Grammy on the Go
By Karen Shadrach
It is already winter here in Northeast Ohio! For those of you who have not escaped to Florida for the season, we should find ways to embrace the snow and have fun outside with our grandchildren.
After bundling up as well as possible, yet allowing room to move, venture outside into the snow to play. The children love to just run and romp in the snow. Let them make snow angels and show them how to form and throw a snowball.
BUILDING A SNOWMAN
If possible and the conditions are right, you can help them to build a snowman. I’ve created smaller snowmen and built them on a back deck or near a window so that the kids can look at them easily from inside the house. They can decorate their snowmen with stones or acorns and find a special hat and scarf for Frosty to wear.
If the weather is too cold to venture outside, or if a child is sick and cannot join others, you can bring the snow inside to them! To absorb the melting snow, place a beach towel on top of your table. I also place a cookie sheet underneath their play area to collect the moisture. Find a large or small cupcake pan and place on top of the cookie sheet. Step outside and fill a few bowls with snow! Throw in some measuring cups and spoons, and they will love to make snow cupcakes, or even attempt to make a little snowman.
SLEDDING
Sled riding is always a favorite winter activity. You can pull the grandkids around on their sleds upon snowy driveways or, if you are feeling especially adventurous, you can take them for a ride around the neighborhood. They enjoy pulling each other around in the snow or taking a favorite stuffed animal or doll for a sled ride. If you have access to a small hill in your yard or nearby-great! A lot of energy will be expelled pulling the sled up and riding back down over and over again!
SNOW PAINTING
A fun winter activity, if you enjoy painting, is snow painting. It’s definitely a less exertive activity than sled riding! Both you and your grandkids can experiment with colors in the snow to create a new form of art. You can use spray bottles, or the squeeze bottles you’d use for ketchup/mustard containers. Fill these with water, and then add enough food coloring so that the colors will show up on the snow and not be diluted. I make up a total of three bottles (red, blue and yellow) and then let the kids combine the colors in the snow to create purple, green and orange. It makes a great activity for them to learn their primary and secondary colors.
The grandkids can draw whatever they like in the snow free-hand, or you can make stencils for them to spray around and fill in with the same or different color. Make easy stencils, such as circles and squares. They can create snowmen from stenciling the circles or robots from the squares.
Limiting your painting area by drawing a rectangle on the snow first is a good idea, since you have the entire yard as your canvas! After painting your picture, you can then “frame” it by placing sticks on each of the sides for your frame.
In addition to drawing directly on the snow, the grandkids can build a snow sculpture, (small snowman or animal) and then paint those with colorful combinations.
Clean-up for this project is easy. Just need to wait for the snow to melt and the next rainfall to wash it all away. Remember to take pictures of their snow art!
SNOW HIKING
Another great winter activity to share is a hike in the woods. Here, you can look for animals that have not hibernated this season and identify footprints in the snow. The trees are beautiful covered with snow and ice-so very peaceful. You can take a short walk on a path through the woods to the Brecksville Nature Center and hand-feed a chickadee. On Saturdays and Sundays, they will provide the bird seed and instructions to make this a memorable experience. After your snow adventure, come back inside and warm up with a cup of hot chocolate and cookies.
Winter can be a lot of fun!
Photos by Karen Shadrach
