Inside: Snow activities for kids
Do you live where it snows? Are you looking for snow activities for kids that you can do outside? Check out these snow activities and games that extend beyond snowman building and sledding. Your kids will have fun playing and experimenting with snow with these unique activities and games designed specifically for snow.
These snow activities for kids are from The Children’s Busy Book by Trish Kuffner and Creative Activities for Young Children by Mary Mayesky.
Snow Activities for Kids
Snow Bricks
Materials:
- Loaf Pan
- Water
Directions:
- Pack snow into a loaf pan. (If the snow is powdery, sprinkle a little water on it before packing it into the pan.)
- Turn the pan upside down and tap the bottom lightly to release the brick.
- Use snow bricks to build a fort.
- Bricks laid with their long sides together will make a sturdy structure.
- Pack snow in the gaps between the bricks as you lay them.
Ice Sculptures
Materials:
- Molds (buckets, ice cube trays, plastic containers, milk cartons, and so on)
- Bucket of warm water
- Mittens or gloves
- Spray bottle of water
Directions:
- Fill the molds with water and set them outdoors overnight to freeze.
- Dip each mold in warm water for a few seconds to loosen the ice.
- Turn the mold upside down to slide the ice out. (Be sure to wear mittens or gloves).
- Let your child build an ice sculpture.
- To stick two shapes together, spray water on the surfaces you want to join and hold them together for about ten seconds.
Snow Painting
Materials:
- Spray bottle of water
- Food coloring or liquid tempera paint
- Paintbrushes
- Small containers
Directions:
- Add a few drops of food coloring or a spoonful or two of tempera paint to a spray bottle full of water.
- Invite your child to paint the snow by spraying it or brushing on undiluted tempera paint poured into small containers.
Variation: Use water colors to paint snow like the girl in the picture.
Snow Designs
Materials:
- Old dish washing detergent bottles or other squeeze bottles
- Food coloring
- Water
- Snow
Directions:
- Rinse old dish washing detergent bottles thoroughly.
- Put a couple drops of food coloring in each bottle.
- Fill the bottles with water and shake well to mix.
- Invite children to “draw” bright designs by squirting the colored water on the snow.
Snow Games for Kids
Fox and Geese
This game requires four or more players and a large, open area of unspoiled snow.
Directions:
- Stomp a big circle in the snow and two intersecting paths through the middle of the circle.
- Where the paths meet, stomp out a small safe zone.
- The figure should look like an X with a circle around it.
- Choose one person to be the fox; all other players are the geese.
- The fox chases the geese and tries to tag one of them.
- All players must run only on the paths, and geese can’t be tagged when they are standing in the safe zone.
- As soon as the fox catches a goose, that goose becomes the new fox.
Button, Button
This game requires four or more players.
Materials:
- Snow
- Snowballs
- Colored Button
Directions:
- Make a number of snowballs one fewer than the number of players you have,
- Hide a brightly colored button inside one of the snowballs.
- Choose one player to be it.
- The other players stand in a circle around him and pass the snowballs quickly around the circle until he tells them to stop.
- He must then guess which player has the snowball with the button inside.
- The players break open their snowballs to see if he has guessed correctly,
- If not, he is it again for the next round; if so, the player holding the button becomes it.
- Make some more snowballs and play again.
Cat and Mouse Snowball
Directions:
- Make two snowballs.
- Have players form a large circle outside in the snow.
- Invite players to pass a snowball around the circle with each player holding it for a second.
- Then, introduce a second ball.
- Each player passes the first ball to the next person, and then turns the other way to look for the next ball.
- If a player drops one of the balls, he or she is out of the game.
- Continue play until only one player is left.
Snowball Freeze Game
Directions:
- Invite each child to make their own snowball outside.
- Then have each child do as many things with the ball as they can, without losing control of it. This can be done while standing or seated.
- Stress keeping control of the ball.
- At the word Freeze, the children stop and hold the ball in whatever position they may be.
- Any player who moves, is out.
Target Practice
Materials:
- Scissors
- Old Sheet or Blanket
- Clothespins
- Clothesline or rope
- Snowballs
- Needle and thread (optional)
Directions:
- Cut three or four holes, each about 12 inches in diameter, in an old sheet or blanket.
- Fasten this target with lots of clothespins to a clothesline or a rope strung between two posts or trees.
- Have each child stand about 10 feet away and throw snowballs at the holes.
- Score one point for each snowball that goes through a hole.
- The first person to score a certain number of points is the winner.
- A child playing alone can see how many snowballs it takes to score a certain number of points.
To make a sturdy target that won’t flap in the wind, sew castings along its sides. (Fold each long side over an inch or two and sew it down to create a tube). Thread one rope through the top casing and another through the bottom one, then tie ropes to two trees or posts.
You can also play this game in the summertime, using balls instead of snowballs.
Variation: Use paint and cardboard to make a target like the one in the picture above.
Snow Angel Freeze Tag
Directions:
- Choose two or three players to chase the other players and tag them.
- When a player is tagged, he or she must freeze.
- In order to become unfrozen, another player who has not yet been frozen must lay down in the snow and make a snow angel near the frozen player. The frozen player is then unfrozen and can rejoin the game.
Leave a Reply