Where we live, we are soon expected to get about 3 feet of snow. It hasn’t really snowed that much since my sophomore year of High School! And I am stoked for a lot of fun in the snow. But let’s be honest, snow days can be really long if not planned out a little. The prep, the “find the missing mitten”, the clean up of drippy muddy mess when the kids all come tromping with their gear back in.
Here are some ways to prep for a successful day in the snow with the least number of tears possible.
- Lay out the gear ready to go.
- I’ve found that if we don’t get a little organized in the start before the eager ravenous for snow adventure crowd suddenly can’t find that glove…. the whole day gets set off on the wrong foot. So whether it is a ski day, sledding, etc, it just helps to lay as much as possible out so my energy and positivity doesn’t get drained in the first 30 minutes of the day. And it is SO easy to forget the little things like hand warmers which really do go a long way.
- Set up a shed and drip dry zone
- While we may bundle the crew tightly, it is just inevitable that you may spend 15 minutes getting the 3 year old ready for 10 minutes out in the snow, only to do that again and again throughout the day. So with those extra trips in and out, we lay down several beach towels as our shed zones to help avoid slip zones and mud getting tracked in.
- Pull out the crock pot soup
- Whether it is a freezer meal I have been meaning to use or a simply go to soup to put in the crock pot in the morning, I too want to play in the snow with my kids instead of slaving away in the kitchen.
- Prepare what “Snow Activities” you will do
- This Christmas my sister gifted one of my kids a “Snow Man” kit, cutest thing. You can turn your snowman into a clown with all kinds of funny faces including the traditional top hat. Only thing missing was a fun scarf. Cute one from felt or pull aside a smaller unused one. Infinity scarves stay on well or simply tie the scarf so it won’t blow off in the wind. If building a full snowman seems too daunting with the quality of snow, make a mini one! I love this one on the cover of Our Photographers Magazine. You can always use beads or just little pebbles for the eyes and mouth. We made these little accessories out of felt for this mini snowman family. I will share in another post the fun scavenger hunt we did for our babies announcement in another post. This little family was at the end with the big news.
With this smaller size of snow men, you can use medium sized buttons or pull aside doll clothes to dress them. American Girl doll sized clothes are about the right size for mini snowmen.
- Another fun activity we had a blast with is making snow treats. Just educate the littles about what is “clean” snow and which isn’t. And to stay away from the yellow snow! Ewww! To make snow treats… simply A. Use cookie cutters to cut out basic shapes, such as a heart over hardened topped snow or B. Add some jello gelatin (with a spray bottle) to help solidify the treat, then use the cookie cutters to make the shape and place on a tray in the freezer until ready to play. We like to add drizzled sweetened condensed milk, chocolate syrup or snow cone flavoring and fruit to our creations. Or if you drizzle on cream you can let the kids “melt” their creations in their hot cocoa to cool it off.
- We pull out the camping shovels to build snow caves, unbury the sleds out of the garage and anything else that might be used for snow fun. Sand toys for the beach can play a fun simply role in playing in the snow for the little ones. If there is not enough snow to make a full igloo, make one for the toys. Simply pack it down heavy then start digging a hole with a large spoon or garden shovel.
My 8 year old and I had a blast making a mini igloo for her Barbies.
- Encourage warm up breaks with hot cocoa and granola bars and bananas.
- It take a LOT of energy outside of the normal playing in the yard in the snow! Rather than just cookies and hot cocoa, bring out the granola bars and some energy fruit like bananas. Otherwise prepare for some tired grumpy bumps.
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