Fun Ways to Play with Snow INSIDE

Snow Days are fun; however, kids are often stuck inside staring at the snow from the window. Many times it is too cold, too windy or just too dangerous to venture outside when it is snowing. BUT that does not mean the kids can’t play with the snow! There are many fun and easy ways to bring the snow day fun INSIDE. To help get you started, I put together a list of fun ways to play with snow inside your house (or school). Each activity is also educational as we are always looking for ways to learn through play at Mommy University!

Fun Ways to Play with Snow Inside

Make a Sensory Bin

The easiest way to play with snow inside is to make a sensory bin. You can fill a plastic container or even your bathtub with fresh snow from outside then add any toys your kids want. Disney fans may want to add characters from the movie Frozen while dinosaur lovers may want to add their favorite prehistoric creatures and act out the Ice Age. You can encourage open-ended play or develop structured activities like hiding the toys in the snow and having the kids find them. The possibilities are endless!

Bringing the snow indoors keeps kids playing and opens the door for many possibilities.

Have Fun with Colors

What kid doesn’t like playing with food coloring?! Get a little artsy on your next snow day by “painting” snow. Again, you can put the snow in large plastic containers. (Tip: Place the containers on top of towels or newspapers because this can get messy.) Then let your kids add different colors to the snow to see what happens. You can put colored water in water bottles and let them squirt it on the snow or just add drops right from the food coloring bottles then stir with a spoon. Another way to play is to put snow in muffin tins then add color to each “snow muffin” to see what happens. This is a fun way to teach kids about color mixing.

Melting Experiment

On our next snow day, we are going to do a melting experiment. To conduct this fun activity, just put snow in small containers or cups and then place them in different places around the house. Have your kids hypothesize which ones will met first and last. Then have them keep a log of the melting. What a fun introduction to science that can keep them busy ALL DAY!

Make Snow Treats

Did you know you can make yummy treats using snow? How cool is that? If you have ever been to Vermont during maple sugaring season, then you have probably heard of sugar on snow. It is a delicious treat that involves pouring hot syrup over snow. Check Pinterest for recipes! Another delicious treat is snow ice cream. By adding just a few ingredients to fresh snow, you can have a yummy treat the entire family will enjoy. For directions, check out our post on How to Make Snow Ice Cream. Snow slushies can also be tasty on a snow day. Just get some fresh snow and add your favorite juice like orange or pineapple. Yum!

Science Experiments

At Mommy University, we LOVE conducting science experiments. Not only does it spark creativity, but it also introduces kids to important scientific concepts while enhancing thinking and reasoning skills. Each winter, we conduct simple science experiments with snow. We choose household ingredients and hypothesize what will happen if it is mixed with snow. Then we mix the ingredients together and talk about the results and why they happened. My kids look forward to these experiments EVERY snow day! Check out our YouTube videos of fun experiments with snow!

Make Mr. Snow-tato Head

Pull out those Mr. Potato Head pieces and have some fun with snow this winter! Put some snow in a container or bath tub and let the creations begin. Kids can create the body by forming a large snowball then they can add different body parts to make funny and unique characters! This is a great way to spark creativity while enhancing language, fine motor and visual skills!

As we come up with and experiment with more ways to play with snow inside, we will add them to this list. How do your kids play with snow inside? Share your answers in the comment section below!