Snowy Play! Winter Family Activities

It's winter! There hasn't been much snow on the ground, so here are some fun, sensory activities to bring the winter play indoors.  And join us January 28 at the Park Slope Library for our Free Family Art Day exploring snowy stories and sensory play.

Activities
Watercolor Snowflake
Materials: Watercolor paper, watercolor paints, brushes, white crayon, salt

• Use the white crayon to create a snowflake design on your blank paper.
• Paint over the crayon using the watercolor. The crayon design will remain unpainted, creating an easy background for your snowflakes.
• Sprinkle salt over the watercolor for a speckled effect.

Inspired by Lasso the Moon

Tabletop Snow Forts
Materials: Paper, water, white dissolving packing peanuts (“magic noodles”), aluminum foil, glue

• Cut out the aluminum foil to create a frozen pond for your snowy landscape. Glue your reflective pond onto the plain paper.
• To build a snow fort, simply dip one end of a packing peanut into water and place it on the paper, wet side-down (the dissolving peanut will attach to the dry paper). Build on additional snow-blocks by wetting one side of a peanut and placing it on top of another dry peanut.
• What other snow creations can you build?

Sensory Snowman
Materials: Water bottle, clear glue, silver glitter, snow sequins, hot glue or Krazy Glue, paint, paint brushes, pipe cleaners

• Empty a clear plastic water bottle (VOSS bottles work best for a simple shape).
• Fill the bottom with clear glue. Fill almost to the top with warm water.
• Add silver glitter and any other wintry sequins, beads, or confetti as desired.
• Glue around the rim of the mouth of the bottle, and immediately screw the cap on tight. Shake the bottle around to see how the glitter moves in slow motion!
• Add features to your snowman as desired: paint on eyes, buttons, a nose, a top hat...
• Use pipe cleaners to dress up your snowman.

Inspired by Little Bins for Little Hands

Reading
Dusk ~ Uri Shulevitz
The Snowy Day ~ Ezra Jack Keats
First Snow ~ Peter McCarty
Penguin on Vacation ~ Salina Yoon
Tracks in the Snow ~ Wong Herbert Lee
No Two Alike ~ Keith Baker
Best in Snow ~ April Pulley Sayre
The Mitten ~ Jan Brett
When It Snows ~ Richard Collingridge