My three cousins are all at the right ages to enjoy snowy weather now. And it’s a good thing, since there’s no end to this white stuff in sight. Next week they’re predicting two different storms with 6+ inches each. Add that to the foot or so we’ve been collecting over the last few (that never seems to melt) and you’ve got quite the collection. That means it’s the perfect time for having fun in the snow!
If you’re still interested in doing something with all this snow once you’ve shoveled it, the cousins and I have a few ideas.
Snow Creatures
Snowmen? Boring! Kind of like looking at clouds, piling snow into different shapes can create any number of real and imagined animals. When my middle cousin, the four-year-old, was out with me last week, he quickly lost interest in our snowman and decided to make a “snow t-rex.” It turned out pretty well. Of course, then we had to make other stuff, and ended up with something that was either a pig, dog, or cat depending on who you ask. We went back to the snowman later and made him into a baker holding pancakes, sausage, and bacon. Can you guess what my cousin’s favorite meal is?
Snow House
Building creatures escalated into wanting an entire house. Of course, I was in charge of making it. He tried to just sit down and watch. What we ended up with was more of a fortress/hot tub-shaped hole in the snow with walls, but he liked it just the same. It worked well for snowball defense. Speaking of which…
Snowball Fights
It’s all fun and games until someone takes one down the neck. This is the one snow activity my cousins will instigate without prompting, grabbing up snow and throwing it at anyone in range. The boys especially enjoy picking up chunks of snow and dropping them on anyone stuck in a snowbank (me).
Sledding
Of course, the perennial favorite. Trips in the sled with sides usually turn into one without sides, and who can ride down sideways, backward, and on top of who else to reach great speeds. Then they fly off into the snow. I think they have more fun falling off sometimes than actually riding it.
I prefer sledding with snow, but I guess you don’t necessarily need it. There’s a whole WikiHow tutorial on the subject, because apparently people require directions for everything you could possibly do in life.
Skiing
Not so much fun for the younger ones (I vividly remember feeling cold, miserable, and completely bored while cross-country skiing, and feeling cold, miserable, and scared out of my mind downhill skiing). Now it’s not so bad though, and I find it kind of fun. I tried cross-country the other day and only fell down twice, which was pretty spectacular. I spent a good half hour trying to get my skis on though, then found out I had the wrong shoes.
Eating It
Yes, I know it isn’t entirely safe. But my cousin has so much fun sticking his tongue in fresh snow that I hate to say anything. I’ve tried explaining how it has to be clean snow, which then turns into questions of what makes it not clean, what happens if he eats dirty snow, what I’ll do if he eats it, etc.
These are just a few things we’ve done for fun with this endless snow. What do you like to do with it?
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