Simple Snow Day Activities to Have the Best Time Ever

We are entering snow day season! In preparation for the inevitable, I put together some fun snow day activities you can quickly and easily implement at home. Whether you decide to cozy up by the fireplace or don layers for outdoor adventures, snow days offer a canvas of possibilities for creating cherished memories. 

In this post, I’ve curated a collection of entertaining and easy-to-implement snow day activities that are sure to delight all family members:

• Making fake snow in case you don’t want to play with the real stuff
• Have a snowball fight – indoors or outdoors
• Paint the snow
• Conduct snow science experiments
• Other snow day activities

Alright, let’s get started with some fun snow day activities!

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Making fake snow in case you don’t want to play with the real stuff

Making fake snow is one of my new favorite things to do with my kids. It’s super easy (only 2 ingredients) and a ton of fun. Additionally, it qualifies as a sensory bin, which you know I love if you’ve read any of my other posts (see my fall activities, arctic-animals inspired activities, and slime post).

All you need is about 2 1/2 cups of baking soda and 1/2 cup white hair conditioner. You don’t need to spend a ton of money on either of these, so feel free to buy the cheap stuff. I’ve got you covered for this as the links I included here have the cheapest per oz price I could find. Plus, they seem to be available for quick delivery.

To make this fake snow, all you have to do is mix the two together in a dish (I used a glass baking dish), then throw some toys in it, and let kids dive on in!

Note: you should supervise kids as they play as this is NOT taste safe. Also, make sure kids wash their hands after playing with it.

Educational Idea: Discuss various words you could use to describe the fake snow. For example, soft, cool, crumbly, etc.

Have a Snowball Fight – Indoors or Outdoors

A classic snow day activity is to head outside and have a snowball fight. Keep it simple by making old school snowballs with your hands, or another idea is to pick up one of these cool snowball makers: classic, double, or shaped snowball makers.

If you’re like me and don’t always want to bundle the kids up to head outside, you can also have a snowball fight indoors using socks. There are lots of twists you can add to this, including turning it into a game by having kids try to get it into a container of some sort or a hula hoop. You could also add points for each “hit” someone gets.

Educational Idea: Adding points means you can also practice things such as counting on (starting at a number like 5 then counting from there instead of starting back at 0) as well as addition and subtraction.

We also made these simple snowman shooters and we’ve continued to have fun with them past our snow day activities. All you need are paper cups or toilet paper rolls, balloons, crayons to draw the face, and cotton balls. Start by drawing a snowman face on the cup or toilet paper roll. Then, cut the end of a balloon and stretch it over one open end and tie off the end of the balloon. Finally, fill the cup with “snowballs,” pull back on the ballon and release.

This is the same design I used to make party poppers for New Year’s Eve.

Paint the Snow

This year I started seeing lots of ideas for painting the snow on Pinterest. I really loved this idea, so I decided to try it with my kids. There are lots of variations of this, including sprinkling baking soda on the snow and making the “paint” with vinegar so it bubbles when your kids paint the snow with baking soda. Even though this sounds cool, I was worried about the impacts on my dogs and yard.

Therefore, I decided to keep it simple by filling these bottles with water and food coloring. I then let my kids head outside to start painting and they loved it. Ultimately, I was happy with my decision to make the paint with water since my toddler ended up drinking it 🙂

Conduct Snow Science Experiments for More Snow Day Activities

Years ago I had a substitute covering my 3rd Grade class while I was out sick and he did this simple science experiment with kids. I thought it was too simple to be engaging, but my students loved it! So I decided to try and do it with my kids and surprisingly they loved it too.

All you do is take two cups to collect snow in. You then pack the snow into one and only loosely put it in the other. The goal is to see how different the water level is when the snow melts. Bring the cups in and watch it melt throughout the day, then discuss why the one takes longer to melt and has more water.

Educational Idea: With all science experiments, have your kid generate a hypothesis about what they think will happen and then describe the steps and results.

Here are some more snow day activities that include a science spin and use things you likely already have at home!

• Build an igloo outside
• Blow frozen bubbles
• Make a snow volcano
• Make snow ice cream
• Other fun (and simple) snow experiments

Let’s Wrap It Up these Snow Day Activities

I hope you were able to find some snow day activities that feel easy and fun for you to do with your family the next time there’s a snow day. Comment below to let me know what you tried and how it went!

Here is a consolidated list of all the materials I reference in this post so you have a clear materials list on hand:

• baking soda
• white hair conditioner
• snowball makers: classic, double, or shaped snowball makers
• paper cups or toilet paper rolls
• balloons
• crayons
• cotton balls
• bottles
• food coloring
• this craft kit
• contact paper
• The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats