Our kids have been home a lot this month with so many days out of school.  If you are like me, you are trying to figure out some creative things to do with them. Here are a few ideas I’ve gathered and tried over the years.  Since we haven’t had that much snow so far this year, you could make it a fun Friday this week by calling it a “Snow Day” without the real stuff. Make some memories with your kids and leave a legacy of time spent together.

Snow Ball Squishers

Blow up an assortment of small white balloons and place them at one end of the room in a bowl or basket.  Divide the children into groups.  When you say go, one child from each team runs across the room, grabs a balloon and must squish it (pop it).  Once the balloon is popped they must run back to their team and the next child goes.  First team to pop all their balloons wins.

Shoveling Snow

Arrange everyone in a circle sitting on their knees or sitting around a table.  Place a dab of Vaseline on the tip of each player’s nose. Place a bowl in front of each player and a pile of cotton balls next to the bowl or scattered loosely in front of them on the table.  The object of the game is to place the cotton balls into the bowl using their nose only.  Their hands should be down or behind their back during the game.  After one minute, the one with the most cotton balls in their bowl wins

Snowball Soccer

Make snowballs out of two colors of paper (blue and white seem the most wintery). Use laundry baskets for goals. The goal of the game is to move the snowballs with your feet into your team goal in the time limit of 2 or 3 minutes.

Divide kids into two teams or have one kid see how many they can get past you.  Each team is assigned a color of snowballs.  When you say go, the kids will move their color snowballs into their team goal using only their feet. If they use their hands, that player sits down for that game. If they push someone from the other team, then their goal gets emptied of their snowballs and they have to start over. Tell them when their time is up.  Count snowballs in their goal to find winner.

Snowman Drawing Game

Give each child a pencil and paper. Have the children close their eyes and tell them what to draw on the paper. Tell them to draw three circles, with the largest circle on the bottom and the smallest circle on top. Have the kids draw buttons for a coat and dots for eyes. Continue talking until you describe a complete snowman then ask the children to open their eyes to view their drawings. The winner is the child who drew a picture that looks the most like a snowman. Now your turn as a parent. It’s harder than you think.

Snow to Go

Purchase one jar of fake snow from Ann’s Teacher Store. Help kids measure out a small amount of snowflakes and then add that amount of water. Let them watch as the snow grows. They can play with it and then save it for later in a baggie.

Snowflake Craft

Give each child three coffee filters and a pair of scissors.  Show the children how to fold their coffee filters in half three times. Then show them how to cut around the edges. Have them open up their snowflakes and put their name on one side of each one.  Let them decorate them with glitter glue or markers.

Snowball Relay

Divide the kids into two teams. Give each kid a plastic straw and prepare a small box for each team’s snowballs (cotton balls). Place a large box full of cotton balls about 8 to 10 feet in front of the kids. On the signal “Go”, have the first two players run to the box of cotton balls and by drawing air through the straw, pick up a cotton ball and take it back to the team box. When the cotton ball is released into the team box, the next player goes. If a player drops the cotton ball while returning to the team box, he must pick it up with his straw (no hands), then continue to the team box. The first team to finish wins. Another variation is to have the kids blow the cotton ball to a specified point and then suck it up and return to the starting line.

Check out some other great ideas from Children’s Ministry Magazine.

You can also end the day by watching a fun movie that has snow in it like Snow Buddies and Happy Feet.

Happy Fake Snow Day!