12 Learning Activities for a Snow Day

Tweet Many schools across the country are having a snow day today and will probably have a few more before the end of this school year. Here a few educational things you can do.

1. Make a snowman. Measure his circumference. Use a formula to determine his volume. How much snow does it take to make your snowman? (Volume of a sphere = (4/3) times pi times the radius cubed)

2. Make snow angles. Oops, I mean snow angels. Do you know the difference?

3. Make a snow fort. Better yet, make two and have a snowball fight. (Play nice, though). Make the snow forts differently. Which one works better? Does the way the snow blocks are stacked make a difference? Why?

4. Try to catch individual snow flakes. Can you tell if they really have 6 sides? Do all snowflakes have a 6-sided shape? Why?

5. Fill a cup with snow and let it melt. How much water is there. What is the ratio of snow to water?

6. Read a book, any book. Enjoy.

7. Try to find a prediction weather map on the Internet from a few days ago. Compare it with the actual one for today. How well did the meteorologists predict the storm?

8. Be creative. Draw a sketch of the scenery around your house. Can't draw? Get your camera, go outside, and take some beautiful photographs.

9. Do some Internet research. How do all the little animals survive in the snow and cold? Does it have to do with their physiology or their habitat or something else? Prepare a report for your science teacher. Did I hear "extra credit?"

10. Look at tracks made by animals in the snow? Can you identify the animals from their footprints?

11. Make a list of winter words. Do Eskimos really have a hundred different words for snow? Does "blizzard" mean there will be a lot of snow or a lot of wind?

12. Use the snow day to catch up on your sleep. Okay, sleep isn't a learning activity, but getting enough of it will help you learn everything else.