Snow Games

[ski chick]

I was wondering if anyone had some fun games to play in the snow with your kids (non-ski). We're having a winter theme birthday party for my 6 year old and although we have lots of games to play outside I was looking for some new ones. Do you have any? We did the winter theme last year and it was a big hit, so we're doing it again (by request ).

 

[NannyMin]

Here's a few that we've done:

JUMP SNOW HURDLES
Lightly pack a bunch of basketball-size snowballs and then use them to build a course of hurdles to jump over in a round of follow the leader.

ROPE TOW
Team up for a slip-sliding variation of tug-of-war. Tamp down a wide, shallow trench in the snow to serve as the midline. Then, take up positions at the ends of a long, thick rope and let the tugging and towing begin. Whichever team pulls the entire opposing group over to its side of the trench wins.

FLAG IN A SNOW STACK
Tie a white cloth to the end of a short stick or around the bowl of a wooden spoon. Then, give each child a chance to hide it by staking it anywhere within a predetermined set of boundaries. Keep track of how long it takes for the rest of the group to find it. Whoever hid the flag that takes the longest time to spot wins the game.

STRIKE OUT
For this pitching contest, first mound up snow to create three bases and a pitcher's mound. They should each be about 2 feet high and 20 feet apart. Next, build a tin can pyramid on each base. The challenge is to knock down the stacks in order from first to third base by throwing snowballs from the pitcher's mound. The child who succeeds with the fewest pitches wins.

HAT TRICK
Once you've built a plump, frosty snowman to stand sentry in your front yard, make a game of topping him off in style. Take turns trying to land a hat on his head by throwing it Frisbee style from 10 or so feet away.

GET ON A ROLL
Pair up for a contest in which the object is to finish with the biggest snowball. The contest ends when the teams can no longer roll their entries or when you run out of snow.

POWDER-PUFF FOOTBALL
All you need are two teams of three or more people to play, along with a spray bottle filled with a mix of water and food coloring to mark the playing field (a large rectangle with a centerline should suffice). The teams line up at opposite ends of the field (the North and South poles) for a kickoff. Once someone on the receiving team catches the ball, he tries to move it back across the defense's goal line by running with it or passing it to a teammate. Play stops if the person with the ball is tagged by an opponent or slides out of bounds. The teams then face off again on the spot. After four tries, or a touchdown, the ball goes to the other team. The game ends when either team get

 

[NannyMin]

Oh, I forgot another. Snow painting is also fun. Using a mixture of Jello powder and water put it into spray bottles. Use different flavors for different colors.

**This is best done when you have less than 10 children. Otherwise, it can turn into a crazy water fight!

 

[atlantiqueen]

How about "pin the carrot on the snowman/woman/kid"? A nice variation on the old theme - just get a bunch of carrots and a snowman and away you go!

If the weather doesn't cooperate and you have to spend a lot of time inside, making snowglobes is a fun activity....you just need some small jars, water, liquid glycerine, glitter, and some fun foil confetti.

Fill the jar almost to the top with H2O and stir in a couple drops of glycerine. Add 1/4 to 1/2 tsp glitter (depending on size of jar) and add the confetti.

The glycerine increases the viscosity of the water so the glittery fun things move more slowly.

You can also glue mini trees, houses etc... to the inside of the lid before construction so it snows on a little town.

Now everyone has a cool party favour too!

 

[ski chick]

Thanks for the great suggestions!

All of these are great ideas! I really appreciate you sharing them with me and I am definitely going to incorporate them in to the "Snowfest". I hit the jackpot with this post!

AQ- we made the snowglobes last year just as you described. I epoxy'd army men to the inside lid of the jar before they filled them. They loved them! I was collecting olive and pickle jars from neighbors for weeks beforehand.

We're going to make powdered donut snowmen, "arctic" gak inside and then games outside. I'll include some of NannyMin's great suggestions in the games.

 

[volklgirl]

Red Rover is always a hit with kids in the snow.

 

[ski chick]

NannyMin, do you know what the ratio of water to jello is for the spray bottle mixture?

PS- I tried to send you a PM to ask this but got the message that you've exceeded your mailbox limit.

 

[NannyMin]

Sorry about that!

It's *about* 2T of jello to 6 oz of hot water. If you want the color more intense, you can add more.

BTW, you can also make finger paints with jello and water. Just change up the ration to make it thicker.

 

[ski chick]

Thanks a ton!

 

[lucine]

How about making snowcones with powdered lemonade
scrape up some fluffy snow -sprinkle on powder -enjoy

 

[Kiragirl]

How about "Take a Giant Step"

we used to play that in the summer but winter would work too.

kids stand in a line and one other is the "caller" who stands say 25 feet away. the caller calls out different, funny kinds of steps "take 2 swirly steps" or "take 1 giant jump" or maybe "make 1 snow angel then 1 little step" being creative. who ever reaches him first is the winner.