Schools Closed! Snow Day Activities for Kids and Moms.

Schools closed in many of the midwest schools today due to the extreme cold.

Many working moms were scrambling last night to make day care plans for the day, I am very fortunate that I am home today. However, now the question is what do I do? We have plenty of Christmas toys but we might need to break up the day with a new activity or two.

With the weather so unpredictable here are a few ideas to keep in your arsenal for upcoming school closure days due to snow or cold.  I have tried to select easy things that won't require a trip to the store and that use everyday objects that you should have on hand.

Snow Day Activities for Kids (and Moms).

1. Indoor snowball toss game. Only requires cups, cotton balls, and a marker.

2. Snowman name Art Project. On a cold day an indoor snowman sounds much better than an outdoor snowman. This gives the added benefit of letter/writing practice for little ones as well.

3. If your child has several friends who live in the neighborhood from school who are also home (or if you hare that awesome mom helping out others by watching a few kids that day). Have some friends over and have a make your own hot coco party.

4. With a little shaving cream, glitter, and some glue you can make sparkly snow paint and paint your own snowman!

5. Want to stay away from the snow themed activities? How about a COLOR HUNT. Starting in the the living room and time your child (amount of time can vary depending on age and your child's skill level.) Give your child 5 minutes to find as many Red things as they can. Next start the timer again and do Orange. Repeat with Yellow, Green Blue, and Purple. Then at the end count up the number of things in each category. If you have multiple kids assign a different color to each child.

6. If you want to have some fun with food you can always create some snowman pancakes or snowman donuts for breakfast, you can get really creative and make a snowman pizza for lunch! Yum Yum!

Whatever you end up doing just have fun with your kiddos. Enjoy the day. They grow up fast and you'll look back and smile at the fun things you did on days like this.

Summer chalk game

I ended a quick game to amuse my daughter and nephews for a bit while we were outside. Plain old hopscotch wasn't doing the trick so I came up with this game, I call it:

Hop across the pond...

Driveways work better for this because you need width as well as length.

 

First draw some random lily pads on the driveway. (A lily pad is just a simple PAC man shape.)

Next draw a frog at one end and a house at the other. I added a cute aid that said "Mr. Frogs home"

Outline the whole thing with a wavy blue line. This makes the outline of the "pond"

The goal of the game is to start on the frog and hop to Mr frogs home. 

For added fun add a few flowers on a few lily pas for "extra points" and I drew an alligator in there too, just for added danger/fun. 

The game was a hit. They spent 15 minutes straight hopping all the various paths to Mr. Frogs house. 

Flying Pony Activity

The latest Disney Family Fun magazine had a Rocket craft activity that was really cute.  Unfortunately my 4 year old girl isn't really into rockets, however, My Little Pony is WAY COOL to her right now….. 

So I adapted the craft just a tad to make it a flying pony craft. 

Here is the link to the original craft: http://www.parents.com/fun/arts-crafts/kid/activities-for-getting-kids-outside/

Supplies: 

-My Little Pony printable clip art (approximately 4"x6"size each)

-scissors

-glue

-toilet paper tube

- Two 6 foot pieces of curling ribbon cut 

Step 1

 Print and cut out Ponies

Step 2

Glue onto opposite sides of the tube

Step 3

 Thread the curling ribbon through the tube.

Step 4

 Play! 

 One person quickly pulls their arms apart so the tube zips along the ribbon to the other side. If playing with a friend, the other person now repeats the action while the first person brings their hands together to return the tube to the other side. Continue to repeat.

 

New Endless Numbers App

I posted before about the Endless Reader App. Well, the creators of that app have come out with a great number app called "Endless Numbers".

Great animation and fun interaction, all while teaching numbers and basic mathematic principles.

You can download the app for free and it comes with activities associated with numbers 1-5. The rest of the numbers are 'locked'. For $3.99 you can download numbers 6-25. Let me tell you it is worth the price! I struggled with math all during school so if I can do something that helps to start those mathematics bridges building in my daughters brain I will do it.
The animation in this are so delightful:

The 'games' are fun and delightful without being repetitive:

The only negative I have is that sound effects can be a bit much after having my daughter play it near me for more than 10 minutes...(but that is what volume control and mute are for right?)

I give this app a 5 Star review!
 

New Reading App

I'm a big fan of the Endless Alphabet App. See the write up I did about it here.

Now they have a new app!!

Endless reader is just as cute and creative as their first app. A must have for young kids. It is fun and educational.

Great animations....

Teaches through fun interactive processes…..

This app has a starter set of words and the rest of the words are available through an in app purchase ($1.99). In my opinion it is with every penny!

Snail hopscotch

No, it's not a slower version of hopscotch it's a circular hopscotch! 

To make this I find it easiest to start with the center circle then walk backwards in a large spiral. The beauty of this is that you can make it any side you want. If you have a large driveway the sky is the limit!

The educator/parent in me also loves that this is physical exercise, works on sense of balance, and number learning. 

Do you have any other twists onthe classic hopscotch game?