Snow Day Fun: Playing "Home School"

We all know how to create one: Wear pajamas inside out. Keep a spoon under your pillow. Put ice cubes in the toilet. Spin around three times with your eyes closed and say, "Snow day, snow day, snow day."

But once that wish comes true, how do you keep kids entertained? Especially if it's too cold to actually go outside and play in the snow? (It's every parent's nightmare.)

We found out about the last snow day on the evening before, so I had a little time to plan and prepare. First, I asked my kids if they had any ideas. They had one; they wanted to play school. What kinds of activities did they want to do at our school? Of course, we had to recreate my first-grader's daily classroom schedule. In order.

ROCmomma's Tips for a Fun Snow-Day Home-School:

1. Assemble a supply bin with glue sticks, markers, safety scissors, crayons, and pencils
2. Gather materials for your first couple of activities
3. Print out & hang up the ROCmomma Circle Time Materials; print worksheets from links below

SNOW-DAY HOME-SCHOOL ACTIVITIES:

ACTIVITY 1: MORNING WORK
1. LEGO Challenge - We started on a creative note. The boys were each given a LEGO base plate, a marble, and a tub of LEGO bricks. The challenge was to create a marble maze, with one entrance and one exit for the marble. Once they finished building, they had even more fun guiding the marble through the maze!

2. Math problems - My first-grader wrote out four math problems for each of us to solve. (7+3= __, 7+1=__, 3+3=__, and 3+1=__) He wrote the problems three times so we each had our own worksheet, and then set them up around the table with a pencil for each of us. My little future teacher!

ACTIVITY 2: QUIET READING
Have some books handy in case one child is finished before the others.

ACTIVITY 3: CIRCLE TIME/MORNING MEETING
1. Calendar, weather - go over the days of the week, months of the year; fill in the date and weather
2. Month/season worksheets - try these free printable winter worksheets from Learning 4 Keeps

ACTIVITY 4: THE DAILY 5
There are five different activity stations; each person does one activity and will have the opportunity to do more later.

1. Computer Station: We set up the laptop so the kids could read/listen to the Pocoyo e-book "Baby Bird's Birthday Party" and play games on the HITN Early Learning Collaborative
2. Word work/writing: Word Detective worksheet (page 11 in the Freebie Word Work Activities from TeachersPayTeachers.com); Letter Grab Bag (pages 24-25 in the Freebie Word Work Activities)
3. Writing Journal - Provide some paper and pencils, and ask them to write (or draw, depending on the ages).
4. Read to someone
5. Read to self

The Daily 5,  Station 1: Playing Pocoyo games on the
Early Learning Collaborative web site

The Daily 5, Station 2: Word Detective worksheet

ACTIVITY 5: WORD FAMILIES
We wrote "___OT" on a piece of paper and the kids brainstormed "-ot" words while I wrote them down. Then we reviewed the list together. Finally, each child selected one word from our list and used it in a sentence.

ACTIVITY 6: THE DAILY 5
Station activities are the same as above; each child selects a station they have not yet completed.

ACTIVITY 7: BRAIN GYM
A well-deserved break for everyone! Choose a favorite song (You Tube, Pandora, or Songza are good options if you don't have a particular song in your music library) and have a mini dance party. We are big fans of Cha Cha Slide and Happy.

ACTIVITY 8: THE DAILY 5
Same as above.

ACTIVITY 9: MATH
1. Visit BedTimeMath.org together on the computer and complete a few problems together.
2. Math worksheets - try these free printables from TeachersPayTeachers.com

ACTIVITY 10: INDOOR RECESS
Be creative and get the kids moving:

• Use painter's tape to create a hop scotch board on the floor; use a bean bag or small stuffed toy as the marker.
• Play Simon Says.
• Play balloon volleyball.
• Play Freeze Dance.
• Set up empty water bottles in the hallway; roll a ball for indoor bowling.
• Play a physically active game on Xbox Kinect, Wii, etc.

ACTIVITY 11: LUNCH

ACTIVITY 12: STORY TIME

My boys love the Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne. They snuggled together and we read "Afternoon on the Amazon" from cover to cover.

ACTIVITY 13: WRITING WORKSHOP
Write about your snow day (pre-school variation: draw a picture of your snow day).

ACTIVITY 14: ART
Make snowflake rubbings! Perfect for a snow day.

Materials needed: hot glue gun & glue sticks (OR yarn & craft glue - as per the original instructions on Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational), scraps of cardboard (an empty cereal box works well), construction paper, crayons

Instructions:
1. ADULTS ONLY: Use a glue gun to draw snowflakes on scraps of cardboard. (OR use the craft glue and yarn, per the original instructions)
2. When cool, instruct children to place construction paper on top of the snowflakes and use the crayons to create rubbings of the snowflakes. Children may then continue to decorate the page with additional drawings, etc.

ACTIVITY 15: SNACK TIME

ACTIVITY 16: SHOW AND TELL
Ask each child to select one thing from the house that is special. Sit together and take turns talking about the item and why it is special.

ACTIVITY 17: FAREWELL FRIENDS
Sit together and talk about what we learned today. If your kids have a goodbye song from school, ask them to teach it to you.

I was actually shocked that my kids completed ALL of these activities! We made the list the night before, and I prepared for all of them, but figured we would skip a few here and there. Oh no. They kept me on task and made sure we followed the list. In fact, my six-year-old kept tabs on the clock as well. School is over at 3:00, so we were not allowed to be finished until 3:00.

This was such a fun day for the three of us, and I'm glad we did it. If you're looking to fill an entire day with lots of boredom-busting fun (and a little learning, too!), then try out these snow day home-school activities. Be sure to Post a Comment and let us know which one your kids liked best! As always, thanks for reading.

48 Simple Ways to Beat Boredom This Winter

Happy New Year! Hopefully your 2013 is off to a fabulous start!

Today was the first day back to work and back to school after some much-needed time off. However, I think we got too accustomed to being lazy. We traveled to visit family for the beginning of winter break, and then spent the last couple of days in pajamas and building Lego sets. As 11 a.m. rolled around, I found myself scrambling to get the kids dressed and fed before my oldest had to get on the bus for Kindergarten.

Yikes.

It was way too easy to stay in pajamas, skip getting to the Y for  a workout, and keep the TV on today. To be fair, the kids got a bunch of new toys for Christmas and they were having fun playing with them. But we can't do this every morning. So I decided to be proactive and make a list of fun things and put together a Boredom-Busting, Shake-Things-Up, Pick-Some-Fun activity box.

Step 1: Make a list of all the indoor activities you would be able to do in your home. I included board games and craft kits that we have, as well as toys that we have available.

Step 2: Write them down on slips of paper and place the slips in a container (check your recycling bin for a large jar, a shoe box, etc.). The contents of our snowman kit are currently outfitting a frosty friend on our lawn, so I used the empty container for our activities.

Step 3: Turn off the TV and have kids take turns picking out activities to do together.

Yes, it's that easy. Here is the list I used; feel free to customize it to suit your needs, what you have available, and what your kids enjoy.

• Dance party
• Paper airplane races
• Simon Says
• Cards n' Motion - grab a deck of cards; assign an activity for each suit (hearts = marching, diamonds = crawling, spades = jumping jacks, clubs = shake/wiggle); each player takes turns picking a card and doing the motion. For example, if a player picks the 8 of spades, he or she does 8 jumping jacks. Number cards are face value, ace = 1, jack = 11, queen = 12, king = 13.
• Car races - with toy cars.
• Fashion Show - even boys like to dress up; this is a great use of old Halloween costumes.
• Obstacle course - set up a few household items for kids to go over, under, and through.
• Play catch - roll up a sock and have fun tossing it around.
• Puppet show
• The Rabbit Hole - put throw pillows on the floor; all players are bunnies hopping through the garden; if you touch a pillow, you fall down the rabbit hole.
• Wild Things - take turns calling out animals; all players make that animal's sound and act like that animal.
• Bullseye bowling - make a target on the floor out of masking tape; players take turns rolling a small ball and try to get closest to the bullseye.
• Puzzles
• Play Twister (or another game in your collection)
• Indoor ice skating - attach sheets of wax paper to your feet using rubber bands, and have fun "ice skating" on the carpet. Just BE CAREFUL; this is a slippery activity.
• Craft Kit (we have a ton of these in the closet; I pick them up at Michael's and then forget about them)
• Make a collage - old magazines, safety scissors, glue sticks, and paper. Or check the recycling bin for a cereal box as a 3-dimensional base for a collage.
• Balance beam - just some masking tape on the floor, and have kids pretend they are walking along a balance beam. Or walking the plank!
• Feather races - mark a starting line and finish line on the floor with masking tape. Each player puts a craft-feather (or wad of tissue paper) on the start line. On "Go!," players blow on their feather and try to get it to cross the finish line first.
• Write a letter to a Disney character - Send to Walt Disney World Communications, PO Box 10040, Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830-0040. Your kids will receive an autographed picture from the character!
• Guard the Eggs - make a large rectangle on the floor with masking tape; place a few balls in the rectangle; choose one player to be the guardian and "protect" the eggs; all other players try to steal the eggs; if a player gets tagged by the guardian while his or her hand is within the rectangle, that player becomes the new guardian.
• Build a fort - some chairs and blankets are all you really need.
• Blow ice bubbles outside - if it's cold enough, the bubbles will freeze in the air. All right, so there's one outdoor activity. But this is something we can do quickly, even from the garage with the door open.
• Make a card and send it to someone special
• Write a story - ask your kids who is in the story and what they will do; help them write it down and ask them to illustrate the story as well.
• Dominoes - if you don't have actual dominoes, try setting up books or DVD cases and then knock them down.
• Tic Tac Toss - make a tic tac toe board on the floor with masking tape; use two different colored sets of bean bags (or small stuffed animals, or balled-up socks) to play.
• Band Practice/ Marching Band - anything that rattles, whistles, or can be hit with a wooden spoon is fair game. Play some music together, then become a marching band and perform all around the house.
• Craft time - cover the table, pick a few art supplies, and see what your kids create.
• Scavenger hunt - pick 10 cars or Monster High dolls or blocks; one person hides them then the other players try to find them; the person who finds the most is the next to hide items.
• Play-Doh
• Board game
• Giant Busy Box - another craft kit we have on hand.
• Legos
• Coloring books
• Make a sock puppet
• Make salt dough shapes - If you have salt, flour, and water, you can make these. There are lots of recipes out there such as this one; grab some cookie cutters, let them dry, then paint them. Before letting them dry, you can punch a hole with the end of a drinking straw and then string them up later.
• Air hockey (or another game in your home)
• Hop scotch - using masking tape on the floor.
• Balloon volleyball
• Xbox Kinect game - yes, it's a video game, but at least it requires movement.
• Paint a picture (water colors, finger paints, whatever you have)
• Play freeze dance
• Make pictures for the grandparents
• Make pictures for the aunts and uncles
• Make seasonal decorations - For example, January = snowmen & snowflakes; February = hearts; March = shamrocks and eggs; April = rainbows, umbrellas; May = flowers; June = outdoor-themed items; July = American flags; August = beach items; September = back-to-school-themed items; October = pumpkins; November = leaves; December = Christmas trees & candy canes. Obviously you'll need to tweak this according to your religion and cultural background.
• Blow bubbles in the house! - into the bath tub, of course. This doesn't have to be a bath time activity. Leave the tub empty, and just let the kids blow bubbles into the tub to avoid a slippery, sticky mess in other areas of your home.
• "Almost" Yahtzee - grab some dice and a pencil and paper for each player. Write the possible sums of the dice on each piece of paper (2 dice = numbers 2-12, 3 dice = numbers 3-36, 4 dice = numbers 4-48). Each player takes a turn rolling all the dice, adding the sum, and crossing that number off their list. 

There is a mix of active games, creative activities, and quiet games listed. I left out "making cookies" simply because I don't want a batch of cookies in the house. We ate way too much over the holidays, and I don't need anything tempting my will power. Completely selfish, but necessary right now.

I plan on keeping the "used" activity slips in a bag. Once we've emptied the jar, I can just throw them all back in to repeat this cycle...at least until the temperature rises a bit so we can play outside comfortably again.

I hope this inspires you to do some creative activities with your kids. Or grandkids. Or the kids you babysit. Just have fun! What is your favorite indoor activity with the kids? Post a Comment and let us know. As always, thanks for reading.

Power's Out/ Rainy Day/ Snowy Day Ideas

While I am not a professional teacher today, the of the most important thing I learned from my student teaching experience applies everyday with my own kids: change the stimulus every 15 minutes or you'll lose them. All day I've been struggling to figure out what to do after the current 15 minutes is up. With both school and the YMCA closed, and the threat of the storm rekindling this afternoon, we've been keeping busy indoors today.

Thankfully, we have power and there is no flooding in this area. I know many who were not so lucky. To everyone who lost power, suffered water damage, or was forced to relocate thanks to Hurricane Sandy, we hope your family is safe and warm and that your lives are restored to normalcy as soon as possible.

Now, what to do with those kiddos?!? Of course there are books, board games, and puzzles. But those will only last so long. I poured over Pinterest today, took out the craft supplies, and hoped for the best. By the way, these don't require electricity...so keep them handy for the next power outage, too.

RELEASING THEIR INNER PICASSO

• Read some books, then try acting them out or ask the kids to think of craft projects that could go with the books. For inspiration, check out these ideas to go along with Laura Numeroff's "If You Give A..." series
• Play Doh + cookie cutters = always a favorite!
• Coloring books + crayons
• Random art supplies: stickers, feathers, pom poms, glue sticks, craft sticks, pipe cleaners, etc.
• Make a Paper Chain to count down to a birthday, the next holiday, or another special occasion
• Special Watercolor Paintings: try drawing a picture with white crayon on white paper, then brush over with watercolors to reveal the image. OR paint with watercolors, then sprinkle table salt on the wet paint, and/or use clear or white craft glue to drizzle additional designs on top. Watch what happens!

• Build with dominoes, LEGOs, and blocks

• Make sock puppets, paper-bag puppets, or paper-plate puppets, then put on a puppet show. Or decorate the house.

GETTING THE SILLIES OUT
When they're stuck indoors, kids still need to move around and get some physical activity. Here are some fun ways to make that happen:

• Go Fish! Place alphabet magnets in a bowl, then grab a pole (toy sword, wrapping paper tube, etc. We used the pole from our marble run set.), string or ribbon, a paper clip, and masking tape. Tie one end of the string to the pole and secure with tape; tie the other end to the paper clip and "fish" for letters. 

• Obstacle Courses - arrange furniture, toys, plastic cups, you name it and have kids go under, over, around, or through. Sometimes we also add in a toss element: set up an empty mixing bowl and a basket full of soft toys such as stuffed animals, and require one to land in the bowl before proceeding
• Crepe Paper Laser Beams - you'll need crepe paper/party streamers (or toilet paper) and masking tape or painter's tape; this could be part of an obstacle course, or its own game; kids take turns going under and over without touching the "laser beams."

And sometimes they end up all wrapped up in the lasers...

• Cards n' Motion - take a regular deck of 52 cards and spread them out on the floor. Assign a motion to each suit (e.g., hearts = jumping jacks, diamonds = twist side to side, spades = march around the room, clubs = windmill your arms). Each player takes turns flipping a card and performing the motion for the number on the card. For example, a player who turns over the 8 of hearts does 8 jumping jacks. You could assign special activities for Jacks, Queens, Kings, and Aces: Jacks pass the activity to the next player, all the girls do the activity for Queens, all the boys do the activity for Kings, and Aces are all-play. Depending on the age of the children, you could create more or fewer rules. (e.g., collect two Aces during the game and you can change a motion such as change march around the room to crawl around the room; collect a pair and do the activity backwards; etc.)
• Wild Things - each player takes turns calling out an animal; everyone else must walk like that animal & make the sound of that animal.
• Play Simon Says
• Fashion Show - use Halloween costumes, dress-up clothes, or even some of your clothes. Let the kids dress up and then strut their stuff down the "runway". Don't forget the camera. (Boys like to dress up as much as girls! Especially when they get to try on dad's shoes, clothes, and baseball caps.)
• Hop Scotch - use masking tape or painter's tape on your floor to make the hop scotch board, and use a balled-up sock to throw. You can recreate any game subbing masking tape for the chalk you would normally use outdoors: bullseye bowling, tic tac toe, etc. For a Halloween twist, check out the Spiderweb Game.
• Toy Hunt - all but one player leaves the room, and this person is It; the player who is It must hide objects around the room (toy cars, Barbie dolls, large blocks, etc.). Be sure to count the objects before hiding so you know how many to find. Once everything is hidden, the person who is It calls everyone back to start the hunt. The person who finds the most objects is the next to be It.
• Play Balloon Volleyball 
• Play Catch with a balled-up sock, a silk scarf, small stuffed animal, or a Koosh-type ball 

I hope this list helps you stay sane during the hurricane this week. Or that it comes in handy on the next snow day or rainy day. Stay safe! As always, thanks for reading.