If you live in the southern United States, you know that most of us don’t see a lot of snow, and when we do, school is canceled. Celebrate the magic of a snow day with these fun snow day activities for kids.
It’s All in the Attitude!
Since moving to Northwest Alabama, I have seen more snow in the past year than in the previous 40 years of my life altogether! I quickly realized that we had to make the most of it and plan some snow day activities. Acknowledge the fact that your kids are going to go through a ton of laundry and will track in water and mud. There may be a few tears at the end of the day from exhaustion and cold (from them and you), but they will be making memories that will last a lifetime.
Decide before the day starts that you won’t get overwhelmed or frustrated. After all, the laundry will be caught up one day, the floors will be clean again sometime, but you may not ever have the chance to make these memories with your kids again!
That being said, after scouring Pinterest for ideas, here are my favorite snow day activities for kids that are pretty simple and were a big hit with my kids.
8 Snow Day Activities for Kids
For the Younger Ones
The first snow day my kids saw happened when they were very young children. My son was three and after a short exploring outside, he was cold and ready to come in. When the snow first started falling, I grabbed a large plastic container (the kind meant for under-the-bed storage) and placed it outside to catch the falling snow.
A little later, I brought it in and we had fun playing in the clean snow inside for a while. We drove his trucks and trains through it before it melted and we had a great time.
Paint the Snow
Take advantage of the beautiful white canvas all around and paint it! Find empty spray bottles or squirt bottles and fill them with a bit of washable paint and water. Shake well. Hand them off to your kids to inspire their inner artists! These are also fun to use to give your snowmen “clothes.”
Pro-Tip: Keep refills nearby for this snow day activity because kids will go through the squirt bottles quickly. For a more detailed tutorial, check this one out.
Nature Ice Ornaments
If you know the night before that snow or freezing temperatures are coming, bundle up and take a little nature walk to collect some items like tiny evergreen branches, acorns, or interesting sticks. Grab a pan, muffin tin, or other flat container and fill it with water. Arrange your nature collection in the water. Add string or twine through the middle and set the container out to freeze.
The next day, carefully remove the ice from the container and you will have a beautiful ice ornament to hang in a tree or just play with. My kids loved breaking the ice up! I was inspired by this snow day activity tutorial on celebrations for the winter solstice, although ours did not turn out nearly as pretty.
Build a Snowman With Style
Go all out with your snowman style! Collect colorful articles of clothing and props from around the house to accessorize your snowman. Ask your kids what kind of fun character you could make together and do your best. Be sure to snap a picture for posterity! We created a Dogwood snowman, and because Dad is a golfer, a Robert Trent Jones golfer snowman.
Destroy Your Snowman in Slow Motion
One great way to get even more kid energy out on snow days is to let them destroy their snowmen. No, I am not encouraging violence, but there is something really exciting and superhero-ish about watching the snow fly everywhere as you land a punch.
We did this several times during our snow day and used the slow-motion setting on our iPhone to really highlight the punch. Here is a picture of the slow-motion reel of my son defeating his snow enemy!
Colored Ice Balloons
Similar to the nature ice ornaments, you can create colorful ice orb sculptures. Again, this needs to happen before the snow comes to give the water time to freeze. Find some balloons and fill them with a glob or so of any colored paint. My inspiration came from this snow day activity tutorial where they used food coloring. (I was out of food coloring so paint it was!)
Then fill the rest of the balloon with water and tie it off. Shake it a bit to mix the paint and set the water balloon out in the yard to freeze. The next morning, peel off the frozen balloon and admire your brightly colored ice orbs in the light of all the white snow.
Frozen Trees
When I was little, I remember seeing huge icicles hanging from a tree during a freeze. They were magical and amazing to me! They were the result of a homeowner leaving their sprinkler on overnight during freezing temperatures.
Even though it carried some risks to do it, I decided to try it right before our first freeze of this winter. I chose a spot in my backyard with a tree that I honestly did not mind if it died (it is an invasive species) and a spot that others were not going to walk near to slip and fall on the ice.
Realizing that there was a chance that my pipes could freeze, I chose to take the calculated risk thinking that running water was less likely to freeze my pipes and that the ground was still relatively warm since it was the beginning of winter.
I turned the sprinkler on facing the tree and left it overnight…the next morning my jaw dropped! Look at the amazing beauty of frozen water! My kids felt equally amazed and spent hours outside breaking off icicles, eating icicles, and crunching around on the icy grass. None of my pipes froze thankfully. Both of my kids thanked me for doing it at the end of the day!
If you decide to try this, be sure to choose a spot that will not put water on a sidewalk or street to cause a fall or wreck. I would not attempt this with an underground irrigation sprinkler and remember that you could have a pipe freeze.
Snow Day Treats
Finally, be sure to have lots of snacks on hand. Besides the hot chocolate, cider, or grilled cheese sandwiches that are always a hit with kids, consider mixing up some snow ice cream. My kids did not love the snow ice cream but preferred gathering clean snow and adding juice or a soda to it and enjoying a snow slushie!
I hope you have been inspired by these snow day activities for kids. Whether you do any of them or not, be sure to play outside with them for at least a little while and let them hit you with a snowball! Your kids will never forget the fun. That’s what childhood is all about right? Make those memories with your kids while you can, and make sure to let us know if you try any of these snow day activities!
For more fun crafts and activities, check out our crafts archive.
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