Six Ways to Survive Snow Days with Kids

Well friends, it looks like the Polar Vortex is back again this year. My school age kids have had a whopping four hours of school this week, which means they’re basically on their third week of winter break.

A little planned time off is fun. A day of unplanned time off is okay. But two snow days in a row can make for a bad case of cabin fever. Add to it a malfunctioning furnace that forced us into one room of our house, huddled around the space heater, and the kids weren’t the ones climbing the walls.

Here are a few ideas to help keep the peace and make the hours inside fly by during winter storms:

Hot cocoa breaks. Normally, my kids might get hot cocoa once or twice a week in the winter. During no school times, that gets pushed to once or twice a day. They think it’s a special treat and it takes a while to drink (which gives me time to drink my coffee in peace).

Fort building. There’s nothing like getting the furniture moved around and draped in blankets. On snow days, we up the ante and may even eat lunch or play a board game in the fort.

Play-Doh/arts and crafts. We have a lot of craft supplies and very little time to craft during the school year. No Play-Doh? No problem. It’s easy enough to make with common ingredients.

Baking. My kids love to use the electric mixer. They aren’t very interested in the rest of the process, but snow days are the perfect days to bake. It makes the house smell good, and it makes it warmer!

Obstacle courses/mini trampolines. Kids need to move, even when it’s subzero out. My kids like to build what they call “Wipe Out” obstacle courses. Building them takes some time, and so does enjoying them. My kids have also been know to grab a timer and see how long they can jump on the mini trampoline. It’s the little things, I guess.

Extra screen time. Lest you think that I’m some kind of super mom, snow days also mean extra screen time. I work from home on snow days, so obviously Netflix and Nintendo are in my arsenal.

That’s what I’ve got so far. I’m sure we’ll come up with more as this winter drags on!