Snow Days! Five Fun Indoor Activities

Its been snowing….alot!  There was snow in 49 out of 50 states last week.  All this snow brought warnings to stay off the road, to stock up, to stay inside and for many it meant school closings.  The initial change in normal routines brings excitement.  However, there is only so long the little ones can sled, build snowmen and forts, and pelt each other with snowballs before its time to warm up with some hot chocolate.  After days on end with long periods of indoor time, cabin fever can strike both pre-schoolers and their parents.

I came across some Facebook posts of Moms discussing what to do to avoid running out of things to do indoors.  The moms: Sarah, Heather, Julie, Samantha and Sara shared some fun, surprisingly simple and ingeniously multi functional ideas for their kids.  I have listed their snow day ideas and a few of mine below.  If you have ideas of your own or activities for a snow day, please post in the comments below.

Five Fun Indoor Activities for Snow Days:

1. Washing Money – You will need paper towels, a bar of soap, a cheese grater (must be supervised) a spoon, a bowl, a sponge and a pile of coins.  Lay some towels out to catch splashes.  First step is to make soap flakes.  Your child can use the spoon or rub the soap o the grater (watch their fingers.)  Second, fill the bowl with water, pour in the soap flakes and have your child stir it up.  Next, take a coin, put it into the water and then scrub with the sponge.  They can have a pile of dirty and clean coins.  One mom mentioned the coin cleaning kept her girls occupied for 45 minutes and they loved it!
2. Dance Party – Clear the furniture from a large area.  Bring in an iPod or radio.  Turn it on and let the fun begin.  As a child, my best friend and I actually used to make routines and put on a show for our Moms.  Younger children may be able to make routines with simple moves or even imitating animals.
3. Make a train or a fort – Since you have moved all the chairs, line them up and make a train.  You can have a conductor, a caboose and passengers to get on and off the train.  Talk about where you are going and what you will see.  Afterwards, tape together pieces of paper and have the children draw all the things they passed on their train trip.  You can also build a fort.  Once again, they can use their imagination about who is outside the fort, their location and who is inside the fort.  They can draw out their ideas afterwards.
4. Shape Hunt –  Cut out shapes with construction paper.  Give the shapes, one at a time to your children.  Have them run around the house and find other objects of the same shape.  They can then come back and draw what they find.
5. Cooking – Cooking is chemistry, art, mess making and delicious!  What better to warm the body and soul on a cold winters day than homemade cookies or cupcakes.  There are many simple recipes in which a supervised child can do the lion’s share of the work.  On the Food Network site, search cooking with kids.  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes-and-cooking/safe-easy-kitchen-tasks-for-little-fingers/index.html  There are great ideas from shredding lettuce to icing a cake.  Kids can learn about shapes while using cookie cutters or mix up ingredients by squashing them around in a plastic zip bag.

There are so many ‘T.V. Free’ ways to have a great time even when the family is cooped up from the snow. 

Bonus Idea:  If you would like to use technology, try Skpe!  You can have a video playdate with your child’s friends: share story time or a coloring session.  It’s a great way to get your child comfortable with technology while keeping it a learning/sharing experience.

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