7 Fun Ways To Play With Snow Indoors

Some days it is simply too cold to go outside to enjoy the snow. You know, those days when you have extreme cold warnings or your kids have indoor recesses. So bring the snow inside! Try one of these fun activities for kids to play with snow indoors.

1. Snow Melting Experiment

For this activity you will need a large mason jar or clear container, dry erase marker and fresh snow. Fill the jar with snow and mark its height on the side of the jar using a dry erase marker. Leave the jar to melt. When the snow's all melted, measure the height of the melted snow on the side of the jar to compare the two heights.

To extend this activity further, have your child keep a journal throughout the experiment. Encourage them to look at the jar every 10-15 minutes and mark down the time and their observations until all the snow has melted.

2. Snow Painting

Fill a large container or sensory bin with fresh snow. Then supply watercolors and paint brushes and let the kids paint the snow! It's a fun and colorful way to work on fine motor skills and explore art.

As an alternative, fill spray bottles with liquid watercolors and water, and have the kids paint the snow that way!

Another way to extend this art activity is to supply cookie cutters. Let the kids use the cookie cutters to spray paint the snow or trace the snow with paint brushes.

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3. Snowman Sensory Bag

If you have younger children, then they might enjoy making a snowman sensory bag. For this sensory bag, you will need:

• a small zipper-seal bag
• permanent markers
• snow

Draw a snowman face on the outside of the zipper-seal bag then fill it with snow. Let the kids squish, smash and examine the snowman's face. When they're done, let the snowman melt for a bit of extra science exploration and observation!

4. Snowy Sensory Bin

You can always use snow as a sensory bin filler. Simply add a few more materials to the bin to make it more inviting. You can try adding:

• scoops
• measuring cups
• arctic animal figurines
• foam snowflakes
• Mr. Potato Head pieces
• essential oils or food extracts to scent the snow
• liquid watercolors to dye the snow
• cookie cutters

5. Mini Snowmen

Bring in a small tray of snow and let the kids build tiny snowmen. You can add twigs for arms too! That is, if you can find any twigs under the mountains of snow in your yard.

To extend this activity further, stand a ruler up next to the snowman (just stick the base of the ruler in some snow) and watch the height of the snowman go down as it melts.

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6. Snow Writing Tray

The kids can practice mark making, sight words, or writing their name (depending on your child's age) with this simple fine motor idea. Simply fill a shallow tray with some snow and supply the kids with a chopstick to draw with — so easy!

You can also add cookie cutters for your kids to trace around using the chopstick.

7. Simple Snow Science Experiment

Invite your kids to see what makes snow melt the fastest! Set out equal amounts of snow into bowls, then set out materials such as:

• a cup of warm water
• a cup of salt
• a cup of cold water
• or anything else your kids might want to try!

Let your kids time how long it takes for snow to melt on its own, and compare to melting it with warm water, or salt, or a combination of the two! Be sure to keep a written journal of your child's observations while they try this experiment.