Snow Day Crafts and Games

Some people pray for snow and others hope to avoid it but like colds and flu, snow seems to show up whenever it gets good and ready. Kids love snow days. Aside from the chance to get a free pass from school, kids enjoy the change of scenery and the excitement of snow falling. For many parents, or their back up childcare givers, the change in routine can leave us unprepared. Playing outside in the snow is tons of fun but most, especially young children, can't stay out in the cold and wet all day.

Here are some easy and fun winter crafts for indoors that are perfect for snow days. You don't have to have everything you see in the photo on hand. These winter crafts and games can be put together with fairly common household products but I'll tell you about some fun "extras" you may want to have on hand for snow days.

The Snow Day Craft Ring Toss:

This ring toss is easy to create with things you probably have on hand. The good news is because the rings are made from paper plates, it is safe to play indoors. You can opt to make one per family or group or let each child make their own because this is a cheap craft and there are ways to reuse most materials.

Materials needed:

-plastic or cardboard canister to become the target

(We used an empty sea salt container. A peanut butter jar or the like would work too.)

-three (or more) paper plates, the cheaper the better

-scissors

Optional:

-peel and stick foam sheets to cover the canister

-peel and stick snow flakes

You could alternatively cover the target with paper and any stickers you have on hand.

Steps:

Talk about a ring toss and explain the general idea.

Let kids decorate the target canisters. This is a fun step to do when you come in from outside playing in the snow and you're waiting for the hot chocolate to be ready.

Fold paper plates in half and cut along the obvious inner circle to create rings. Save the center circles from the paper plates for additional crafts!

Ready to play:

Now you're ready to play the indoor ring toss game. Find a spot for the target and create a line with a string of some sort. Begin with the line fairly close and move it back as kids master this game.

Lay out the ground rules, such as each person gets three turns and gets back in line. You can keep score or not, depending on whether this would positive for your kids.

Adults make sure you play too. You might find that your kids are better at this game than you. See if they can guess why. (Think height.)

More winter crafts:

What can we do with those white paper plate center circles we saved?

*Use them to create a snowman craft.

*Fold them in half and cut them into snowflakes.

*Write "snow ball" poems on them.

What can we do with the target canister from the snow day ring toss game after we're done?

*Add beans and turn it into a musical instrument shaker and sing some of your favorite songs about snow.

*Cut a slit in the top and turn it into a piggy bank for saving money.