Snow Dough & Other Winter Activities for Toddlers

On the same weekend that folks in the north east were snowed in. our neighborhood brought in snow. Welcome to Texas!

Maddie had a great time playing in the snow and even went sledding for the first time!

In preparation for our neighborhood Snow Day, Maddie and I spent the week doing winter activities. She had never actually seen snow before, so I was super excited to introduce the concept with this snow dough from Powerful Mothering. I even stored it in the freezer to make it more realistic. The "dough" (more of a powder) was awesome - it made a crunchy sound/feel like snow, wasn't too terribly messy, and held Maddie's attention for like 20 consecutive minutes on multiple occasions! ;) 

  

We also made these super cute mittens. Maddie loves to play with pom poms, and gluing them on paper was a big hit! I used this coloring page as a template.

                               

I super lucked out a couple weeks ago and found some winter crafts 90% off at Hobby Lobby. Yes, 90%. I picked up a package of large wooden snowflakes for about 50 cents. Score! I let Maddie paint them without much assistance. I'm proud of myself when I step back and let her go on her own ;) I taped them on the paper roll on her easel, and once the paint had dried, I removed them from the paper and hung them on a window. Toddler painting tip: egg cartons make great painting palettes!

I was pretty excited about this no mess winter sensory bag from A Little Pinch of Perfect, because - no mess! I didn't have Tapioca Pearls (what?) or water beads, so I just left those out. I did find some cheap snowflake confetti at Michael's, so I added those in. If I could do it again, I would leave out the mini marshmallows. They made the gel cloudy and were generally just a little gross looking. I made the sensory bag while Maddie was napping and popped it in the fridge to chill. So fun! While I was making the bag, I also made a sensory bottle using the same items but water instead of hair gel. I love the way the glitter floats around in the bottle - my fascination greatly trumped Maddie's.

                                    

We also colored this cute snowman, and as usual, checked out a few snow related books/DVD from the library.

This week was probably as close as we'll get to "winter" in central Texas. The high next Sunday is close to 80 degrees, so we'll be pulling out our shorts rather than donning winter coats. You will absolutely not find me complaining.