Trees
Hey! little evergreens,
Sturdy and strong!
Summer and autumn time
Hasten along;
Harvest the sunbeams, then,
Bind them in sheaves,
Range them, and change them
To tufts of green leaves.
Delve in the mellow mold,
Far, far below,
And so,
Little evergreens, grow!
Grow, grow!
Grow, little evergreens, grow!
Up, up so airily
To the blue sky,
Lift up your leafy tips
Stately and high;
Clasp tight your tiny cones,
Tawny and brown;
By and by, buffeting
Rains will pelt down;
By and by, bitterly
Chill winds will blow;
And so,
Little evergreens, grow!
Grow, grow!
Grow, little evergreens, grow!
Gather all uttermost
Beauty, because,–
Hark, till I tell it now!
How Santa Claus,
Out of the northern land,
Over the seas,
Soon shall come seeking you,
Evergreen trees!
Seek you with reindeer soon,
Over the snow;
And so,
Little evergreens, grow!
Grow, grow!
Grow, little evergreens, grow!
What if the maples flare
Flaunting and red,
You shall wear waxen white
Tapers instead!
What if now, other where,
Birds are beguiled,
You shall yet nestle
The little Christ-child!
Ah! the strange splendor
The fir-trees shall know!
And so,
Little evergreens, grow!
Grow, grow!
Grow, little evergreens, grow!
—Evaleen Stein
10. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
—Robert Frost
11. Thaw
The snow is soft,
and how it squashes!
“Galumph, galumph!”
go my galoshes.
—Eunice Tietjens
12. Winter
The street cars are
Like frosted cakes—
All covered up
With cold snowflakes.
The horses’ hoofs
Scrunch on the street;
Their eyelashes
Are white with sleet.
And everywhere
The people go—
With faces TICKLED
By the snow
—Dorothy Aldis
13. The North Wind Doth Blow
The north wind doth blow,
And we shall have snow,
And what will the poor Robin do then?
Poor thing!
He’ll sit in a barn,
To keep himself warm,
And hide his head under his wing,
Poor thing!
—Tasha Tudor
14. Snow Day
Today we woke up to a revolution of snow,
its white flag waving over everything,
the landscape vanished,
not a single mouse to punctuate the blankness,
and beyond these windows
the government buildings smothered,
schools and libraries buried, the post office lost
under the noiseless drift,
the paths of trains softly blocked,
the world fallen under this falling.
In a while, I will put on some boots
and step out like someone walking in water,
and the dog will porpoise through the drifts,
and I will shake a laden branch
sending a cold shower down on us both.
But for now I am a willing prisoner in this house,
a sympathizer with the anarchic cause of snow.
I will make a pot of tea
and listen to the plastic radio on the counter,
as glad as anyone to hear the news
that the Kiddie Corner School is closed,
the Ding-Dong School, closed.
the All Aboard Children’s School, closed,
the Hi-Ho Nursery School, closed,
along with—some will be delighted to hear—
the Toadstool School, the Little School,
Little Sparrows Nursery School,
Little Stars Pre-School, Peas-and-Carrots Day School
the Tom Thumb Child Center, all closed,
and—clap your hands—the Peanuts Play School.
So this is where the children hide all day,
These are the nests where they letter and draw,
where they put on their bright miniature jackets,
all darting and climbing and sliding,
all but the few girls whispering by the fence.
And now I am listening hard
in the grandiose silence of the snow,
trying to hear what those three girls are plotting,
what riot is afoot,
which small queen is about to be brought down.
—Billy Collins
15. Places [III. Winter Sun]
There was a bush with scarlet berries,
And there were hemlocks heaped with snow,
With a sound like surf on long sea-beaches
They took the wind and let it go.
The hills were shining in their samite,
Fold after fold they flowed away;”
Let come what may,” your eyes were saying,
“At least we two have had to-day.”
—Sara Teasdale
Contemporary Winter Poems For Children
16. Winter Warmth
Piles of snow beneath my boots
chilly winds blowing everywhere
snow keeps mounting on the posts
on the windows and on the roads
shovels outside,
soups inside
hot and rich,
chicken and corn
coming back from all the work
this is what I look for
the warm chestnuts,
the cracking fire
this is my winter warmth
—Sam
17. Snowflakes
Snowflakes spill from heaven’s hand
Lovely and chaste like smooth white sand.
A veil of wonder laced in light
Falling Gently on a winters night.
Graceful beauty raining down
Giving magic to the lifeless ground.
Each snowflake like a falling star
Smiling beauty that’s spun afar.
Till earth is dressed in a robe of white
Unspoken poem the hush of night
—Linda A. Copp
18. Chubby Snowman
There was a chubby snowman
And he had a carrot nose
Along came a bunny
And what do you suppose?
The hungry little bunny
Was looking for his lunch
He grabbed that snowman’s carrot nose
NIBBLE! NIBBLE! CRUNCH!!
—Petersburg Children’s Center in Petersburg, Alaska
19. Five Little Snowflakes
One little snowflake with nothing to do.
Along came another and
Then there were two.
Two little snowflakes laughing with me.
Along came another, and
Then there were three.
Three little snowflakes looking for some more.
Along came another, and
Then there were four.
Four little snowflakes dancing a jive.
Along came another, and
Then there were five.
Five little snowflakes having so much fun.
Out came the sun, and
Then there were none!
—Leanne Guenther
20. Winter
Cold and raw the north wind doth blow,
Bleak in the morning early;
All the hills are covered with snow,
And winter’s now come fairly.
—Mother Goose
Poems written by great poets have deep meanings and can transport children into another world. Reading poems also helps develop children’s vocabulary and language skills. Read these poems aloud with your child over a hot bowl of soup and by the fireside in winter.