My Favorite Movies to Watch on Snow Days

Often when there is snow in the area, my entire family is at home. The kids are out of school, the husband is out of work, and I am home. Playing in the snow making a snowman, snow angels, and having snow ball fights are fun activities but may grow tiresome quickly. One of the best ways to pass time together as a family when outside activities are limited is watching movies. My list is an attempt to include movies appropriate for dad, preschool-second grade children, and mom.

My favorite movie to watch during snow days is Gone With the Wind.Gone with the Wind is a classic 1939 movie starring Vivian Leigh and Clark Gable. Scarlett O'Hara has a schoolgirl crush on Ashley Wilkes and does not realize it when she finds true love with Rhett Butler. Set during the era of the Civil War, Gone with the Wind is ripe with situations that invoke memories of how the South suffered during the war. The movie is lengthy so I usually watch it while my husband and children are outside playing. Our four year old daughter has seen some of it with me before.

My six year old son has enjoyed the movie Ice Age since he was two years old. Our four year old daughter loves the movie as well. When activity in the snow has to be limited due to cold, this movie is good because the setting has a lot of snow. Often we will allow our children to watch this movie in between trips to play outside. Ice Age now has several sequels but we are fans of the original. My children love babies and the baby on this movie causes them to laugh every time we watch it.

My husband watches the Star Wars movies when it snows. He begins with the original 1977 Star Wars that both he and our son enjoy. He will then watch subsequent Star Wars films if time allows. Because there are so many in the series, these movies are very good for passing time.

A favorite we also watch when it snows is Stand by Me. Stand by Me is a 1986 movie starring many of my childhood crushes. The subject matter isn't appropriate for very small children so usually my husband and I watch it while our children are asleep. A dead body and fighting are the things nightmares are made of for four and six year olds.

This year my husband rented the movie This is It for me before the snow hit. This is It shows rehearsal footage of Michael Jackson preparing for his London tour in the months before his death on June 25, 2009. Our children enjoyed the movie for about 20 minutes before they grew a little bored. My husband is not a Michael Jackson fan so he spent time playing games on the computer.

We enjoy watching other movies together when it snows as well. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is a newer movie that we saw together this year. We sometimes watch Christmas movies such as The Santa Clause and A Christmas Carol when it snows but these occasions are when the snow is prior to Christmas. Watching Christmas movies after Christmas usually leads our son and daughter to ask if Christmas is next week for the succeeding three weeks.

As a family we also have watched Babe, Toy Story, and all of the Shrek movies on snow days. Because we live in the South, our snow never lasts very long and our children are back in school normally within 3-4 days. This short time out of school limits how many movies we can watch but the ones I mentioned are our favorites.