If it’s snowing near you, put a container outside to collect some clean snow to make ice cream! Once you’ve gotten enough snow, add vanilla and either sweetened condensed milk or a little milk with sugar.  Stir and adjust to taste.  Eat right away! Results of My Snow Ice Cream Experiment: In the photo...

Fatima wrote yesterday from Iran, "It’s Yalda night ceremony (the longest night of the year).  Iranian people eat nuts, walnuts, pomegranate, and watermelon for Yalda." Yaldā is an ancient Persian Winter Solstice celebration. People used to stay up for most of the night to ward off misfortune.  Nowadays, families mainly gather together for a nice meal. ...

Here’s a Chinese poem about early winter by Meng Haoran 孟浩然, a Chinese poet who lived from 689 or 691 to 740.  First you’ll find the simplified Chinese text, followed by an English translation.  Then you can listen to a recording of the poem in Mandarin and follow along with the Pinyin (pronunciation).   After that...

Here’s a pretty little poem called January’s Garden by A.E.A., with a recording by me. MP3 Recording of January’s Garden January’s Garden All silver-white and silver-clear Are January’s bowers, And there bloom sparkling sprays of ice, And snowflake flowers.

This poem will turn your mind inside-out!  Maybe I felt that way because I was listening to this poem amid a bunch of Wallace Stevens’ other poems.  They’re very unique. Older kids and adults will enjoy The Snow Man more than younger kids.  You might have to read the poem a couple of times to get...

Wow!  That’s the biggest Snowman I’ve ever seen! Thanks to Kelley for sharing her fantastic photo! Mama Lisa

Can you figure out this old riddle? Highty-tighty, Paradighty, Clothed all in green. The King could not read it No more could the Queen. They sent for a Wise Man out of the East, Who said it...

Here’s a part of a poem about the snow by the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  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, ...

Yuzu Fruit Ayako Egawa wrote from Japan: December 22nd is the Winter Solstice in Japan.  [It's on the 21st in the U.S.*]  We Japanese enjoy “yuzu” around this time. You can enjoy “yuzu tea” and a “yuzu bath” easily. Wash...

My daughter made these thumbprint guys in art class today. They’re made with paint and Sharpie permanent markers. All you do is dip your thumb in paint and make thumbprints in different places on thick paper.  Let the thumbprints dry.  Then add details with a black Sharpie marker.  At top you can see a guy skating...

Monique Palomares, who works with me on the French version of Mama Lisa’s World, wrote the following post about Carnival in Occitania, a region of southern France. Monique speaks Occitan, the language of the troubadours, and has shared many songs in Occitan on Mama Lisa’s World. Carnival in Southern France Carnival in Southern France Carnival celebrates...

Yesterday, I was talking with a lady, whose parents are from Italy, about how happy I am that it’s finally March. She said, “Why?” I said because February is finally over. She said, “Marzo è pazzo”. It’s an Italian saying meaning “March is crazy”… you can never depend on March...

Or in this case… dry! It’s wet and slushy here in New York. But my daughter got off the school bus today and jumped right into the puddle at the bottom of our driveway!