Snow Week Wrap-Up

I love Wintertime activities!

{Especially if it means getting me out of the house!}

It seems like during the winter I have to try extra hard to not get cabin fever! Being busy makes me happy!

So during the winter we visit lots of museums,

go to different libraries, visit pet's mart, or try anything new!

Which includes fun activities at home as well!

We have had a ton of fun playing in the snow,

But it's time to move on and learn something new.

So here is a list of the other activities I would do,

if I had more time...

First off, check out this idea from Even Cleveland
Who was guest posting on Katelliot.com
She made macaroni snowflakes!

So cute! And such a fun idea to do with kids.

Next year, when M. is a little more coordinated,

we'll do this and read Snowflake Bentley.

I would also love to pair that activity to this one by StrongStart

She made these by photocopying pictures of snowflakes onto transparencies.  Then the kids examined them.

Genius!!

My last favorite idea is from delia creates.

She made borax snowflakes.

How amazing is this?!

She shares a recipe here.

Wouldn't this be a wonderful way to enrich your child's knowledge?

Love it!

I also can't resist sharing another picture from Delia Creates,

She had a snow party outside,

She made a table and chairs out of snow.

How sweet is this!

Here are some more ideas on my Letter S pinboard.

Have great fun in the winter!

Indoor Igloo

We are not snowed out yet!

but I actually don't like getting cold,

so we improvised...

We brought the snow inside.

We put our hats and gloves, which got them super excited!

The only problem was, I gave them spoons for digging,

but they used them for eating.

{Why would they do that?}

We used our handy dandy sprayers,

with fresh water.

Check out this awesome idea,

perfect for older kids!

Isn't that cool!

 

Caught ya with snow in your mouth!

I hurried and pulled out some little dinosaurs to distract him from chowing down on snow.

 

When the snow got a little sparce,

I pulled out ice cubes to build an igloo.

 

We built it up, and left a door.

And put it in the freezer.

 

Then, two days later, I soaked the bowl in hot water,

and it came right out.

We added more snow,

Our on hand supply of penguins, snow princesses, and abdominal snow men.

 

Sweet! Don't you love when they play together!

(They do it better when their brains are engaged!)

 

Then when their fingers got cold,

We snuggled and read

 

Watch me Grow Penguin,

 

And Tacky the Penguin,

By Helen Lester

Which is one of my favorites!

 

Happy January!

IT SNOWED!

Yay! Finally we have snow!

We bundled up in our winter fashion, and headed outside!

My babies have been in LOVE with spray bottles lately,

So I hurried and put some food coloring in them,

and we went outside.

M. had a great time spraying and spraying the snow.

H. just held his bottle and ate snow.

 But the major bonus from spraying the snow, is they stayed outside a lot longer out it in because they didn't get so cold!

It was magical to find our sidewalk chalk rainbow from the day before.

Which she sprayed too.

 

Spray bottle fun!

Then when the spray bottle lost it's excitement,

She made snow angels,

With Daddy's help,

Made her own mini snow girl,

And was pulled around and around in the sled!

 Bless the Snow!

 And Daddy for being so dang amazing!



How to have a snowball fight without snow!

Around here there is NO SNOW!
It is a crazy 50 degrees outside.
Usually, this time of year is snowy and cold.

So we had to make our own snow!

We read the book, The Mitten,

to get us in a wintry mood,
Plus, I LOVE this book and I can't go past the 3rd of January without picking it up.

Then we did some sensory play with "snow"

AKA the insides of diapers and ice.
Sounds weird, but it makes a cool mushy texture that feels like snow.  Or you can buy the exact same stuff at a learning store for $1 for a tiny bag...
(All you do with diapers is to cut the back open, and peel the whole diaper open, then you pull out all of the fluffy parts, and shake out all of the dusty parts. Then mix it with water.)

I let them go to town with it!
I ran upstairs to grab my camera and they had starting playing pretend.

First they pretended that they were making snow cones,
and they had a big order, so they had to hurry...
(Hence the blurry photos.)
Then they had to make an ice pie.
It was so cute how they were working together.
We also had a snowball fight.
I took some of my old marshmallows and mixed them with powdered sugar.

I had them put on paint shirts,
and we went out to our snow-less yard.

Ready, aim, poof!

It was a great way to perfect their target skills,
without getting cold!

Can you see the powdered sugar cloud when M. threw her marshmallow?

This was SO fun!  They were giggling for days,
AND it didn't hurt!

If I were to do it again, I would buy the giant marshmallows,
And have one snowball station.
It would be a big bowl with powdered sugar and marshmallows.