This season has already served us way more wintery weather in the Lower Mainland than we are used to, and winter has only just begun! It’s lasted way longer than I ever remember experiencing as a kid growing up here, and even if it gets a little warmer and the snow melts, forecasters say we can expect to see more of it over the next month or so.
After living in Ottawa for six years, where it’s normal to have tons of snow and sub zero temperatures from November through April, I feel like I’ve learned a few things about enjoying the snow with kids – day after day.
There’s always fun to be had tobogganing, building a snowman or having a snowball fight, but here are a few more fun snow play ideas I wanted to share!
Painting Snow
There are a few ways to do this – both outside and inside!
For outdoor fun, grab a few squeeze bottles or squirt bottles (easy to get at the dollar store, or maybe you have a ketchup or mustard bottle, or bottle from cleaner that’s all gone, that you can use), fill them with water and a few drops of food colouring and send the kids out to paint some pictures in the snow.
You can also bring the snow inside! Fill up a bin, or a casserole dish, or even a baking sheet with snow. Then just mix up some bowls with water and a few drops of food colouring (you don’t need much), hand your kid a paint brush and let them paint up the snow.
Coloured Ice Cube Sculptures
I first witnessed this cool activity when attending Winterlude, the annual two week winter celebration in Ottawa. It does take a little preparation to the tune of making a bunch of coloured ice cubes ahead of time. For that you need to mix up some water again with a drop or two of food colouring and then pour it into ice cube moulds. If you can, make a few different colours. Once you have a bunch of frozen, coloured ice cubes, head outdoors with a squirt bottle of water.
Important: You do need to do this on a day where temperatures have dropped below freezing.
To create the sculpture, every time you want to add an ice cube dribble a bit of water from the squirt/water bottle over the ice cubes, hold the cubes together for the count of ten and then should freeze together. It’s pretty neat to see how you can keep adding to the growing cube sculpture.
The colder it is outside, the easier it is to create things quickly.
Make Maple Taffy on the Snow
This was a treat I tried for the first time at one of the many sugar shacks around Ottawa (some real Canadian moments during our time there). It is a really fun, really tasty, and reeeeally Canadian thing to try with the kids.
First up, head outside and fill a large bowl or baking dish full of fresh, clean snow. You can put it into the freezer to keep cold while you do the next step, or leave it just outside the door until you’re ready for it.
Take two cups of real maple syrup and pour it into a sauce pan. Bring it to a boil and then continue to cook it over medium-low heat. Stir it with a wooden spoon. Usually takes around ten minutes or so. If you have a candy thermometer it’s ready if it reads 115 degrees celcius. Or if you don’t have one, a good test if its ready – drop a small amount into cold water and it should form a ball.
When it’s at the right temperature, pour the hot maple syrup in strips over the snow, take a popsicle stick (or any stick really will work) and roll it over the syrup, winding it up. It will form a maple taffy lollipop! Best to eat it while its still warm.
So delicious!
Sand Toys…but for the Snow
The other day my friend and her son came over for a visit in our backyard. Turns out she still had her summer stash of sand toys in the back of her car, and she brought them out for him to play with. It was a great idea. Shovels, buckets, ocean creatures to pack snow into and make different shapes with. It’s worth digging them out for winter, as well as summer time!
