40 Snow Day Activities

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We are currently experiencing quite a bit of snowfall which leads to snow days. Snow days for many parents mean dealing with the frequent “I’m bored” chatter from the kids. If you take homeschool snow days you may find the kids end up mindlessly wandering the house. Keep them busy with these 40 snow day activities.

It can be hard to come up with activities on the fly when you have an unexpected snow day. This doesn’t have to be the case, though. There are many things that the kids can do either indoors or outdoors on a snowy day that are fun and inexpensive.

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Snow Day Activities

Outdoor snow day activities

Bundle up and head outside to enjoy some of these games and play ideas for outdoor snow days.

Build a snowman
Have a shoveling race (give each child and/or adult a shovel and see who can shovel a section of the driveway or sidewalk the fastest)
Color snow with a mixture of food dye and water (fill up an emptied and clean ketchup, syrup, or any squeezable bottle with a lid)
Go sledding
Build a fort with snow

Have a neighborhood snow fight
Shovel walks or driveways for neighbors
Spell words in the snow
Take play cars and trucks out into the snow

Play ideas for snow days

If you’d rather stay nice and toasty inside, try some of these directed play ideas.

Create a puppet show or play
Have a movie day with popcorn
Bake and share with neighbors (i.e., cookies, bread, muffins, etc.)
Have a board game championship with age-appropriate games
Build a fort or tent inside (or if you have room for a small tent, go camping inside)
Play video, computer, or Wii games and have a championship with it
Have a tea party with real drinks and snacks
Play a math dice game

Have storytime
Play dress up
Read aloud your favorite book and act it out

Arts and Crafts for Snow Days

I don’t know about your kids but my kids love to make things. Most of the following items can be made by materials you already have at home:

Color pages from a coloring book and decorate walls, folders, posters, etc.
Learn how to crochet scarfs, mittens, etc. with older children
Create homemade cards for later use (birthdays, thank you, anniversaries, get well soon)
Make paper snowflakes
Recycle crayons

Make or work on a scrapbook
Create outfits or costumes from old clothes, scraps of fabric, recyclable materials, etc., for a play, playing pretend, etc.
Make Valentine’s boxes or cards (if applicable)
Make organizational boxes or file folders out of shoe boxes, cereal boxes, etc., to store toys, papers, etc.
Create bird seed ornaments

Make decorations for the front windows of the home
Make a sled (i.e., laundry basket and decorate, old cookie sheets, etc.)
Do stamp art (use either clean kitchen sponges or potatoes and cut/carve the shape, dip into paint)
Make holiday gift wrapping paper by decorating plain butcher paper, white printer or construction paper, or paper sacks (i.e., Valentine’s Day, Easter, etc.)
Create a small picture frame with wooden craft sticks and attach a picture to it
Make jewelry boxes or treasure boxes out of small cardboard boxes or create with craft sticks
Create a menu for lunch, supper, or dessert, and then have children help make the meal or snack
Have a household scavenger hunt
Write a story together
Bring the snow inside in a sensory bin

Snow Day Jar

Consider creating a snow day jar using some of the activities listed above. Like our bored jar, you can take turns pulling activities from the jar on a snow day. This keeps it fun and exciting as the kids won’t know which activity is coming up next.

It is important to find an activity or arts and craft project that is age-appropriate and engaging for the kids. Trying new activities will keep their attention much longer. When this happens, they can have fun and stay busy inside or outside.

So the next time a winter storm is imminent, look forward to having fun and keeping the kids busy.

What’s your favorite snow day activity? Drop a comment below and let us know!