Family Fun Days: Snow Day

Snow Day

I loved doing some of these activities with my first graders in Florida since the phrase “Snow Day” comes up in a lot of books, movies, and other places. When kids grow up in warmer climates, they don’t fully understand the excitement of a snow day, so these activities play out that scenario. Home schooled children might enjoy this, too, when it really is a snow day for the rest of the county/town. Here I have added ideas for a REAL snow day and ideas for a fake snow day.

Teasers:

The night before, look out the window and mention how snowy it is out there and that school may be cancelled tomorrow. Possibly put “snow” on the windows (fake spray snow or paper snowflakes) or any other snowy clues.

Fun! Awaken children at normal time in the morning and listen to the “radio” (a pre-recorded video or audio of yourself and your spouse performing a newscast) to listen for their school’s name on the cancellation list. Cheer and shout for joy when their school’s name is called and give the kids the option of going back to bed, watching cartoons, or doing whatever they want for an hour (or two…).

Crafts:

Make paper snowflakes.

Preschool: Penguin Paper Craft or Polar Bear Paper Craft (both practice cutting circles) and lots of other penguin coloring pages and activities can be found here.

Activities and Books:

Make “snow” (We used a slushy or margarita machine).

Arctic Animals: Discuss how fat on animals such as the polar bear keeps them warm. Spread kids’ hands with Crisco and dip their hands into the snow. Kids will notice how their hand doesn’t get cold! Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? is a good book to go along with this for preschoolers.

Animals: You can do some learning extensions after your snow day about hibernation, migration, and other activities of animals during the winter. Once kids start thinking, they will wonder what squirrels, fish, frogs, and other animals do during the winter. There are many, many books about animals during the winter, such as Bear Sleeps In and Squirrels All Year Long by Melvin Berger (non-fiction).

The Mitten by Jan Brett and other related books: This is the best winter time book! You can find a million activities to go along with it online. Other good books to go along with it are The Hat, also by Jan Brett, and The Old Man’s Mitten by Yevonne Pollock. These books are all based on a traditional tale (a Russian tale, I believe). Check out www.JanBrett.com They also all have interesting woodland animals in them that will spark the kids’ interest (badger, mole, fox, hare, rabbit, bear, mouse). A springtime book based on the same tale is Mushroom in the Rain by Mirra Ginsburg, which the kids always love and can re-enact with an umbrella. Kids love to re-enact all these stories and they love hearing all the different animals’ voices as you read (but you have to be pretty creative in thinking of at least 7 voices to use!).

Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats: Everyone seems to love this classic story of a little boy on a snowy day, who tries to save his snowball.

Lucille’s Snowsuit by Kathryn Lasky: This is a must for snow days! In this story, little Francine’s older brother and sister have a snow day, but Francine spends all of their play time just trying to get her snowsuit on. After reading the story, dress up your kids in their snow clothes and play in the snow (or “snow”). You can have a suitcase relay with winter clothes as well. For Florida children, this is a good time to practice winter clothes vocabulary they don’t often hear (mittens, ear muffs, scarf, snowsuit, parka, boots, gloves).

Real Snow Play Ideas:

Snow Drawings and Prints: Give children items to make interesting designs and shapes in the snow, such as a potato masher, containers, sand toys, etc. You can also make a print with an item and see if younger children can guess what made the print (practicing one-to-one correspondence).

Spray Painting Designs in the Snow: Drew and I did this when we were little! Use spray bottles of water with a bit of food coloring and use it to decorate the snow. When Drew and I did it, we made a big snow dinosaur and painted him green and orange. A newspaper photographer came by and took our picture for the paper!

Snow Off Game (a good way to get rid of energy on snowy days!): Divide your group or family into two teams and divide a snowy area in half, making a line across the middle. One team gets on each side of the line. At a signal, everyone starts throwing snow over to the other side. After a given amount of time, give another signal and everyone must stop. The team that succeeded in get the most snow off their side wins!

Meals and Snacks:

After playing in the snow (or “snow”) make sure you warm up your little munchkins by giving them some hot chocolate with marshmallows! And serve a warm, soothing lunch, like chicken noodle soup.

For dinner, serve a favorite stew and biscuits, chili or soup or other winter time favorites (hot cider, casseroles, Christmas cookies, homemade bread, etc).

Songs:

The Penguin Song

Leader: Penguins, Attention! Penguins, Begin!

Have you ever seen
A penguin come to tea?
When you look at me
A penguin you will see!

Leader: Right arm
~Continue the song until you are dancing like a penguin~ (add left arm, right leg, left leg, turn around)
At the end it's PENGUINS ATTENTION! PENGUINS DECIST!

Winding Down

Movies:

The First Snow of Winter: Rated G, a cute little duck gets lost during his family’s migration

The Polar Express, The Santa Claus movies, and other Christmas shows/movies

Journal: Take a lot of pictures, especially of the kids in their snow clothes. Record each family member’s thoughts, favorites, or hand drawn pictures to the family scrapbook or journal.