Family Activities and Entertainment
December 3, 2007
Thrifty Winter
It’s winter once again. The children easily catch cabin fever when they were outside. While it is not always affordable to go out and enjoy outdoor activities on these snowy days, there are some of the inexpensive activities you can enjoy:
Outdoor Activities
Home made Snowman Kit. Winter will never be complete without a snowman. You can assemble a snowman kit using the things at home, a hat, scarf, mittens, plastic carrot nose, charcoal briquettes, buttons, and two dowels or branches for arms.
Obstacle Courses or Winter Olympics. Mount up lumps of snow and jump over it.
Snow Paint. Put food colorings in a spray bottle, add water, then mix. Spray it to the snow to make it colorful and attractive.
Homemade Bird Feeder and Bird Identification. Get some large pine cones, peanut butter and birdseeds. Put peanut butter into pine cones then roll in birdseed. Prepare a listing of birds in your yard. If you don’t have one, you may borrow a field guide from your local library.
Snow Ice Cream. Mix together a quart of milk, an egg, 1 cup sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract in a pan. Cook on stove top until mixtures thicken and cool to room temperature. Pour this mixture over fresh snow. Or mix 3 cups loose clean snow, 2 tablespoons milk, 1/4 cup sugar, and 1 tsp. vanilla extract.
Snow Golf – For the holes, you may bury a tin can into the snow to serve as a hole. You may also simply carve holes in the snow.
Winter Photography - Take pictures of nature, such as icicles, birds, trees, etc. These things look different during winter.
Identify Tracks in the Snow - Check out a book from your local library on animal tracks then use it as reference.
Indoor Activities
Make a Snow Gauge A plastic liter bottle can be marked inch lines. Place it outside to catch in snow.
Smores – You will need 1/3 cup light corn syrup, 1 tablespoon butter, 1 (12 oz.) package chocolate chips, 4 cups honey graham cereal, and 1 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows. Bring corn syrup and butter to boil. Lower heat and add chocolate. Stir until chocolate melts. Add cereal and marshmallows, continue to stir. Put in square pan, covered with foil. Let set and cut into bars.
Paper Snowflakes - See ww3.ns.sympatico.ca/dstredulinsky/links.html>
Paper Airplanes - See bestpaperairplanes.com/
Shadow Drawing – Tape several grocery bags together to make a size as big as your child. Let your child lie down to the grocery bags and trace his outline. You can have your child color the “shadows” or decorate it depending on whatever he wanted it to look like.
Bubbles in the Bathtub - It’s fun to blow bubbles indoors. You’ll get some homemade recipes at bubbleblowers.com/homemade.html
Homemade Bowling – Coffee creamer containers may be used as pins. Use a rolling ball to hit the pins.
Indoor Snowball Fight - Wad up newspaper balls and have a snowball war inside.
