Kids love a snowy day. Not only is school canceled but also there’s a good reason to head outside to play. Here are 10 fun activities for a Snowy Day–5 activities for winter snow fun outside and 5 more to keep the boredom at bay when then come back inside.
Outside snowy day activities![snowfort](https://wordpress-938214-4066445.cloudwaysapps.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/snowfort.jpg)
- Build a snow fort—When shoveling the walk or driveway, attempt to pile the excess snow in one general location in the yard. Then have the kids start digging into one side of the snow pile to create an “igloo.” They can also roll big snowballs to make the fort larger or pack snow in a bucket and stack the bucket molds. Pack other sandbox molds or gelatin molds for detail around the fort. Build several forts in one yard and stage a gigantic snowball fight.
- Make rainbow snowmen—Before going outside, prepare several spray bottles with a mix of food coloring and water. Outside, make snowmen of varying sizes by rolling snowballs and stacking them. When the snowmen are complete, spray each with the colored water. You can either spray each snowman a different color, make them stripped or spotted or spray each ball a different color. You can also use the spray snow “paint” to decorate your fort from No. 1.
- Create a snow zoo—Snow animals can be even more fun to make than snow men. Build a snow hippo or a snow bear or even a snow caterpillar that snakes around the whole yard. A snow dragon could also pop out of the snow at various places in the yard.
- Take a nature hike in the hood—Go for a “hike” in your neighborhood and have the kids look for animal tracks in the snow. Help them try to identify which animal left the track. Here is an article about animal tracks and questions to help the kids guess what animal it might be.
- Have an ice cube scavenger hunt—Freeze ice cubes tinted with food coloring and hide them in the snow around the yard. Once you are done, send the kids on a scavenger hunt to find the ice cubes.
Inside snowy day activities![fort](https://wordpress-938214-4066445.cloudwaysapps.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/fort.jpg)
- Make nature ice ornaments—Get a few food storage containers of different sizes. Have the kids collect nature items from outside such as berries, seeds, small sticks, pine needles, holly leaves etc. Back inside, have them arrange their nature items in the bottom of the container. Drape a piece of yarn in the container with about two inches in the container the rest hanging out — this will be how you hang the ornament. Fill the container until all the items are covered — about half an inch. Put the container in the freezer overnight. In the morning pop out the ice, with the nature items now frozen in it, from the container and hang it from a tree outside.
- Make snow cream—Mix 1 cup of milk, a half cup of sugar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla in a large bowl until the sugar dissolves. Slowly add in 5-7 cups of snow (clean and fluffy, not packed), stirring constantly until it is thick and serve immediately.
- Create an indoor fort—Give the kids free license in the family room to move furniture around and provide plenty of blankets for them to drape over and between chairs and couches to create a fun cozy space to camp out in.
- Build homemade play dough snowmen—Here are three different recipes for homemade play dough with different ingredients incase your cupboards are slightly bare. Have the kids help make the play dough and then have them make little snowmen to keep in doors.
- Make a snow globe—You can use any type of glass jar with a lid such as baby food, peanut butter, pickle jar or whatever you have. Have the kids find plastic figures and glue one on the bottom of the jar’s lid with water resistant or hot melt glue. Cover the bottom of the jar with glitter. Fill the jar with water and stir the glitter so it doesn’t clump. Put the lid on the jar, close it and shake. You can add a bit of liquid glycerin if you have it to the water for a thicker consistency.
Originally published in 2014.