If you live anywhere that gets snow, you know how much kids love playing in it for a total of 10 minutes before they are freezing and ask to go inside just to ask to go back outside 20 minutes later. It is a never-ending cycle, but as a homeschool parent, you can use snow to your advantage. Here are six fun ways to bring snow activities (or fake snow) into your homeschool classroom.
Bring on the snow activities!
If you are lucky enough to have snow right out your front down, a plastic tube is an easy way to keep the mess controlled, and as it melts, you can dump the water right back outside. If you do not live in an area with snow, a quick Google search will bring up some great results on making fake snow. The trusty Elf on the Self has many ideas for making fake snow. If you are not feeling very crafty this time of the year, you can also buy artificial snow on Amazon.
Snow Activity #1: Melting Experiment
If you have younger kids, this melting experiment is easy and fun! Place snowballs in different containers and put them around the house. Near the heater, on the kitchen counter, in the bathroom are great places to put the snowballs. Have your students hypothesize how long they think it will take the snow to melt and where it will melt first. It is a great way to get your children started on the scientific process and form a hypothesis.
Snow Activity #2: Snow Art
Snow art is a fun activity for art time, especially with younger ones. Place snow in a cupcake pan on a plastic tablecloth and give your children some food coloring. Let them drip the food coloring onto the snowballs and create a beautiful rainbow effect. Using snow to mix colors and learn about the rainbow is a perfect winter activity.
Snow Activity #3: Winter Themed Pack and Worksheets
Inbetween hands-on experiments and snow activities, it is always great to keep the theme going. Using winter-themed worksheets and activities is a great way to do this! The Relaxed Homeschool has a 32-page winter literature and math pack full of excellent resources to help you bring winter into your homeschool day quickly! The topics covered in this pack range from beginning sounds to addition and subtraction.
The Relaxed Homeschool also has a January Preschool Pack if you have a preschooler, and it is an excellent resource to help bring winter into your home. It includes three sensory bin materials, size sorting, CVC words, and more!
Snow Activity #4: Snow Sensory Bins
Snow Sensory bins are a great way to bring learning and hands-on learning together. Put some lower case letter and upper case letter cards in the bin to create a fabulous matching activity for kids. You can also find some polar animals and put them into the sensory bin. If you have children of different ages, this is a great way to incorporate various learning activities using the same topic. Having your younger children looking for polar bears and penguins in the snow while your older students write short research reports about arctic animals is a great way to get your children learning about the same topic without causing stress for you!
Snow Activity #5: Snowflake Observations
Snowflake Bentley is a Caldecott winning book about Wilson Bentley, a man who photographed snowflakes and realized each snowflake was unique and different. You can use this book to lead into a great science activity using real snowflakes and a magnifying glass. Your children can observe the difference between snowflakes and how each one is unique.
Your children can draw, write, and even research what they observe. You can also use the book for some beautiful reading skills practice like character traits and summarizing.
A fun add-on activity is having your children create their snowflakes out of paper and see just how special each one is!
Snow Activity #6: Writing Practice
Grab the gloves for this activity because children’s little hands may get cold. Spread snow on a cookie sheet and have them practice writing uppercase letters, lowercase letters, or words in the snow. A great activity that uses the snow to your advantage because everything is more fun in the snow, even handwriting practice!
It’s Snow Much Fun!
These activities make snow a little more educational while still making learning fun! These six snow activities are easily implemented and can work with many different grade levels. You can easily differentiate the activities depending on your children’s ages and grades! This makes it even easier to plan your homeschool day! Your children will 100% love bringing the snow inside or helping in the process of making artificial snow. Plus, you will be able to stay warm with a cup of coffee in hand!
