Super Fun Snow Day Activities

Brrr…it is cold in the middle of the country, and America’s children are experiencing some severe cabin fever. Our city has recently experienced one of the most perfect events winter has to offer: a snow day. This snow day was different because we knew about it at 5 pm the night before, my husband was able to work from home and stay with us, and I had very little grading to complete since my students had just come back from winter break. This provided me with the ability to be something that resembles a super mom by my standards. So I grabbed my cape, and we had some major fun.

After Breakfast Slime

Doesn’t this sound delicious? After breakfast is a dangerous time for me. On my days off, I like to write while drinking coffee. This means I could accidentally let Netflix raise my kids for hours. *Cough* that’s never happened before, though.* On this fun snow day, we shut off the TV and unearthed an amazing box of slime purchased by my wonderful mother. We had two colors, two containers, and three children. This was not a problem. We added water to the slime mixes, and stirred like the directions instructed. When they were both made, my oldest got a sampling of both colors. The slime itself was an amazing gift, and then I grabbed some old cookie cutters, plastic knives, and measuring cups. My children (ages 6-12 years) played for an hour and a half. It was magical. It was gross. It was perfect.

Group Chores

The slime entertained us until lunch. The clean-up was easy, and they had just enough time to read books until lunch was finished. Afterwards, we worked in specific spots throughout the house. Now that my kids are old enough, my husband and I should not be the only humans who contribute to household chores. There is nothing like some good music and specific roles to get us working. I’m sure they would agree, right? In all seriousness, they were so thrilled from the slime-fun, I heard very little grumbles about the chores.

Lego Wars

After chores, we bummed around, and then the dark hours of 3-5 pm appeared. Cabin fever sets in during these times. The kids had already played in the snow, thrown the Frisbee for my crazy puppies, and watched a cozy movie. I needed to get laundry completed. I had no choice but to institute “Lego Wars”. Friends, I cannot stress the excellence of this activity enough. 

Lego Wars Breakdown:

• Three categories for award possibilities: tallest structure, most realistic, most creative.
• Three kids get two full minutes to grab as many Legos as he or she can and retreat to the building zone free of the other competitors. We had three different rooms going.
• Oldest kid made sure music was playing. This ended up being important to the building process.
• Building time lasted a half an hour.
• At the half an hour mark, the kids decided they were ready to trade parts, grab new Legos, and eat a snack to prepare for the last 30 minutes of finalizing their structures.
• At the end of one hour, the structures were displayed and titled.

My husband was the judge, but I made sure he knew what I would have claimed as the winner as well. 

This was a mom win like no other. The kids had a blast (My 7th grader rolled his eyes, but had fun making his structure.) and tried to recreate the same activity the next day after school.

 

After Dinner Oobleck

The slime was such a success that I decided to indulge my oldest’s desire to recreate an experiment I had seen in a brilliant science classroom this year. If you have not heard of Oobleck, then you may be missing out on the coolest thing. We still had time for fun after dinner on our snow day, so we dove right in.

Recipe:

• Cornstarch
• Water

YEP. That is it. There are tutorials like this one, but the directions are in the ingredients. If you want to make it even more fun and be the best super mom around, you’ll let them have food coloring. We didn’t have food coloring, but we did have fun. Oobleck is interesting because if you punch it or apply pressure to it, it is hard and play-do-like. However, if you let it fall off of your hands it takes on a liquid form. It is so unbelievably messy, but so is life, so why not, right? The best part of this experiment is that it is easier to clean off of little hands as opposed to slime. Also since it’s just cornstarch and water, it is non toxic and super cheap.

So there you have it. Grab your slime, your Legos, and your cornstarch and have a blast with your kids. You will not get any work done. You will not have the cleanest house, but you will experience the sweetest smiles and giggles and hugs. (Even from your middle-schooler.)

Have you had a snow day win recently? Please, do share with other parents looking for sanity during the cabin fever months.