1. Snow Ice Cream. Recipes for snow ice cream abounded on Facebook in the days after the big storm. While the flakes were still flying, I had my husband set a large bowl on the patio to collect fresh, clean snow. Later in the day, I brought the snow in and added sugar, vanilla, and milk like the recipe instructed. When I mixed everything up, the snow pretty much instantly melted, leaving a soupy, gritty concoction. My husband and I took one bite and had enough, but our daughters gobbled it all up, so I guess that experiment was not a total loss. I was later told the key to good snow ice cream is to add only a *little* milk in small amounts until the texture is right. Maybe we’ll have better luck during the next snow storm.

2.  Frozen Ice Spheres. If you browse Pinterest at all, you’ve probably seen photos of this project. You take a balloon, fill it with water and a drop or two of food coloring, tie it up, and set it outside to freeze. Once frozen, you peel off the balloon and have pretty, colored ice spheres to look at. I got my balloons prepped during the height of the snow storm and set them in the back yard where the falling snow promptly buried them. We forgot about them until days later when the temperature soared to the 50s and the snow melted. Oh, well, I thought. I figured we’d just leave them outside until they froze again, but the balloons were so brittle after their first freeze that when my inquisitive 2-year-old touched one, it cracked open. Again, I guess we’ll have better luck next time.

Snow fun indoors.

3.  Giant Bowl of Snow. One of our final snowy day activities is tried and true. I copied the idea a few years ago from a friend who copied it from another friend who posted a photo on Facebook. I scooped up snow in a large plastic bowl, set it in the kitchen sink, piled a few small plastic toys and Little People on the counter nearby, and pulled up chairs for both of my daughters. This kept them occupied for a surprisingly long time. The beauty of this idea is that they get to play in the snow without getting cold. More importantly, they get to play in the snow and I don’t have to stand outside in the cold to supervise them. Now, whenever we get a significant snowfall, my oldest daughter usually asks me to bring in a bowl of snow to play in.

How about your family? What do you do on snowy days? Tell us about the projects you’ve nailed … and the projects you didn’t nail but had fun trying anyway.

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