In light of the recent snow storms all over the country, one of our Ask, Listen, Learn team members, Meghan D., wanted to give kids some suggestions of things to do to stay busy.

Every time there is a chance of snow kids everywhere get excited about a snow day. The night before they wear they pajamas inside out and perform crazy rituals in hope that the snow will come. The next morning, the kids look out their windows anticipating the fluffy white layer that will cancel schools. However, one of the major problems kids face on snow days is boredom. They can’t get to their friends house for the same reason they aren’t in school – the roads are either too dangerous or not cleared. Even without one’s friends from school, kids can have an awesome time on their day off. Here are a few tips.

1.    Snowball fight. Round up all the other kids in your neighborhood and divide into teams. Then take about 20 minutes to make forts and as many snowballs as you can to prepare for the battle. Once the time is up start throwing snowballs as far as you can.

2.    Try a sledding competition by racing people down a hill or seeing who can go the farthest.

3.    After all the fun in the snow you have to get warm. And what better way to get warm than to drink a big mug of hot chocolate? You can make your hot chocolate extra special by adding whipped cream to the top or dropping in some candy cane pieces for a minty treat.

4.    Once you are warm, invite some of your neighborhood friends over, maybe ones you haven’t seen in awhile, and make a batch of cookies. Even when it snows you will most likely have all the necessary supplies so get to baking whatever kind of cookie you wish (personally, I like chocolate chip the best).

5.    Now that you have rested indoors maybe you want to go outside again, after all you might be going back to school tomorrow. This time though put all competitions aside and work together. Make pretty snow angels and snowmen that you can decorate with a friend.

6.    If you notice a neighbor hasn’t shoveled yet, offer to shovel for them – you never know, they may even tip you!

7.    When you go back inside to finish off your day consider reading a book for pleasure, one you’ve been dying to read.

8.    Also, assume you have school again tomorrow and finish all the homework that you didn’t do yesterday in anticipation of the snow day!

Snow days are some of the best days of the school year, especially if they fall on a Monday or Friday, elongating your weekend. If you stay active and do a wide variety of activities you will never be bored on snow days. That doesn’t mean you can’t watch TV and take a nap to catch up on your TV shows or sleep, but you shouldn’t lounge around like a couch potato all day. Get out and have fun so that you can really enjoy the snow day that you anticipated so much the night before!