Wolves, Bears and Snowmen - Unforgettable Christmas Concerts

One of the most memorable and emotive of our Christmas activities each year has been attending the Amadeus Orchestra and Mozart Symphony Orchestra's Christmas concerts. Two years ago (here) we wrote about the brilliant Mozart Symphony Orchestra's Peter and the Wolf and the Snowman double bill at Cadogan Hall. This year (following an astounding diary fail last year where we turned up to the concert a day late) the Culturebabies arrived at King's Place for a repeat performance with the Amadeus Orchestra and two full year's worth of anticipation. It was worth waiting for - a double whammy of two of their most loved orchestral works in one sitting. Excitingly the Amadeus is one of the world's foremost training orchestras for young professionals and music students.

Firstly we were treated to a live performance of the children's classic: Prokofiev's Peter and The Wolf, narrated by Simon Murray and featuring musicians dressed in hats relating to their characters. The conductor was engaging and fun. He gave us facts about the instruments and told us what to look for as we progressed throughout the piece. Each instrument gave us a short demonstration. This brilliant composition is, without a doubt, the best classical piece I've found to introduce to young children without the aid of film. Written in 1936 by Prokofiev for the Moscow Theatre for Children, the work was intended to be, and was commissioned as, a guide to the instruments of the orchestra. Interestingly for us adults, given its genesis in the Stalinist regime, there are a number of political themes underlying the musical tale and it narrowly escaped state censorship (see here for an interesting article) but for adult and child alike it can also be enjoyed at face value as a brilliant musical exploration of the orchestra.


Following the interval, the concert hall was transformed into a cinema and we were presented with the full film of the Snowman in cinematic scale, but with the original soundtrack removed. Instead we were accompanied by a live orchestra and the 13 year old Choirboy Sebastian Till performing the classic Walking in the Air. As I wrote recently, a Christmas viewing of the Snowman is like a rite of passage, a ritual through which the joy of childhood is kept alive. Fully versed and note-perfect, surrounded by family and strangers alike, we re-enter annually this intimate tale of belief, living life to the full and dealing with loss. Nothing says 4 sleeps to Christmas like a viewing of the Snowman and as far as cinematic experiences for children go, this was pretty impossible to beat.

This fantastic series of Christmas concerts varies each year a little but retains many of its most magical components. They've since added an out of London concert in Cheltenham too. Last year, Culturebaby (then just 4) and I headed over to the first in the series: Paddington Bear's First Concert at Cadogan Hall. This was varied, funny and entertaining with narrators as distinguished as Simon Callow and Richard E. Grant.

It began with a welcome surprise, a startlingly moving arrangement for a Symphony Orchestra of the main themes from Frozen. Frankly if most parents of little women knew this, the tickets would have sold out in record time for this element alone. We then moved on to the main billing, a narrated musical story (first performed in 1986) of the lovable Paddington Bear; charting his journey from Peru to Portobello Road to an eventual (and unscheduled appearance) in one of London's finest concert halls. Finally we squirmed our way through Roald Dahl's quirky and characteristically macabre Revolting Rhymes version of Jack and the Beanstalk set to music. Whilst this day of the programme was less traditionally Christmassy than the classic double billing, it was musically accomplished and enormous fun - and I see that this year they combined Frozen and Paddington with Briggs' Father Christmas.

Follow On Activities


Rather inconveniently, one of Culturebaby's only Christmas requests two years ago was a Peter and the Wolf play set. Despite my scouring the internet, it transpires that toy manufacturers have largely failed us in this regard, and I set to work pulling together a DIY version with felt, playmobil and a selection of other models, including a set of Safari TOOBs miniature instruments. Happily it was a roaring success, easy to create, and gives a great opportunity for both imaginative play and visual illustration of the story and the instruments. I'd highly recommend the effort of making one. We've also since discovered a couple of great story book titles - there are various versions from Ladybird and a beautifully illustrated edition by Ian Beck with text boxes fringed with the instruments present at each point in the story. We've also found an English National Ballet School performance available on DVD, which the children love, and an academy award winning (best short film 2008) animated film.


Over the years we've also enjoyed an enormous amount of fun along the theme of The Snowman and this year I produced an extensive Christmas round up from biscuit making to imaginative play activities. Click here to read this post.

Disclaimer: We received tickets to the performance in exchange for an honest review.  We received the Safari Toob Instrument back a couple of years ago for review purposes too. All other materials and ideas are our own.

The Snowman and Snowdog Festive Blogtour

Our annual Snowman blog tour is becoming rather a tradition in itself and it serves as a great opportunity to snuggle up and watch these beautiful classics, get in the Christmas spirit and indulge in a spot of creativity. Regular readers will know that each year we are set a creativity challenge with some of the inventive themed products out there, and this year - to the children's delight - we were invited to design our own Snowdog using a beautiful model and paint. Following some debate about whether we ought to replicate the classic character or emulate a famous artist (Mondrian-dog? Hirst Spotty Pooch?) the 5 and 3 year old Culturebabies over-ruled and declared that he would be of a rainbow sparkly variety. Ably project managed by Daddy, we all set to work. It was a really lovely activity to do together on a cold afternoon and we've produced something that we will be able to keep for future memories.

 

This challenge was also particularly interesting, as this year the producers of our kit Wild at Art have worked with Penguin to deliver two public art trails in Brighton and Newcastle. Living in London we've been lucky to experience several of these - they are such a brilliant way to raise money for charity, engage, introduce and display art, showcase talent and transform urban space. We loved the rhinos in Exeter over the summer, Paddington last year, and the BFG dream jars have been incredibly popular amongst many families we know. The Snowdogs in Brighton have their last day today...

Photographs from the Brighton trail website

Last year our challenge was to make biscuits with a set of Snowman and Snowdog themed cookie cutters. Despite me being a completely unseasoned baker, we really got into this and enjoyed it enormously. The children love little more than baking with Nanny, but armed with this year's welcome Snowman themed baking kits (pre-prepared ingredients and easy to follow instructions) I'm planning on giving it a go again - I'm told by the children, later today. I will share the results, or lack thereof...

Over the years we've had so much fun with the Snowman - to the extent that we've now accumulated a list of specifically themed activities to get you in the Christmas mood. These work for a range of children's ages. 

1. Snowman and Snowdog Christmas Cookies 

 

These simple Christmassy smelling and tasting biscuits are based on an extremely simple recipe. A golden syrup, ginger and cinnamon combination worked really well for the season.

Sift together 350g plain flour, 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Add 2tsp ground ginger and 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Add 125g butter and blend until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. Stir in 175g soft brown sugar.

Lightly beat an egg and 4tsp golden syrup together, add to mixture and blend until the mixture clumps together. Knead until smooth, wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for 15 minutes or so whilst you preheat the oven to 180 degrees C/Gas Mark 4 and line baking trays with greaseproof paper.

 

 Roll the dough out to around 0.5cm on a lightly floured surface. Create shapes using the cutters.

 

Place on baking tray and bake for 12-15 minutes. Leave to cool for 10 minutes. 

 

 

 

We then varied the recipe to suit tiny hands using roll-out icing to cover each biscuit (also using the cutters) and tubes of food colouring gel for decoration.  

 

 

2. Running a Snowman on the Shelf Advent

Lots of parents arrange an advent activity called  Elf on The Shelf, where a cheeky little helper is sent by Santa to keep an eye on the household and consequently gets into mishaps along the way. This isn't something we have ever done, but one year we decided that our large cuddly snowman might enjoy some elf-like antics. Given that he is the ideal companion for a child throughout this festive season, and he already loves exploring the house (and gets into a few scrapes along the way), he was the perfect messenger from the North Pole for us: our very own Snowman on the Shelf.




3. Create a Snowman Themed Christmas Play Basket

Imaginative play is one of Culturebaby's favourite activities, at aged between two and four she particularly loved a series of small-world Montessori-inspired play baskets I made for her. If you have an imaginative child who loves sensory play and small objects I'd highly recommend making these simple dreamscapes for them to explore. The Snowdog joined our already much-loved little Snowman in the basket alongside a tree for Culturebaby to dress with miniature decorations.The floor of the basket was scattered with items that can be collected, matched and counted such as wooden and felt snowflakes, stars, reindeer, small presents, miniature musical instruments and bells.

4. Explore the Story through Art and Modeling

Between 2 and 3, little ones are beginning to draw with clear intention and increasing ability. Using playdoh is another way to foster this interest, and three years ago we tried modelling the characters from the Snowman, and watching others do so - as well as 'melting' (squashing) the snowman afterwards. Creating the scene of the house from playdoh and acting out certain parts of the book was really effective.

5. Imaginative Play and Storytelling with Characters

 

This activity has been revived a couple of years on the run. The first year, we created a snowy landscape with a large white towel and, listening to the audio soundtrack, used one of Culturebaby's play cottages and characters, with her toy snowman, to act out parts of the story. The second year, we set up a sheet of faux snow material and included the scenes with the dance of the snowmen, when Father Christmas gives James the gift of the scarf and the final morning. The girls are at the stage when they happily act out stories themselves, often together. I'm looking forward to setting this one up again this year and seeing how they use it.

 

6. First science experiments - Three years ago we took a few ice cubes and let them melt in a bowl at room temperature. We talked about what was happening and why - and of course why the Snowman had started to melt when he sat too close to the fireplace. Practical activities like this have also helped the girls understand and discuss differences in temperature.

7. Experiencing the magic of Snowman Christmas theatre and live concerts - for recommendations see here.

Image courtesy of Sadlers Wells and the Peacock Theatre

 This year Penguin and associates have surpassed themselves with the range of gorgeous gifts to pop in the Christmas stocking of any child who loves these brilliant Briggs' classics. Or even start early with a Thorntons White Chocolate Snowman Advent Calendar 83g (£4.50)

Here's a selection:

Paint your own Snowdog

£25 from Wild in Art

This is the gorgeous kit we used above. The dog model is really high quality and, though it comes with a selection of paints, a child can customise these in any way they wish. I love how Mummy of 2 + 1 has handmade the ears on hers (here).

 

The Snowman and The Snowdog Wooden Dominoes

RRP £9.99   Available from Amazon

These wooden dominoes, which feature illustrations from the film, are really cute and will be heading straight into Culturetot's stocking. At three, she's starting to really enjoy simple board games and we had a lovely morning together this week playing dominoes together in a coffee shop. She also loves using them for building. Why not?

The Snowman and the Snowdog Shape Sorter

RRP £15.00  Available from JoJo Maman Bebe

We've written a lot about the importance and brilliance of shapesorters before and we've even made our own (see here). This Snowman-themed wooden shape sorter box with four shaped holes and eight coloured wooden blocks is a particularly lovely one - perfect to encourage hand-eye coordination and shape and colour recognition.

The Snowman Book and CD, and The Snowman and The Snowdog Book and CD

Each RRP: £7.99 Available from Amazon

These brand-new editions include original artwork and freshly written text and are accompanied by audio CDs - the Snowman features narration by Matthew Macfadyen and Benedict Cumberbatch reads the brilliant new Snowman and Snowdog. These two will be featuring in our Literary Advent Calendar, which we will be covering on the blog soon. A previous year's selection can be seen here (complete with other Snowman book choices).

The Snowman and The Snowdog Snowglobe

RRP £22 Available from The Brilliant Gift Shop

This is a gorgeous gift, and one I'm very much looking forward to surprising the girls with on Christmas morning. Children are intigued by snowglobes anyway, and this is particularly magical, as the snow swirls around a central Snowman. It's sold as for baby's first Christmas but I suspect my 5 year old will whisk it away to her room.

Thorntons Snowman white chocolate model 60g

RRP £3.00 Available from grocers and convenience stores

Fans, like me, of white chocolate will be delighted with this edible Snowman. If it isn't too traumatic to eat him after we've already seen him melt, this little one will be a great stocking filler. I just need two...

 



Disclaimer: We were sent the material mentioned in this review as participants in this year's blog tour. All views are our own and our love for the Snowman is, as always, unwavering...