It’s a Snow Day!

by Jennifer Bjork

illustration from Lights Outs Shabbat by Jeff Ebbeler

When kids cheer like they’ve won the Super Bowl during an awful winter day, it can only mean one thing. It’s a snow day. Here are a few ideas to keep your kids entertained while they’re stuck inside.

1.       Make Hot Chocolate
A snow day is the best excuse to give your kids liquefied sugar. There are tons possibilities for recipes, experiment a little and do some taste testing. Try it with a little cinnamon, peppermint, hazelnut or caramel. Add some marshmallows and/or whip cream on top. Yum!

2.       Build a Fort
Use some of that sugar high to your advantage and build a fort in the living room. Pretend that you’re all on a mission in the arctic and you need to find all the blankets and cushions in the house to build yourselves a fort to save yourself from the cold.

 3.       Read a Book
You now have a fabulously cozy spot to hang out. Take turns reading and come up with silly voices to use for different characters. Lights Out Shabbat, a new book that comes out on March 1, would be a great book for a snow day as the characters are having one too!

4.       Activity Books

Grab some pencils and crayons to work on activity books. Sammy Spider’s Shabbat Fun Book or Can You Imagine: Creative Drawing Adventures for the Jewish Holidays are great ways to pass the day.  

5.       Photo Fun
Take pictures reenacting favorite characters or scenes from the stories you’ve read. Or take pictures to create your own photo story. How many silly faces can you get in one story?

6.       Yoga

Still have some energy to burn? Grab a copy of Alef-Bet Yoga for Kids and hold a contest to see who can form the best Hebrew letter. This would be great for photos too!