The UK has been hit by snow and cold these past few weeks. If your kids have had enough of building snowmen and sledging, here are a few winter snow activities to keep them amused.
FOR A VERY COLD DAY
Frozen Bubbles
This can only be done on a very cold (ie below freezing) day that isn't windy. Ideally a bitterly cold, sunny day.
You should make your own bubble solution. Mix one part soap powder, one part sugar and six parts hot water. Mix it until the soap and the sugar are dissolved, then cool it down in the refrigerator.
If you don't already have any bubble wands around the house, you can make them with an old wire coat hanger, string, pipe cleaners, a cut-out plastic lid.... experiment!
Take the bubble solution and the wand(s) outside. Blow a bubble, then catch it on the wand. Let it sit in the cold to freeze. Depending on how cold it it outside, this could take from mere seconds to minutes. Make sure you don't breathe hot air onto it!
You should be able to see little ice crystals growing on the surface of the bubble. When you think it is frozen, try popping it to see what happens. Experiment with different sized bubbles.
FOR A SNOWY DAY
Snow Rainbow
If you think your garden looks a bit colourless, this one may be for you.
You will need
- water
- food colouring
- spray bottles
- bucket
- paint brush
Make up different coloured water solutions depending on what food colouring you have in the house (if you don't have any, get a bunch next time you're shopping, they always come in handy for things like this!). You can experiment with the amount of food colouring you need – I tend to use about one tablespoon per mug of water.
If you have several spray bottles you can fill them with the colour and simply spray big coloured arches in the snow to make the rainbows.
If you don't have spray bottles, but have paint brushes, you may need to pack down the snow first. Just stamp out a big 'canvas' shape and stamp down the snow in the middle.
You can then splash out the colours for a colourful Jackson Pollock-style painting or you can simply paint directly onto the hard packed snow.
FOR AN INDOOR DAY
Snow Globe
You will need:
- A small, clean jar with the labels removed.
- Plasticine or play dough
- Any small metal or plastic toy that fits inside the jar
- Glitter, plastic confetti or finely crushed egg shells
- Teaspoon
- Water which has been boiled and cooled
Put a small bit of the plasticine on the inside of the lid. Stick the bottom of the little toy to the plasticine.
Put a teaspoonful of glitter, confetti or crushed egg shells in the jar (to crush the egg shells. Peel a hard boiled egg, putting the shells into a plastic bag. Place the bag on the cutting board then crush into small pieces with a rolling pin. Make sure you don't powder them!)
Slowly pour water into the jar until the water is about half an inch from the top. Screw the lid on. Turn the jar over and watch it snow!