Snowy Fun...Without the Cold!

 I love to experience winter- only when sitting in front of the fire. I am not a huge fan of cold weather, so I love to think of ideas to play with the idea of snow, rather than the real thing! Here are some quick and easy activities that you can use with your kids to play with "snow".

First, I wanted to share a fun freebie that you can get right here! This game is called "Snowball Fight". It is really just "WAR", but with a snowy twist. I created some snowball pieces that you can use to play the game, numerals 0-50. Choose the numbers that you want and print at least 2 copies of those pages.

You can also play "Snowball Fight" with playing cards.

I also use the cards from my Interactive Play Dough Pack. We play with ten frames, addition sentences, and tally marks; as well as, with numerals. You can see the play dough mat pack in action here.

Get your own FREE copy of the"Snowball Fight" game here! 

Included with the Free copy of "Snowball Fight", is a blank ten frame that you can use for so many things!

Draw cards 0-10 and have students create the number on the ten frame. Use puff balls, erasers, cotton balls, dry erase, rocks, or anything you choose! We used silvery puff balls. 

If you want ten frames with numerals on them, you can check out my Snowballs Interactive Pack. It has ten frames and numerals, both with a model and without.

 We also used cotton balls with egg carton ten frames. I love using egg cartons, because it makes the ten frame so concrete. See it in action here and get a freebie.

 You can also use cotton ball "snow" for estimating. We made a arctic ocean (a box with a hole in it). Kids will push their hand through a hole in the ice and grab as many ice balls as they can. Before counting, estimate how many ice balls they grabbed.

 Then, count and find the actual number. It is such an easy activity, but so much fun!

 This was an impromptu game that was a total hit! I wrote snow ball sight words on the paper and my daughter took my husband's back scratcher to "shovel" off the snow. She shoveled, read, and wrote.

 It was basically no prep, but grabbed her attention for a long time.

Thanks for checking out some of my snowy ideas! Hope you found something that you can use with your own kids.

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Sanity saving snow day (at school) classroom hacks

Set the Stage for a Snow Day…at School with some quick and easy classroom hacks and activities!

We are finally feeling the winter here in the Northeast, which means my students will be yearning for a snow day every time it flurries.  Which also means that if those flurries do not stick, students are stuck at school and forced to watch the snow from the classroom.  Bummer! 

Here are some quick and easy ways we celebrate a snow day (while still being in school) with the added bonus of helping students get those extra wiggles out that snow flurries seem to bring!

Snow Day Hack #1: Start a virtual fire

There are lots of fireplace videos on Youtube.  Most are an hour long which means you can use them to time subjects too.  My favorite video available here is of an actual fireplace, which even shows a random person stoking the fire occasionally. I leave the volume on as well since the cracking logs adds to the atmosphere. 

If you want to have your fire going for longer than an hour, I recommend copying the URL of the video and pasting it into the website Infinite Looper.   Click search then set the video as full screen.  Infinite looper basically loops the YouTube video so when it comes to the end, it will automatically replay.  This is perfect for setting and forgetting a background video like the ones I have shared here.

If it isn’t snowing, but your students REALLY wish it was, I also love this Snow Falling video.   You can paste this URL into Infinite Looper for a full virutal snow day!

Snow Day Hack #2: Drink out of mugs

There is just something about a mug – they are Demi Lovato’s favorite dish after all – that feels cozy. 

I keep a stash of disposable plastic mugs just for a snowy non snow day at school.  Write student names with sharpie on the side and distribute.  We fill ours with water and students sip from it during read to self or independent work.  I like the plastic mugs because they are reusable all year, but if you are concerned about spills, the paper ones work well too – especially if you use the sleeves Starbucks-style. 

However, you may also want to consider having students bring a mug from home or keep a collection of thrifted ceramic ones on hand.  Using the real deal will make students more likely to buy-in.

Snow Day Hack #3: Make snow ball fidgets

The best part of a snow day are the snow balls!  While there are kits of fake snowballs you can purchase, you can make your own set (or have students help) using just white nylons and poly fill.  I followed this tutorial to create a class set.  Each nylon sock will make about 3 snowballs.

White athletic socks turned inside-out and filled with cotton balls work great in a pinch too.  If you are somewhat crafty, you can sew the opening shut or use velcro.

Have students keep these in their desk as a fidget, or if you have a Smartboard, they can toss these at the board to answer questions.  Once you make a set, you can bring these out all winter long.  

Snow Day Hack #4: Make snow angels

So this one isn’t that special, just literally tell you students to get on the floor and make a snow angel.  Obviously remind your students to spread out at least an arms-length apart.  

This is a silly but oh-so-fun energizer brain break students will love.  One year a student told me it was like being a turtle flipped on his shell doing jumping jacks.  You will never not see that! 

Snow Day Hack #5: Build jacket blanket forts

Have students use their big bulky jackets, scarves, hats, etc. and chairs for this mini STEM challenge.  I had students work in pairs or teams of 3.  The challenge was to build a fort where they could read for independent reading time.  They had 10 minutes.  I was not strict about it having roofs or 4 walls or anything in particular.  

This quick team-building activity got students communicating, working together, and problem solving all while getting some of that extra energy out.  Plus they ended up with a pretty rad place to read.

I hope this gives you some ideas for making a chilly winter day a little different and fun (without changing the whole routine) and for giving students some built-in breaks from the cabin fever that can set in on cold, snowy non snow day!  Even if you live somewhere warm, have a snow day at school just because!  

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