The Big Chill and Schools Out!: Activities to Do With Children on Snow Days

It's too cold to be squirreling around outside! 

Grab your parkas, mittens and assorted cold-weather gear because there is some serious sweater and long  johns weather in the Midwest this week! While the weather may be frightful, inside it's so delightful due to the fact that our daycare has been canceled in order to avoid frosty toes and chilly noses.

Make sure to beat the  "no daycare doldrums" by doing one of the following with your children:

• Read a favorite story about the snow (such as Jack Ezra Keats The Snowy Day). 
• Play in the snow for a few minutes (otherwise, Jack Frost will be nipping at your nose) and check out the animal tracks. Can you guess who made the tracks? 
• Bake cookies together and use cookie cutters with a winter theme. 
• Look on the Internet for play dough recipes to create an indoor snow man using buttons for eyes, toothpicks for arms etc.   
• Conduct a snow experiment (How long does it take for the snow to melt?) (Science: understanding the role of temperature in its ability to melt snow) 
• Use eye droppers and food coloring to color the snow.
• Create a "snow" sensory tub using packing peanuts and add assorted forest animals figurines. 
• Sort mittens, hats and gloves into winter clothing categories (Math - Sorting by winter clothing types).
• Sing the "Twelve Days of Christmas" song (Today is twelfth night).
• Create a snow globe using a baby food container. 
• Think of words which describe snow and create a snow word chart. (Language Arts: Early exposure to adjectives aka describing words) Ex. Soft, cold, slushy. 

Enjoy and keep as toasty as possible!