Spirituality is an important part of our school and we recognise that during a snow day this would be a perfect time for our children and families to have a sense of awe and wonder with nature. As long as it is not to cold and it is safe to do so, we strongly encourage children and families to play, discover and experience snowy conditions. Please see a list of possible activities you could undertake with your family during a snow day.

Snow Activities for indoor

Balloon Gas Expansion Experiment (Outside/Indoor Activity)

This simple balloon experiment is a fun way to show kids how elements react to different temperatures — and the colder the weather, the better. Start by inflating a balloon inside and tying up the end. Then place the balloon outside and observe as it deflates. (If it’s really cold, put the balloon by a window so kids can watch from inside.) Then bring the balloon back inside and watch as it re-inflates. If the temperature is getting warmer or colder throughout the day, have kids time how long it takes for the balloon to deflate at different temperatures. This experiment gives you a chance to talk with kids about how gases expand and contract.

Build an Indoor Snowman (Indoor Activity)

If it’s too cold to play outside, you can challenge kids to create a snowman inside. Start by cutting out shapes to make several snowmen as well as accessories such as hats, pipes, and scarves. Place the shapes in a bowl or basket, and gives kids a piece of coloured paper and glue. Kids then randomly draw out snowman pieces to create goofy-looking snowman. For older children, you can turn it into a contest by adding a spelling component. Call out winter-related words for kids to spell. For each correct response, they get to draw a shape from the basket. First one to complete their snowman wins.

Create Snowflake Puzzles (Indoor Activity)

Start by teaching kids how to create symmetrical snowflakes by folding a white piece of paper diagonally and then twice more to form a triangle. By cutting shapes in the triangle, they can create a crystalline design that’s revealed when they unfold the snowflake. Then turn it into a snowflake puzzle by folding a darker sheet of paper in half and pasting the snowflakes along the line of symmetry. Cut each snowflake in half along the folded line, and mix the pieces. Challenge kids to practice identifying spatial relationships by finding the missing halves of their snowflake.

Snowman Dress Up (Indoor Activity)

Introduce your children to the mathematical concept of “permutations” by challenging them to figure out how many different colour combinations they can dress a snowman in. Cut out a snowman from a piece of white paper. Next, make three hats and three scarves out of different coloured construction paper. Then let your kids dress the snowman in scarfs and hats of different colours. Have them count each of the colour combinations to determine the total possible.

Graph a Gingerbread House (Indoor Activity)

A picture mosaic is a fun way to teach children coordinate graphing. Start by drawing a picture of a gingerbread house on a white sheet of paper. Leave approximately an inch wide border around the edges of the image. (Let them colour in the gingerbread house if they want to.) On the opposite side of the paper, draw out a grid and label each of the blocks with its graph coordinate (use letters for the X-axis and numbers for the Y-axis.) Next, draw a graph on another piece of

paper in the same size. (Make sure that the grids match.) Then cut the drawing of the gingerbread house into individual blocks along the grid lines. Challenge kids to read the coordinates and place them on the graph to form a gingerbread house.

Climate Geography Lesson (Indoor Activity)

A snow day is a great time to discuss geography. Pull out a globe and ask kids to name all of the places on the map where it snows. Then spend some time talking about how the climate affects major landmarks, culture, and animals found in that region. You can also pull up a climate map from the internet to look at how weather varies across Europe and across the world. Looking at weather patterns gives you a chance to discuss how weather is affected by latitude, the earth’s rotation and even distance from major water bodies.

Create Snow Poetry (Indoor Activity)

For centuries, poets have been inspired to create poems from nature and the seasons. A snow day is a perfect opportunity to change your kids to use their creativity to try poetry. Start by asking kids to write down all of the words they can think of that describe snow. Then have them use the words to write a poem inspired by winter. Let kids create a simple rhyme scheme poem or go to Poetry4Kids to learn how to write poems ranging from Haiku to limericks.

Fun Learning Outside

Identify Tracks in the Snow (Outside Activity)

If it’s warm outside on a snow day, bundle up and take a walk with your kids. On the way, challenge them to look for tracks in the fresh snow and discuss how to identify different animals. Start by asking kids how big they think the animal is, and then see how specific they can get. For example, dogs and cats have four toes, while deer have only two toes. Mice will often leave a narrow line in the snow as they drag their tail behind them, and squirrels will leave claw marks. You can use a phone app, like iTrack Wildlife, to identify more unusual species and to learn about each animal.

Observe a Snow Crystal (Outside Activity)

Snow is one of the simplest ways to learn about crystal structures. Give your children a piece of black paper and send them outside to collect a few snowflakes. Once they’ve caught a couple, give them a magnifying glass to compare snowflakes and count the crystal points. If you have a glass slide, you can even preserve the snowflake. Prepare by cooling the slide and a tube of superglue by placing them outside. Then use an artist’s paintbrush to carefully transfer a snowflake onto the glass slide and place a drop of superglue over the snowflake. Put the slide into the freezer until the glue hardens.

A Headless Snowman

Make a snowman without a head. Then take turns to stand behind the snowman as if your head belongs to the snowman. Have a range of props such as wigs, hats, scarves, sunglasses to wear. Take photos of each other doing different poses.

Roll it up

Make the biggest snowball possible whilst creating a maze or interesting pattern of grass to follow afterwards. Does the size of the snowball relate to the length of the path created?

Guess the object

Look at different things covered with snow and guess what they are. Go back once the snow has melted and see if you recognise the feature.

Snow Sculptures

Most people just build snowmen. Make a snow dragon, or a monster instead. The possibilities are endless. Build a miniature yeti or just his giant pair of shoes to stand in.

White Hunter

Collect together and hide a range of white objects in the snow. Can your friends find what you have hidden? Are all the objects truly as white as snow?

Funny footprints

Think up new and different footprint tracks in the snow. Instead of walking along, try:

Jumping with both feet together or hopping.

Do the hop-scotch. Walk sideways.

Skate along and try not to leave a gap between your footprints.

Do a funny dance. Is it possible to create an asymmetric pattern when you use both feet?

Frozen Marbles

Now if the temperature is really chilly, it is possible to freeze coloured water inside balloons. Once they have frozen, remove the balloon and you are left with giant marbles or snow bowls!

Snow of Wonder – An arty activity in the snow

Draw your picture or pattern indoors with felt-tips. Take it out and make it disappear in the snow. Does it work every time or does it depend on the type of snow that’s fallen?

Frozen Tree Decorations

By freezing objects creatively it is possible for children of all ages to create beautiful ice decorations which can be hung outside. What natural objects work best for this activity? How many objects can fit inside one ice decoration? Do heavy or light objects work best?

Snow Stencils … and Blood! – Stencils, sprays and syringes and using them outside

A little bit of pattern work and mark making in the snow. Design your stencils inside for use outdoors. Try making a stencil display or trail for others to enjoy. Follow the drops of “blood” for a macabre approach!

What’s cooking in the slush kitchen?

What’s cooking in the slush kitchen? The snow is melting and so is the ice. Turn your mud kitchen into a slush making ice factory and enjoy the melting messy mix.

Catch a snowflake on your tongue

Fresh, pure, beautiful snowflakes. When it’s snowing, go out there and taste the falling flakes. Just remember the words of wisdom passed through the ages, “Never eat yellow snow.” What other advice would your children add to this?

Is it possible to create an icicle?

What do your children think? What conditions are necessary? See if you can find examples of icicles to help you out with this task. They might provide some clues to get the children going.

Mark making in the snow

Snow and ice provide unique opportunities for young children to develop mark making in a way that cannot be replicated indoors. Enjoy the range of possibilities in the blog post.