My Top 5 Snowy Day Activities for Preschool

My Top 5 Indoor Snowy Day Activities for Preschool

It never fails.  The snow falls, the children come, but at least one left home and forgot their snow clothes.  We can't just leave that sweet little face inside and "out in the cold" when it comes to snow play!  We also can't always have every size of snow boots, enough gloves or coats stored to fit the one that grew out of theirs last year.  

Not every child in a family preschool or center preschool setting will have appropriate weather wear, but that doesn't mean that we can't play! 


Think INSIDE the box!  Bring the snow indoors with a variety of activities and containers that will please even the tiniest babe in care.  This is also great for children that are extremely cold sensitive, or family homes and centers that do not have "accessible to 
all" play yards.

#1 - Color Snow Science

This is a super quick and easy way to study colors individually and color mixing.  It is a fantastic science experiment too.  


Allow the children to place several dots of various food coloring into different areas of a bowl of snow.  As the snow melts the colors will blend together making new colors and allowing the process of color mixing, and snow melting to become a Creative Arts/Science/Math curriculum all rolled into P.L.A.Y.!  As the snow is melting ask the children, "What colors will it make?" "Do you think the color will stay the same or will change?" "What do you think will happen to the snow inside?"  The results of the melting snow and colors can be graphed as the snow melts.

#2 - Snow Ice Cream

I promise the easiest and tastiest way to make snow icecream is to collect about 12 cups of CLEAN snow and add one small can of sweetened condensed milk.  Stir!  Scoop into cones and add chocolate chips, sprinkles, or fruit to the top and watch the kiddos SLURP it down!  I have tried lots of different snow recipes and this one is the absolute favorite with the kiddos in my preschool year after year!!!

#3 - Do You Want To Build A Snowman?

Tired of all the Frozen references yet?


When the outside temps just don't allow for little ones to stay outside long enough to complete a Frosty, bring the snow IN!  


With a few bins, towels, pipe cleaners, and some imagination, they can roll, stack, smush, and build a town of FULL little snow people.  

We used our food colored snow to make our snowmen and added orange pipe cleaner noses, arms, and scaves.  My little cuties built and rebuilt them.  

They giggled as they squished and formed the snow.  When all the colors finally turned to brown they noticed that their snowmen, "looked like poop!"  HA!!!

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How many Rasta' snowmen do you know?

#4 - Mix It! Mix It Good!

Get out the tools, smashers, rollers, measuring cups, spoons, slotted spoons, race cars and let the children discover the different patterns, stamps, and volumes of the measuring devices as they filled, smash, dump and pour the ever melting snow.  


This is a natural math activity as they observe the weights and measurements of frozen snow and melted snow.  Discuss the rate of thaw, how it feels on their little fingers, cheeks, and lips.  Notice together different patterns that the wheels of the trucks or the footprints of plastic animals can make in the snow.  Inside snow play gives children an opportunity to experience snow in a whole new setting! 

#5 - Snow Painting

Once all the snow has melted there is still time for more Creative Arts exploration.  The colored snow becomes water colors and is fun for the preschoolers as we pull out the brushes and sponges to utilize the remainders of our inside snow day fun!  It is still cold and colorful and makes for interesting comparisons  as the children observe their own water colors and their friends.  


Sub-zero wind chills need not be a deterrent to snow play with some sensory containers, towels, and tools.  The possibilities are left to each child's imagination.  Next time I think we will add some glitter too!  


Now that really would be Frozen!


I wish you well and I hope you get to play today! -L