Seven Snow Day Activities for Endless Indoor Fun by Emily Bonga

When I was in elementary school, I distinctly remember the excitement of the phone ringing bright and early after a night of intense snowfall. Mom or Dad would answer the phone, and their face would say it all: We had a snow day! A whole day of freedom from schoolwork was a dream come true for my little, elementary-aged self; but I’m sure my parents were wondering how we would pass the time on these completely-unanticipated, stuck-inside kind of days. They would have loved a list of outside-the-box activities for me and my sisters that provided fun, active alternatives to watching television all day.

Below are seven interactive, indoor activities for your little ones the next time a snow day blows into town.

Enjoy!

Make Your Own Play Dough —Play dough can be made from just four ingredients that are typically found in the home—flour, salt, warm water, and food coloring. Not only will your kids enjoy making the play dough with you, but they’ll also love using it to make their own creations after the mixing is finished! Click here to find an article that not only has a recipe for creating your own play dough, but also suggests various household items your children could use while playing with the dough.

Story Travelers Bible Game —In The Story Travelers Bible , the Story Travelers, Lana Griffin and Munch, hop on an extraordinary bus and take a tour through some of the greatest stories in the Bible. The kids watch Noah build his ark, see Moses discover the burning bush, and stand on the shore as John baptizes Jesus.

Your kids can become Story Travelers, too, with the free, downloadable Story Travelers game ! In this game, players must act out Bible events to make it to the finish line. You can make the game as long or as short as you want by printing out extra blank spaces. The game could go over furniture, under tables, or up stairs! The possibilities are endless with this story-traveling adventure.

Hot Chocolate —Who doesn’t love a cup of hot cocoa on a cold, snowy day? Here’s a list of fun mix-ins for your kids to add to their cocoa to make it snow-day-special:

• Candy Canes (which double as stirring sticks for anything else you may be mixing in!)
• Marshmallows
• Colored Sprinkles
• M&M’s or other chocolate candies
• Whipped cream
• Hershey’s chocolate syrup and/or caramel sauce
• Pirouettes (which can also be used to stir)

Pool Noodle Race Track —Do you have a pool noodle in your garage or attic from summer days spent poolside or at the beach? Repurpose it into a racetrack for marbles or matchbox cars and enjoy the racing fun! Click here for materials you’ll need to get started and for instructions on how to set up your track.

Your Magnificent Chooser Activities — We all have choices to make each day, even the youngest children. The choices we make play a large part in forming who we grow to be as adults. In Your Magnificent Chooser , author John Ortberg whimsically addresses the ability to make choices, inviting children to use the “magnificent chooser” that God gave them to make right choices every day.                                                             

Lots of free resources are available for you and your children as you apply the concepts found in the book Your Magnificent Chooser ! Click on the links below to check out these various activities.

• Choose Your Own Snack Adventure
• Make Your Own Chooser
• Create Your Own Decision Shakers
• Printable Scripture Cards

Create a Blanket Fort —Forts are warm, cozy spaces that are perfect for playing pretend, reading books, or sharing your favorite stories. Using extra sheets, blankets, couch cushions, or pillows that you have on hand, help your child create a blanket fort. When we made them in our house, we would pull out the kitchen chairs and use those to build the “outline” for our forts. Clothespins were clipped to the linens to close gaps between blankets or sheets. Be sure to have a flashlight on hand if your child will be reading inside the fort!

Throw a tea party— Growing up, my sisters and I had a little, plastic tea-party play set that would keep us entertained for hours. Each time we threw a tea party, we would fill the teacups to the brim with “tea” (usually water from the tap!) and don our fanciest dress-up clothes as we sat cross-legged on the family room floor enjoying our oh-so-fancy snack that usually consisted of Goldfish crackers or pretzels. Tea parties provide a great way for your kids to exercise their imagination while also honing their etiquette skills!

Here’s to a future snow day full of creative, playful fun!

Sources:

https://www.diynatural.com/homemade-playdough/

https://familyfoodandtravel.com/2015/08/pool-noodle-race-track.html

Emily Bonga is the Marketing and Publishing Coordinator for the Tyndale Books team.