5 Fun Winter Activities That Don’t Involve Building A Snowman

We’re officially three days post blizzard, and the snow piled around the borough has become a bit of a snooze.

Most of the stuff on the sidewalk is either black or yellow (gross), Sunday was our prime sledding day, and once you’ve built the obligatory snowman, there’s not much else Frosty can do besides look cute.

All is not lost, though! We’ve come up with five winter activities that will give your family’s snowy day a little boost.

Do you have food coloring in the kitchen? Add a few drops to water and you have snow paint. If you put the mixture in spray bottles, the kids can give your outdoor areas a nice touch of color.

Looking for an indoor activity? Grab a pan, a cooling rack, some paper, and a few piles of snow. Place the pan under your cooling rack, and put a sheet of paper over the top. Cover the paper with snow, and then paint the snow with colored water. As the snow melts, the color will bleed onto the paper, leaving a fun tie-dye effect.

Don’t wait for Easter to send your kids on a scavenger hunt! Pick some toys that won’t get ruined out in the snow, and stash them around your yard (or the park). Have the kids count – just like they would in a regular game of hide and seek – and then send them off on a rescue mission to find the lost toys. Whoever finds the most toys gets to hide everything in the next round.

Need to work on your snowball aim? Make a target in the snow with colored water (an old dishwashing soap bottle makes an excellent squirter). Each player gets five snowballs per round. Different colored rings earn different points, and the player with the highest score at the end of three rounds wins!

Frosty might just sit there and look cute, but snow monsters are super interactive (and let’s be real – super cool). Dig a tunnel for the monster’s mouth and let the kids escape (or be eaten), rescue toys, add baking soda and vinegar to give the monster a bit of foaming spew – let your imaginations go wild!

If you really want to burn off some kid energy, create an obstacle course. Have the kids slide down a slide, toss snowballs into a bucket (or hit the center of your newly created target), pull each other around on a sled, make a snow angel – the possibilities are endless. Come up with some silly ideas together, and have fun!

What are your family’s favorite winter activities? Share your suggestions in the comments below.