Happy snow day to you! If your kids are anything like mine, they woke up with wide eyed wonder the first day we had a light dusting of snow on the ground and their excitement level continued to build as inches of fresh powdery snow accumulated over the next few days. Various blanket forts have been constructed in the living room, Lego villages have been completed in the playroom, and chocolate rings grace the bottoms of our mugs from rounds of hot cocoa sipped by the fire. We have busied ourselves with special indoor activities but it was only a matter of time before the boys were asking to venture outdoors. I’m all too eager to let them enjoy it. Well, except for one thing: babies and snow days don’t mix! When the kids are wanting to make snow angels and snowmen, what do you do with an eight month old? My husband doesn’t get home from work until sundown and that leaves us with the option of either venturing out into the backyard while the baby’s down for his nap or it means I send the three and five year old out to the back while I care for our little one in the kitchen (where I can view the older two romping around outdoors). We tried a combination the two the last few days when it became apparent that bundling up for ten minutes only to play outside for five was silly (and that’s about as long as either boy lasts before they are chilled to the bone). Then it dawned on me. Why am I getting them prepared to spend five minutes outside when we could bring the snow in and enjoy it longer? And so that’s just what we did.
I grabbed several large mixing bowls and went to work shoveling fresh snow into them, dumping it into our boys’ bathtub and going back out into the yard to get some more. Filling the tub only took about 5 minutes and our boys spent over a half an hour playing with it tub-side! There’s no mess involved (when the snow melts it just goes down the drain), the kids don’t need to get bundled up, and if their hands get cold, they just run them under some warm water in the bathroom sink. By adding a bit of water to the snow, they found it compacted better and they were able to take their bath toys and sandbox molds and shape the snow into boats, cars, and dinosaurs. It sure beats a mere five minutes outdoors, there’s no tracking in of snow, no mounds of wet coats, mittens, and hats to dry... and Baby can get a front row seat to the fun the boys are having! Now that’s what I can a wintry weather win-win!