Close your eyes…er…pretend to so you can still read, and picture a time you played with snow. What did you think of? Snow angles, snowmen, snowball fights, snow forts? Maybe even snow ice cream? Was it all outdoor play? Did you picture snow play being inside?
When the weather is too cold for comfort to be outside, for most child care centers that is between 13-32 degrees with windchill, it is the perfect opportunity to bring the outdoors inside! So much can be done with snow inside where we don’t freeze our butts off and still fun!
Here are some inside snow play ideas:
Scooping Snow Play
Scooping and pouring is great for fine motor development and hand-eye coordination. The best way to improve hand-eye coordination is to practice! The more children practice, the more skilled they become and the more they are able to do! Set up is very simple! You just need snow, bowls, and spoons.
If you saw in the pictures above, I also add loose parts such as sea shells, colorful gems/stones, and other mixing utensils. Loose parts add a bit more imagination and creativity to the play and there are no restrictions to what they can be! The gems can food, animals, buildings, treasures, eggs, etc.
Loose parts give children the freedom to be whatever they want which is why children often enjoy the box a toy comes in over the toy itself.
Food and Snow Play
This can be done with our without play food. We have done it both ways! One time we had food, cups, bowls, and spoons. The other time I provided plates, bowls, spoons, and knives. What I love about not providing food is the creativity and open-ended play it presents.
This is another bit where loose parts add so much to the play. A lot of the loose parts here is the snow itself. We made the snow into ice cream, soup, cake, cherries, bananas, and blueberries to name a few.
Snow Ice Cream
It is super simple! All you need is snow (duh!), vanilla, milk, and sugar (or sweetened condensed milk). You can read about how we made it here. We loved making it the first time and I am sure we will make it in the future!
Children love snow. Children also love to paint. Maybe not ALL children, but most do! So why not combine the two?! That’s how we decided to paint the snow. The downside to painting snow is when you decide to paint on a paper, the snow melts because that is what snow does, and you are essentially painting with water. I put the paper down mainly to be a place mat, but I didn’t stop the artists when they decided to paint on the paper.
Even though winter is almost over (hopefully) you can still use these ideas for play next year! It gets your kiddos away from technology distractions because children think it is so cool to have snow INSIDE. Think about all the times you tell them they can’t bring snow into the house. Do they respond with “Why?”
Why is that? Why do we tell children not to bring snow inside? I mean, it ends up melting and is just water and we have water inside daily to drink, wash hands with, and bathe with.
Can I tell you a secret? We tell children not to do something, most of the time, it is becasue it is more convenient for the adult. I’ll leave that there for you to ponder over.
Thank you for reading! Hopefully I have inspired you to bring snow inside every once in a while!
If you enjoyed this, check out these other bloggers!
The Repurposed Nanny – She has bits of everything from DIY, Lifestyle, Kids, Recipes, and Decor.
Inquiring Minds – This is a kindergarten blog that also focuses on Reggio teachings. I enjoy browsing through her blog.
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