50 Ideas to Make the Most of a Snow Day

The alarm goes off. You stumble out of bed and make your way to the window. As you crack the blinds, you’re greeted by the sight of an incredible blanket of snow. The beauty of the falling snow is so peaceful, it’s almost hypnotic.

Then the bedroom door opens and the kids run in cheering, “Snow day!” A tinge of panic begins to set in.

A snow day. The very thought can bring on a variety of emotions, from childlike excitement to freak-out fear. School has been canceled for the kids, leaving you scrambling to figure out what to do all day—or maybe for two or more days.

Fear not! Here’s a huge collection of ideas to help get you through one or more snow days—and have fun doing it! Some of these ideas may require a bit of Internet research, but that just adds to the family fun. So pull out a few of these ideas and have a great snow day!

Snow Play Ideas

• Build a snowman, a snow family or a snow fort.

• Make snow angels or some other types of snow shapes.

• Go sledding, have a snowball fight. or just get in some snowball target practice.

• Blow bubbles using regular bubble solution and watch the bubbles freeze on the wand.

• Put some water and food coloring in spray bottles or even squirt guns then paint pictures in the snow.

• Create colored frozen water balls by filling small balloons with water and adding some food coloring. Tie them off and leave them in the snow for several hours or overnight until frozen. Peel off the balloon and display the colored water balls in your yard.

Edible Ideas

• Make some snowman-shaped pancakes and decorate them with chocolate chips and marshmallows.

• Make snow ice cream, snow cones or some maple syrup snow candy.

• Make chocolate-covered pretzels or marshmallows or almonds or . . . let’s face it, just about anything covered in chocolate is pretty amazing.

• Bake some cookies or bread and allow the kids to create their own shapes.

• Enjoy an indoor picnic on a blanket in the center of the living room.

• Make a pizza, cake or biscuits from scratch.

• Enjoy some hot chocolate.

• Make some crispy rice cereal cookie bars—they are always a big hit, and they’re super easy to make.

Crafty Ideas

• Feed the birds by making a pinecone bird feeder, or string popcorn, raisins, cranberries and cereal on thread and hang the strings in a tree.

• Color together. If you don’t have any coloring books handy, you can find ready-to-color pictures on the Internet you can print at home.

• Make paper chains using old envelopes, colored paper or wrapping paper. Decorate the house or even the bushes.

• Create a card or write a letter to a family member. Grandparents love handmade cards and letters!

• Use pictures from magazines to create a mosaic masterpiece.

• Make an indoor snowman using paper, a glue stick and some cotton balls or marshmallows.

Play Ideas

• Build a fort using old boxes, sofa cushions and blankets.

• Put together a jigsaw puzzle or play some board games.

• Challenge the kids to a video game contest.

• Play hide-and-seek or have a scavenger hunt in the house.

• Host an in-home fashion show.

• Make up a game using things you have around the house.

• Engage in family exercise time using online or video instruction. Take turns leading different exercises.

Other Ideas

• Break out a movie trilogy and watch all of them in one day (or two days) for your own personal movie marathon.

• If the roads are clear enough to drive, go see an afternoon matinee movie at a theater (and save some money).

• Read one or more of the books you have stacked on the nightstand you haven’t had time to crack open yet.

• Just relax, take a nap, and enjoy a day of rest and rejuvenation. We all need some extra time to recharge every now and then. Take advantage of the snow day and spend all day in your pajamas.

A snow day can really be a fun day with a little creativity. Enjoy it!