Playing with Snow Indoors or Out!

Last week I shared some great snowy stories to read out loud with the kids. There are tons of other great books out there for winter, but this was just a sampling of some that I enjoy. So this week I thought I would share some activities that you can do with the little ones (and some of the bigger ones!) to further celebrate this snowy season!

First and foremost, if you can, actually go outside and play in it! Build a snowman, pack snowballs, go sledding or snowshoeing or skiing! Talk about how the snow feels (does it pack? Is it wet? Is it icy? Does it crunch when you walk on it? And stick to your mittens? Or is it soft and fluffy?), how the snow looks (bright, sparkling, glittering, white, blue, pretty on the trees, dirty on the road from the sand/plow). You can even talk about how it tastes if you can catch some flakes on your tongue or find a clean patch of snow!

But we all know those days when there isn’t any snow (like the day of the Snow Festival the last two years at my library!) or when it’s just too cold and windy to go out for very long. That’s when it’s time to bring some off the fun of snow inside!

Build a Snowman out of Marshmallows! You can stick the different size marshmallows together with white frosting or toothpicks. Little gel tubes of frosting and different candies can be used to decorate. Pretzel sticks for arms, fruit roll-ups for scarves, the possibilities and creativity are endless! And yummy!

Build a Paper Snowman! Using white paper (cardstock works best), cut out circles of varying sizes. Provide them with some white craft glue, scraps of fabric, construction paper, scrapbook papers, buttons, pom-poms, and other goodies and let their imaginations do the rest!

Make a Melted Snowman Painting! Check out these great instructions on Busy Bugs! Simply using equal parts shaving cream and white glue, with some construction paper “snowman parts” makes this a fun activity. This is also a great chance to talk about what happens when the snow melts, the changes in weather, and the rain cycle.

Play in the Snow Inside! I have to give a shout out to my peer public library – The Cazenovia Public Library – for this great idea! Make magic snow to play in! It makes really good snowmen and isn’t cold or melty. Just mix together 3 cups of baking soda and ½ cup of white hair conditioner, put them in a big see-through plastic tub, and let them play! No mittens required!