With the arrival of winter, there is one thing I look forward to…. SNOW DAYS!! Of course, now our district doesn’t have snow days, but instead we have “virtual learning” days when the weather hits. Alright, so this takes some of that magic away from a snow day, but I am still planning on bringing some snow into my classroom one way or another!
Do your students get as excited as I do when the snow season comes around? What an opportunity to bring the outdoors indoors instead! Even if you and your students don’t get an opportunity to experience snow outside doesn’t mean you cannot bring the snow indoors to experience it! Snow here we come!
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1. Making “Fake” Snow
Alright, so if you live and teach in an area that would NEVER see snow – don’t deter with this list! You can make snow with this simple 2 ingredient recipe!! Whether a STEM or Science activity, this is a FUN lesson! (not to mention it smells great and won’t melt all over your tables)
2. Snow Play
Now that you have made snow in activity #1, your students get to play and build things with it! Give them some time to create snow people, igloos, snowflakes, snow forts, etc., and then have them draw and/or write about it. If they need a little bit of creative assistance, use a directed drawing as an example. They can copy the steps, but use their snow instead of a pencil to create the image.
3. Growing Ice
So, not necessarily “snow”, but showing your students how you can instantly grow ice is going to blow their minds. This is a neat activity to go along with your lessons on solids, liquids, and gasses that moves beyond putting water in a freezer and watching it come out as ice cubes. Add a measurement component to it and see who can “grow” the tallest ice mountain.
4. Snowflake Painting
Up until now, if we wanted to create snowflakes, we had to get out the glitter… UGH! And we all know what teachers consider glitter. “The ___ of the classroom.” or “The gift that keeps on giving all year long.” So, instead of dealing with all of that, we just say a hard NOPE to that kind of project and move right along.
I have an alternative for you. Your students can still create beautiful snowflakes without the glitter mess. Outline their designs with glue, then sprinkle salt over them. Once their flakes have dried, paint over them with watercolor.
Extend the activity by adding a writing component and/or using a read-aloud before starting the project.
5. Snow Volcano Activity
Alright, so you probably already have heard of the classic volcano experiment for kids using vinegar and baking soda, correct? If not, don’t worry I will walk you through it in just a moment. Complete your science lesson with a snow science volcano!
Recipe:
- 1 Tablespoon Liquid Dishwashing Soap
- A few drops of red food coloring (Depends on how deep of red color you wish it to be. The darker red, the more drops needed for the experiment.)
- 1 cup vinegar
- 1 ½ cups warm water
- 2 Tablespoons baking soda
First, using real (or fake) snow, create a volcano mountain sculpture. (I would personally recommend placing a cup inside to hold the contents – especially when the warm water hits.) Next, fill the cup with vinegar and water. Add red food coloring for special effects! This will look awesome against the white snow! Then, add the dishwashing soap. Last, add the baking soda.
Step back, observe and prepare to erupt!
6. Snow Life Cycle
Write about each step of a snowperson’s life cycle. Make sure to use the words solid, liquid, and gas when describing each stage! I like to front-load this lesson with a read-aloud. A favorite for our class is Sneezy the Snowman by Maureen Wright and Stephen Gilpin.
7. Paper Snowflake Cutouts
Get those fine motor skills working with a winter classic! Paper snowflakes! Watch the tutorial on how to fold the paper and let your students go wild! Allow students to add embellishments…like glitter or sequins!!
8. Snow Paint Recipe
Wait… snow paint again? Didn’t I just talk about painting snow in #4?!? I promise this is entirely different and is soooo much fun!
When I taught Early Intervention many years ago, this was a staple in my classroom once winter hit. It is so easy to make and turns out super cute!
Recipe:
- Shaving Cream
- White School Glue (e.g., Elmers)
Begin by combining roughly equal parts of glue and shaving cream in a bowl. Feel free to add glitter to the mixture. Once your mixture is complete you will notice how fluffy it is. Allow students to “paint” with it. When it dries it will stay fluffy!
9. Snowy Countries
Time to take a trip around the world! Watch this video on the arctic and then have your students write about what life would be like living in a world covered with ice and snow. They can share their stories in an author’s chair. Spice it up with some hot chocolate while they listen to their classmates’ writings.
10. Snow Readers Theatre
Here is a secret passion of mine…Readers Theatre! A word of caution I always like to say when discussing Readers Theatre: as is always the case, make sure you know your students. Not all students are comfortable with being in front of the class and don’t force them to do so if they aren’t ready to.
Since you already have the author’s chair pulled out, you can add a little bit of production into the mix. This is a great activity for small groups, also feel free to have the audience answer the comprehension questions as a listening comp activity!
11. Q-tip Snowflake Art
Remember learning about how no two snowflakes are alike? The same rules apply to these q-tip snowflakes! This is a great snowy STEM activity for your students to design their own snowflakes using an unconventional material like q-tips. All you need are some q-tips and glue. Students can assemble them into a snowflake design. They should feel free to cut q-tips as needed and add glitter if they desire!
12. Snow Ice Cream
Have you ever seen a recipe for making homemade ice cream before? Have you ever tried it in your classroom with your students? I’ve heard other teacher friends make “butter”, applesauce, and I’ve made cutout cookies with my students in the past. However, I have never tried ice cream!
Mama Luvs Books has an easy-to-follow recipe made with REAL SNOW!
13. Snow Sensory Bottles
This super cute snowperson sensory bottle is a quick and easy winter activity for everyone to enjoy. I refer to these bottles as a calm down bottle for kids who need to take a “sensory” break or just relax, “cool down” and “chill” (like a snowperson). Little Bins for Little Hands has a great step-by-step design for this useful sensory item, perfect for your Calming Corner!
14. Family Flakes
I always attempt to have some type of family connection in my classroom. I like to do projects (oftentimes providing the materials) for families to complete together. A family component is important to a classroom community in my eyes and students always love to share things from home.
For this activity, I send home a large cutout of a snowflake. In the center of the snowflake is an area for their name and “is Special because ______”. The family fills in the blank space as well as an opportunity to add pictures, drawings, etc. to their snowflake. Once the students bring their snowflakes in I like to create a bulletin board to let their snowflakes shine!
15. Writing About Snow Activity
I love to think outside of the box when it comes to getting reluctant writers writing! Try incorporating a snow recipe from this list or real snow in a bin or tray. Using a stick, an unsharpened pencil or a gloved finger have students write in the snow! Letter recognition, sounds, CVC words, etc. The options are endless!
Don’t feel like you have to just stick to ELA. Try to incorporate some math facts, shapes, and other math-related material! Feel free to add letters and numbers into the snow.
16. Indoor Snowball Fight
SNOWBALL FIGHT!!! Alright, not really classroom and school appropriate, but wouldn’t it be awesome!?! You know what? Why not?! Let’s have a snowball fight!
Follow the steps in this simple STEM challenge for snowball launchers. Your students are going to have a blast being able to have a snowball fight inside the classroom.
Ready to make this activity a math-related one? Create a stacked pyramid with styrofoam cups. Launch those “snowballs” towards the cups and see how many they knockdown. Students get two turns. They just naturally created a math fact! They have to make an addition fact (or even subtraction) based on how many cups fall!
17. Where Do Snowflakes Come From?
Have your students ever asked you questions like this before? I wouldn’t know the answer without looking it up (which is okay)! SciShow for Kids always has the best science answers! Check out “Where do Snowflakes Come From?” as well as another great video on “Blizzards“!
18. Lines of Symmetry
Learning about lines of symmetry in math? Fold a piece of construction paper in half. Allow students to paint half of a snowflake on one side of the construction paper. Next, fold the paper and press it down. Resulting in the perfect symmetrical snowflake!
19. Fact or Opinion?
We’re turning nature into knowledge with a small piece of Education to the Core’s Weather and Seasons resource! Work on ‘Fact or Opinion‘ with snowflake facts!
20. Snow Globe
I simply ADORE this project. So much so, that this is always included as one of my students’ gifts for their families for the holiday season. I take a picture of each of my students. They love it because I have several “photo booth props” for the holidays that they can choose to take their picture with. A cute holiday winter scene was included in the photo booth props I purchased years back.
Next, I cut out a circle on lamination and glue their cut-out picture onto it. Finally, I allow students to create snow with their fingertips before adding a construction paper “base” to the snow globe. They always come out super cute each year and are always a family favorite!
21. Snow Dough
Ready for another recipe on this list? I couldn’t pass up a list of activities and NOT include some type of “playdough” like activity. I love to make playdough with my students and they enjoy it too, so let’s put a snow twist on this one! Make it cold!
Recipe
- 1 cup of corn starch
- 1 cup of lotion
- To make your snow dough extra cold pop the corn starch in the freezer for a few hours before making this recipe. You can also refrigerate the lotion.
What are the steps?
- In a bowl combine roughly equal parts of corn starch and lotion.
- If desired you can mix in a few drops of peppermint extract to add a delightful winter scent.
- Exact measurements aren’t necessary for this recipe. Play with the ingredients and add more or less lotion as you go.
- More lotion will give you a more oozy dough and less will give you more powdery snow dough.
22. “Snow” Slime
It wouldn’t be fair if I included a playdough recipe and activity on this list and NOT include SLIME!! Growing a Jeweled Rose has an easy and cute recipe for slime. Best part? You only need two ingredients!
23. Borax Crystal Snowflakes
Are you ready to bring a hands-on chemistry lesson into your classroom? Yes, I said a hands-on snow activity! Wait… yes I even said CHEMISTRY for primary students! We have the perfect science experiment that you can complete with your students! The best part of this experiment? The snowflake won’t melt!
24. Sequence Writing
Are you looking to add some sequencing activities to your lessons? Here is your opportunity to work on words like first, next, then, last, but stick to the snow theme! Students will have to match the picture to the sequence order.
25. Snow Storm in a Jar
This is one of my students’ favorite science activities! Using common household items, students can create their own snowstorm! Besides being a really cool activity to observe, you can discuss a little chemistry with your students and why the ingredients behaved the way they did within the jar.
There is “SNOW” doubt about it that this is a fun list! I can finally relax a bit without having to worry about planning engaging lessons and activities for my students.
Written by: Christopher Olson
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