Schools is cancelled for weather, and you’re left wondering what to do with the kids all day? Whether it’s for tons of snow and ice or extremely cold temperatures, we’ll help you come up with activities to keep them curious and creative!
If you’re like many people, when the forecast calls for below zero temperatures, you groan and plan to hunker down indoors until it passes. But if you do that, you’re missing out on some of the coolest tricks mother nature has up her sleeve!
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Something for Everyone
This article will be broken into three parts: we’ll give you activities to do on really cold days, as well as heavy snow days, plus a few indoor things to keep kids attention, so you have an arsenal in your pocket for when your community shuts down.
Extreme Cold Weather Fun
Cold Science is Cool!
When the weather gets frigid, the earth does really fascinating things. Water turns to steam, bubbles freeze, and the world becomes sparkly with frozen ice crystals in the air! Its downright magical. It’s the perfect time to do some fun cold weather experiments with the kids!
So next time your thermometer drops and you’re tempted to hibernate, pull up this article and celebrate the cold! It won’t last long and is worth making it memorable!
Take Safety Precautions
A word of caution, however: extremely cold temperatures can be dangerous without the proper precautions. Always make sure your skin is covered with gloves, a face mask, and insulating layers to protect you from the cold. Exposed skin can freeze quickly if temps are far below zero.
If you want to see how cold is too cold to be out with kids, check out our article all about it here!
To learn more about staying warm and safe in cold weather, see our other articles, like How to keep feet warm in cold weather or Layering kids for cold weather!
Boiling Water to Steam
This one is our go-to; the easiest and quickest experiment that is sure to wow everyone!
First step- boil water on your stove. While it’s boiling, make sure you bundle up and especially put gloves on to protect your hands.
Once the water comes to a rolling boil, take it outside quickly and toss the boiling water into the air, away form you, making sure no one is in the path of the water. If it’s cold enough outside, the water will turn to steam in the air, making clouds and possibly snow showers right before your eyes!
Note- make sure children are well supervised for this, as boiling water can obviously be very dangerous. I had my kids use plastic cups of water so it wasn’t too heavy or awkward for them to toss.
University of Minnesota Climatologist Mike Seeley expains why this happens:
“When it’s cold outside, there’s hardly any water vapor present in the air, whereas boiling water emits vapor very readily that’s why it’s steaming. When you throw the water up in the air, it breaks into much smaller droplets, so there’s even more surface for water vapor to come off of.
“Now, cold air is very dense, and this makes its capacity to hold water vapor molecules very low. There’s just fundamentally less space for the vapor molecules. So when you throw the boiling water up, suddenly the minus 22 air has more water vapor than it has room for. So the vapor precipitates out by clinging to microscopic particles in the air, such as sodium or calcium, and forming crystals. This is just what goes into the formation of snowflakes.”
Freezing Bubbles
This activity takes a bit more patience and preparation but is so cool when it works! Start out with below 20°F (the colder the better) temperatures and gather your ingredients!
You’ll need 1 cup of warm water, 2.5–3 tbsp corn syrup (or glycerin), 2 tbsp sugar, and 2.5–3 tbsp dish soap. Chill the solution in the freezer for 15–30 minutes.
Once your solution is chilled, put it in a bottle with a straw (we like to use the NeilMed nasal sinus rinse bottles, as they seem to be the perfect design for blowing soap bubbles!). They’re a great thing to keep on hand since it’s cold and flu season anyway!
Take the bottle outside and find a flat cold surface, gently squeeze a bubble out and watch it slowly freeze! Taking a video of this is fun because you can watch the crystals slowly form in slow motion! And another fun phenomenon- they shatter when popped!
Build an Ice Igloo
These activities are great to do when you have extended below zero temperatures forecast. It takes some preparation and patience but the payoff is so beautiful!
For an ice igloo, get lots of containers of the same shape (like clear shoebox containers or those single use baking aluminum baking tins). Fill them with colored water and set out to freeze. It will take 12-24 hours depending on how cold it is, so having someone on ice duty to freeze and refill containers will help! (I did this every morning and evening for a few days).
Once you get enough frozen blocks, find a shady spot in your yard and measure out how big you want the igloo. Stack them up, using a mixture of snow and water to “cement” them together, until you have the igloo built! Note, use waterproof work gloves to cement them together, as this process is pretty hard on gloves. Knee pads are also helpful for construction.
You can find more in depth instructions here.
Make Ice Lanterns/Globes
Another frozen water activity! Start by filling water balloons with water (colored if you wish!) and either stick them outside or in a big freezer. You’ll need temps below 20°F for outside freezing. Once they are frozen, remove the balloons and you’ll have giant balls of ice to play with!
We like to hide the colored frozen balls in the snow and play hide and seek with them, or stack them up and make fun ice sculptures with them as well. To make ice sculptures, just use a mixture of snow and water to ‘cement’ them together.
For lanterns, don’t freeze them totally solid- freeze them about 3/4, so they can have the center open to put candles or lights inside. We like to line the sidewalk with them to make a pretty winter entryway!
Freeze Things- Jeans, Food, Hair!
If you’re feeling silly and you have below zero temperatures, start freezing things! For clothing, get them wet, then pose them outside until they become solid and stand on their own! You can do the same with food, like spaghetti noodles, Make them into fun shapes and let them freeze that way.
To freeze hair, just be careful not to break it after it’s frozen, and maybe cover your ears if possible. It works great in hot springs or hot tubs, where you can sit in the hot water while your hair freezes. It’s so fun to let your hair get frosty and solid in different silly shapes.
Cold Exploration Walks
Sometimes, when its extremely cold out, a walk is the best way to see the magic! When the temperatures fall below zero the Earth does some pretty cool things.
Tune into your five sense, and you’ll notice more than you think! If you have lots of snow, skis or snowshoes might add an element of fun!
Listen for frost quakes, loud booming or popping sounds from water under the frozen ground expanding and cracking. Listen to the cold, light snow sound like tinsel as you walk through it.
Look for the air to sparkle with ‘diamond dust’, look for ice flowers, frozen waves near waterways, or even hoar frost (delicate ice crystals that form on everything after a cold fog). Go icicle hunting, trying to find the longest, or most unique icicles!
Indoor Fun
Paint Ice
If you’re collecting icicles, bring them home and let the kids paint them! Put them in a bin, get the paints and brushed and let them go to town! You can also use spray bottles with colored water or water color.
Play Snow Trucks
For kiddos who love trucks, fill a bin with snow, set out a mat or cookie sheet, and let them play ‘snowplow’ indoors! The mess is minimal and the fun will last! You could also stick them in the bathtub with a bin of snow and let them play there too!
Get Out the Arts and Crafts
Art is also always a hit on snow days- whether you pull up a drawing tutorial, cutting paper snowflakes, or doing something more in depth, arts and crafts work with most kids!
We’ve tried making salt crystal snowflakes which is cool. First, you dissolve a large amount of salt in boiling water- just add tablespoon by tablespoon until the water can’t hold anymore (until it won’t dissolve anymore).
Cut paper snowflakes and put them in a shallow pan, then pour the salt water over them (not too much, just enough to cover them). Wait a few hours to a few days and watch the salt crystals appear as the water evaporates! Then hang them in your windows and watch them sparkle in the sun!
If you need more indoor fun ideas, check out the Best Indoor Active Toys for Kids (and Games too)!
Deep Snow Day Fun
If your temps are reasonable but you’ve got lots of snow, here are some fun ideas of how to enjoy it!
Snow Treats
Making treats out of snow can be a fun and novel activity to keep kiddos excited about the weather!
Snow Ice Cream
Making snow ice cream is always a hit with our kids, and you can even scoop it into an ice cream cone to be extra! The recipe is simple: First gather about 8 cups of clean snow in a bowl. Next, add 1 cup of milk (whole makes the best flavor), 1/2 cup sugar, 2 teaspoons of vanilla, and a pinch of salt.
Mix them all together and serve immediately. You can do fun variations as well- for a richer flavor, use sweet and condensed milk. Sub maple syrup for the sugar, add sprinkles, add coca powder to make chocolate, or just use chocolate syrup as a topping.
Maple Sticks
This is a traditional Canadian treat and so fun! It takes a few simple steps to make maple candy! To make it, first get a swath of snow prepped- a clean, packed down section, or alternatively, fill a pan or plate with clean snow and put in the freezer to firm it up.
Next take pure maple syrup and heat it over the stove (ideally use a candy thermometer to get to 230-240°F).The amount of syrup you use depends on how much maple candy you want to make. Once hot enough, you CAREFULLY pour little lines of maple syrup onto the snow, then roll it up around a popsicle stick to make a sucker. If you don’t have popsicle sticks, you can just make little maple candies by letting them harden in the snow.
Street Sledding
If your streets are full of snow and no traffic (like quiet neighborhood roads), pulling kids in a sled or snow tube is a fun snow day activity! If you’re averse to pulling kids behind a vehicle (we get it- it can be dangerous!), we like to pull kids with a snow bike!
Get a bike with fat tires or studded tires, and tie a sled or tube behind it (with a rope long enough to leave plenty of space between kids and tires) and get some exercise pulling kids around! We recommend attaching the rope to the sled or tube so kids don’t have to hold onto it.
We love the LL Bean Sonic Snow Tube or the Rtic Snow Tubes!
We like to have kids dress in helmets and goggles as well as snow clothes, just to stay warm and protected! If you need a good snow helmet, check out our recommendations here!
Kick sledding on snow covered streets is also fun!
Building Snow Caves/Kitchens
This is probably the easiest activity with the least amount of prep work. All you need is snow and work ethic! You can dig into a big snow bank, you can shovel snow into a giant pile and dig into it, you can make tunnels through deep snow, or even make snow bricks to stack into an igloo. Really kids can get so creative here!
If you’re digging a proper snow cave, make sure the thickness of the walls and ceiling are monitored to make sure they don’t get too thin and collapse. Supervision is suggested also so kids don’t get buried! Let snow caves set up over night for more structural integrity. You can also take a spray bottle inside and coat the walls so they freeze up better over night!
Once built and hardened, add twinkle lights, foam pads to sit on, and play a game of cards inside! Make it cozy and enjoy it!
Not into caves? Carve snow sculptures, or snow furniture! Make a giant snow couch in the front yard or build a snow kitchen and bring pots and pans outside to play! Again, let kids use their creativity and you’ll be impressed.
Snow Volcano (Science!)
There’s nothing kids love more than science experiments right? Take your standard volcano science project, using baking soda and vinegar, and make a volcano out of snow!
First, Have the kids build a volcano out of snow. Next, get a small cup (shallow is better) and fill it with baking soda and add food coloring for fun. Stick it in the top of your volcano as the ‘crater’. Have the kids pour vinegar slowly into the cup and watch the eruption! (think slow eruption, not explosive…)
Feel free to sneak in a science discussion about chemical reactions for bonus points!
Backyard Rail Jam
If you’ve got kids who are after adrenaline, build a backyard snow park. Depending on your backyard and what you have to work with, you can get creative.
If you have a hill, build a ramp or jump, use a picnic table to create a box/rail to jib, or make a little little sledding track. Work with what you have and be creative!
My husband collected pallets and wooden spools to build a ramp and found an old pipe to make a rail, so now the kids have rail jams in the backyard on snow days. Throw up some twinkle lights and do it after dark as well!
Make Snow Days Fun Again!
We all remember the excitement of snow days as a kid, but now that we’re parents, they don’t hit quite the same. We hope this list of activities can help you pass on the fun and excitement of cold and snowy days with your own kids!
Whether it’s subzero temps, mountains of snow, or ice storms, we hope you are able to enjoy it with a few of these tricks!
Related Articles
- How to Build an Ice Igloo
- Layering Kids for Cold Weather
- How Cold is Too Cold to Take Kids Outside?
- Winter Unit Study
- Staying Connected to Nature in the Winter
How to Survive a Snow Day with Kids
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