For some of you, snow is a regular part of winter while many others never see snow. We live in Eastern North Carolina so we do not get a lot of snow. Most years we have a dusting or a bit more at least once. In our house it is tradition to do ‘snow school’ on those days. We cancel regular school and everything focuses on snow. If you live where it doesn’t snow don’t despair, I have some fun ‘snow day’ ideas for you too!
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While I certainly do not worry about covering every subject on our snow school days, I have found that I can incorporate most subjects very easily. One thing we always so is nature study. The snow and the world around us is so beautiful and quiet. We bundle everyone up and go for a nice walk through the woods behind our home. The children look for prints in the snow, neat patterns of snow, animals and anything else they can find. This also gets us out of the house and moving (physical education). Then the children play by pulling each other on sleds (we live in the flat lands), making snowmen, or having snowball fights.
When everyone is ready to come in and warm up we have some great food traditions. My husband makes his famous homemade hot cocoa and we always have a pot of warm potato soup. We also love to make snow cream (which for those unfamiliar is like ice cream made from snow) and have occasionally made maple candy. The maple candy is a fun connection if you are reading or interested in the Little House on the Prairie.
Another fun outside activity is to ‘paint’ the snow. Take a bit of food dye (we use the plant based ones) and mix into water in spray bottles to achieve your desired colors. Then you just go outside and spray the snow to make cool designs. This works best when the air temperatures are cold enough to allow the colored water to freeze quickly.
For a bit of math you can talk about the symmetry and other geometric concepts of snowflakes. We also cut out paper snowflakes for symmetry. I’ve shared some great resources on these concepts in the resource list below.
While we typically don’t do much writing on snow school days aside from our nature journals there are some great snow writing prompts available if that is a subject you need to get covered but want to keep thematic. These are also great if you are doing a fake ‘snow day’ in climates that do not typically get real snow.
If you are trying to keep the children entertained indoors there are some super fun snow themed art projects. One fun one is this salt dough snowman art. I also found this free snowman chalk pastel video art tutorial from You Are an Artist Chalk Pastels.
Once we are all tired out from a day of playing and hiking in the snow, we love to cuddle up some hot cocoa and good books. I’ve included a list of a few of our favorite snow themed ones below. If you do not get snow, there is a recipe for making fake snow for the children to play with and you can do a snow themed day filled with books, food, and snow art.
Resources:
Winter Writing Prompts (teens)
Winter Writing Prompts (elementary)
Snow Week Resources (including one of our favorite fun snacks, tortilla snowflakes)
Snowflake Activities (including several fun edible ones)
Snow and Ice Charlotte Mason Preschool Lessons (Note these are not free but are included with a Schoolhouse Teachers membership.)
Snow Themed Books and Movies
Snowy Day (movie)(free for prime members and you can get a free 30 day trial here.)
Snowman Paul (Free for Kindle at the time of posting)
Snow Treasure (great chapter book)
Three Snow Bears (We love Jan Brett’s books)
Boxcar Children Mystery in the Snow (only .99 for Kindle at the time of posting)
Boxcar Children Mystery at Snowflake Inn (only .99 for Kindle at the time of posting)
The Long Winter (This would make a great read aloud or audio book. if you have not tried audible you can get it free with a 30 day free trial here)
Snow Storm Video (This free Amazon prime video shows a snow storm. This would be great for setting the mood if you don’t have any real snow outside. It is not an action movie but a great backdrop.)
Snowflake Bentley (Amazon Movie–We have not yet watched this one but have heard great reviews about the book and plan on watching this one when it we need a break from the cold outside. )
Snowflake Bentley (Book)
Also check our free resource library with history freebies, recipes, and more! There is a great winter bucket list that would be fun for a snowy day.
When you sign up for our free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.
This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.
Deals and Freebies!
Little Women is only .99 on kindle right now! (Amazon prices subject to change always check before purchasing.)
FREE Baby Yoda Art Lesson from Nana!
If you are looking to add some new electives or switch up some of your classes, SchoolhouseTeachers.comis having a great sale and you can get a whole year for $99, that is over 400 courses to use with all of your children for one low price.
All About Learning has released the best deal of the day: A FREE Snowman Pack with reading and spelling activities for a variety of ages.
Apologia has a new FREE Christmas/Advent E-book!
Free Makeover Your Morning 5 Day Challenge! This is a great way to help re-focus and get your day off on the right foot.
Harry The Happy Mouse (Free on Kindle)
Illustrated Would You Rather Book (Free on Kindle)
Free Help Your Child’s Memory Book from All About Learning Press!
Smartick (check out our full review here) is offering a 25% off discount if you use this referral link! Elizabeth is still loving this program.
FREE Terrific Tales from WriteShop from Write Shop!
FREE: Check out this great new FREE resource for classical and Charlotte Mason education! Classical Christian Education & Charlotte Mason. Great for folks already homeschooling or if you have friends that are looking into it!
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