Here are three things you can make with your kids on snowy days:
Reindeer Food
Reindeer food is an excellent craft for a snow day for children ages four through eight. You will need oatmeal, glitter, and a container to put it in. Use one cup of uncooked oatmeal. It doesn’t matter if you use instant or regular, but is best and more affordable to not use the flavored instant oatmeal packets. Those can be used if you don’t have the other on hand, but I would recommend that you only make one or two packets instead of one cup. Mix it with one tablespoon of glitter. I prefer to have the children measure one cup of the oatmeal and dump it into a quart size Ziploc style baggy and then have them shake in approximately one tablespoon of the glitter. They can shake in a little until you stay stop if you prefer. Help them seal the bag or double check it. They will then gently shake it to mix. Explain to them that the oatmeal is for the reindeer, but the glitter will help shine the way to your house.
Convection Mobiles
Warm air powered mobiles is a fun and inexpensive craft for a snow day for children ages two through ten. You will need scissors, thread, and a paper plate or plastic lid. You will cut the circle around and around as a maze would be, but do not cut it off. If your child is old enough to use the scissors, you can trace the pattern they will cut on your line. Hold the mobile by its center and the mobile will spiral down. Then poke a hole through the center and run your thread through it. Make the thread into a loop and tie it in a knot. Hang the mobile from the ceiling. If it is located over a warm vent it will spin quickly. Using various plastic lids will give more dimensions to the project. The colors and sizes add to the appearance went it begins to spin. Heat convection is what causes the spin. The warmer the air, the faster the spin and the colder air will create a slower movement. Eventually it will stop and begin to spin in the reverse direction. If using paper plates let the children color them. They may even choose to create patterns or experiment with different types of color application. If using paints or something similar, be sure to let the mobile dry completely before cutting it.
Snow Ice Cream
Snow ice cream is a tasty snow day craft. Supplies needed are a large bowl, a long spoon, snow of course, sugar or sweetened condensed milk, salt, flavoring, and food coloring is optional. Use only fresh, clean, white snow. Fill bowl with snow and shake just a little salt on it. The salt is not necessary, but I find it helps. If you use sugar stir in slowly and use no more than one cup. It will have a grainy feel. This can be lessened by adding a little milk, cream, or evaporated milk. The easiest way is just use the sweetened condensed milk and stir in slowly until you have a creamy consistency. You may add flavoring or food coloring at this time. Kids who are big enough to eat ice cream are probably big enough to help with this one.