Snow day activities for kids

It’s a rare thing to have schools closed here in Ottawa for big snowstorms, but even if they're not closed you may choose to keep your kids home if the roads are really bad. We’ve gathered a list of fun snow day activities for kids to keep everyone from going crazy!

St. Patrick’s Day Crafting

This incredible roundup of St. Patrick’s Day crafts and activities for kids from CBC is sure to keep you busy the entire day. It may also cause a lot of mess, but what’s a great snow day without a little mess?

Write some letters

Remember the days of pen pals? Your kids will get a kick out of writing letters to friends or family members. Decorate them with stickers, stamps or even dried up flowers and leaves (we have many of these falling off our indoor plants) If you’re really brave, you can walk to the mailbox to mail them!

Create an obstacle or activity course

If your kids have energy to burn, then you’ll need to do something active with them. There’s nothing more fun than an obstacle course, which can get the kids jumping, moving through “tunnels” or completing other challenges. An alternative to obstacles are fun activity centres (e.g. 10 jumping jacks, 10 pushups, running on the spot etc.)

Make a good ol’ collage

Remember how much fun collages were? Bring those babies back!! Grab any old magazines or flyers you have lying around the house, and give your kids a theme to work from - maybe it’s “winter” or (more hopeful) “spring.” They’ll love cutting and pasting images onto a blank canvas.

Check out some new apps

Chances are you will have SOME screen time throughout the day, so why not check out our list of fun and educational apps for kids? These ones are parent approved!

Do some “parent is resting” games

Snow days can be long, and you may want to rest even though your kids are looong past naps! If that’s the case, make up games where you get to lie down and close your eyes, or just sit quietly. These include: hairdresser, doctor, massage therapist, or “spa.” I may have been known to actually pay my kids to give me a massage ;)

Read a classic book together

Life is busy, and snow days usually offer us some time to finally slow our pace a bit. I love getting out classic novels that I read as a kid and reading them out loud to my kids. We’ve done Anne of Green Gables, the Secret Garden, (the less classic, but still amazing) Harry Potter and many more!

Write a kids book together

If your kids don’t have the patience to sit and listen to you read out loud, why not create a new kids book together? Make up a fun and simple story, and have your kids draw the characters and action scenes. Staple it all together and voila!