| Category | Details |
| Episode Number | 0833 |
| Season | Season 7 (1975–1976) |
| Air Date | January 21, 1976 |
| Main Theme | Anticipating Snow |
| Big Bird's Inventions | Wooden snowflake, Paper snowflake |
| The Mystery Game | "Follow in My Footsteps" |
| Key Muppets | Big Bird, Snuffy (in picture), Kermit, Grover, Twiddlebugs, The Count |
| Human Cast | David, Maria, Luis, Gordon |
| The Shovel Dispute | Maria's shovel (borrowed by Luis and David) |
| Spanish Vocabulary | Salida (Exit) |
| Letter of the Day | W, G |
| Number of the Day | 6 |
| Sponsors | W, G, 6 |
Parent's Guide
Big Bird's been saying for a while now that he's ready for winter to arrive. He tries to make snow using wood. As Gordon explains, wood is brown and heavy. Big Bird then uses white paper. The paper's the right colour but it's too big. It finally started snowing. Big Bird sees that snowflakes are tiny and cold. This segment is all about teaching kids about the physical properties of things. They learn to group objects by colour and weight. You can practise this at home. Why not get your child to compare a piece of real fruit to a plastic toy?
The show's all about the letter W. There's this detective who's on the lookout for a missing W. And there's this story about a girl called Wilhelmina. These segments really highlight the shape of the letter. Kids hear words like wallpaper and Wilbur. This repetition helps them connect the sound to the character.
Luis and David are having a bit of a scrap over a snow shovel. They both claim the shovel belongs to them. They give reasons to prove their point. Maria joins the debate. She shows them her name on the handle. She lent the tool to both men a long time ago. They forgot to return it. This lesson teaches your child about responsibility. It's a great reminder that returning borrowed items is important. You can explain why labelling your stuff helps solve problems. It's better to use facts to settle a fight than to let anger get in the way.
Big Bird plays a matching game. Kids are great at connecting the top and bottom halves of pictures. Kermit the Frog talks about these same ideas. Grover tries to carry a big stack of boxes during the lesson. This helps children understand spatial relationships. Learning about the top and bottom is really helpful for reading and maths. Putting together matching pictures is a great way to improve visual skills. These skills help children identify different letters.
David and Maria are leading a group of kids on a trail. The kids follow some footprints to find a mystery. They get to the end of the path. Big Bird greets them with hugs and kisses. This story focuses on emotional connections. Kids learn that a surprise doesn't have to be a toy. It's great to be appreciated and to have friends.
Maria gives Oscar the Grouch two choices. She offers a dirty trash can and a brand new one. Oscar picks the new can. He's not into a clean home. He wants to enjoy the process of making it messy. This story shows that people have different goals. Oscar's got his own idea of what makes a good environment. You can use this to help your child understand that everyone sees the world differently.
