Playing With Snow….Inside!

My preschooler came home after school and was so excited. His teacher had filled a bucket full of snow, and brought it inside for them to play with because it was so cold outside. He insisted that we try it at home. It was more fun than I expected, and we played with the snow for over an hour! So we are sharing the activities that we did inside the house with our snow.

Use a big spoon to fill a bucket or large bowl with snow from outside.
  1. Build a Snowman

    This is obviously the first thing you should do when you bring your snow inside. We put some snow on a cookie sheet, but you could use a pan or plate. Then I let my four-year old shape it into a snowman. I helped him a little bit, but then he told me exactly what he wanted to use to create the face and buttons. We also had to put the snowman in the freezer so Dad could see him!

    We used gloves to build the snowman because the snow was so cold on our fingers.
    Here’s our little snowman. We built him on a cookie sheet, but you could use any dish or pan.

    Here’s our snowman living in the freezer.
  2. Colorful Snow

    We wanted to try food coloring on the snow, so I handed him the food coloring and a spoon. I helped him drip a few drops in the snow and we stirred it up. The food coloring colored the snow really well, and when we added some more snow later, it colored that snow, too. I also saw on The Very Hungry Preschool that they had painted the snow with watercolors. We are going to give that a try next time.

    Drop some food coloring onto the snow.
    Stir it up really well!
    We added more snow because we had a lot of food coloring.

    He was trying to make blueish greenish. I think he did it!
  3. Play with the Snow

    You can play with the snow however you like. My son wanted to set up a construction site, but you could drive trains or set up princesses in the snow. You could also use sand toys to make molds of different shapes or animals, or dig holes. The possibilities are endless. Believe me, your kids will love it!

    We set up a little construction site. It was fun to move the snow with these little tractors.
    Oh no, there was a crash!

    Don’t forget to eat the snow while you’re playing! See our next tip!
  4. Eat the Snow

    My son told me that snow is his favorite food, so I let him eat some as he was playing with it. Make sure when you scoop your snow you make it as fresh and clean as possible! Something we have done in years past is use snow to make ice cream. It’s really simple, and my boys think it is so fun to eat the snow as ice cream. My friend at Dresses and Messes taught me about this trick. You can click here for the recipe.

    The first thing he wanted to do was eat a bunch of snow, even before we played with it!
  5. Indoor Snowball Fight

    This is the one activity that we didn’t use real snow for. Instead we used cotton balls. Give your kids a handful of cotton balls, and let them go to town. My boys loved this! No one got hurt, and everyone had lots of fun!

They were moving so fast, I could barely get pictures.
Snow balls were flying everywhere, but no one was crying. I love indoor snowball fights!
Even our 10 year old thought this was fun!
A few cotton balls might end up coming unraveled. Luckily they are so cheap!

Here are a few tips:

  • Use fresh, clean snow. Your kids will most likely eat some snow, so make sure to fill your bucket with clean white snow.
  • Have gloves handy. When we were building the snowman, my son wanted his gloves on, but then for the other activities that weren’t as hands-on he took them off. I just put his gloves on the table and then they can use them if they want.
  • Keep cotton balls in the house. You can use them for lots of fun crafts, but if you buy a big bag, you can have a lot of indoor snowball fights. A big bag is usually only a few dollars at most stores.
  • You might think this is a preschool only activity, but my 10 year-old had just as much fun as my four year-old. I took pictures with my preschooler, but when my older kids heard what we did, we had to do everything all over again. So include everyone and have fun!
  • Here’s a huge list of ways to play with the snow indoors from Growing a Jeweled Rose.
  • Have fun playing with the snow indoors, and be excited when it warms up so you can send the kids outside again!
Playing with snow outside is fun, too!

Leave a Reply

This Post Has One Comment

  1. ad65shorty

    Thanx for the link!! Fun ideas!! 🙂