The snow arrives suddenly and the kids stir restlessly as their school announces its closure. WHAT TO DO? Turn off the electronics and snuggle in your pjs a moment longer, as you plan out an activity-filled day that includes tasty snacks, arts and crafts and planet-hopping fun across our Solar System!
PAJAMA PARTY
In a recent survey, 18% of people wear their pajamas all day long. So why fight it? Treat your kids to a huge pajama party! Have them create a fort with blankets and throw pillows on the floor and vow to eat a meal on a picnic blanket; serve breakfast foods all day long--or at least breakfast twists, like BLTs for lunch anyone?
PERSONALIZE OLD PJS
Demoing iron-on letters onto pajamas with Today show guest host Harry Connick Jr. and co-host Sheinelle Jones.
Stock up on some iron-on letters in advance so you can personalize and jazz-up your kids pjs with their monogram, nickname or full spelling for shorter names.
You may need two sheets of letters for longer names: sorry, Harry Connick “Junior”!
OPEN A SNACK BAR
Kohen (left) and Andrew (right) are ready to get cooking—and eating!
I love cooking with my kids because little do they realize it’s science: measuring, amalgams, reactions over varying temps and hopefully the desired outcome! Take a moment to plan and prepare a Snack Bar menu with your kids of a few healthy treats that you can cook together like homemade Chex mix, mini turkey and cheese sandwiches and fruit and yogurt parfaits. Display on colorful plates for munching amidst other activities, keeping refrigerated snacks properly chilled.
SACK THE SNOWMAN
Part craft, part sport!
Gather five white Styrofoam plates. Cut out the center of four of them, retaining the white fluted edge.
Drew prepares to glue on her snowman’s nose.
For the last one, use construction paper to create a snowman face (black eyes, carrot nose and coal-dotted smile) and a black top hat: glue on.
Hot glue all of the plates together lengthwise to make a snowman.
Next from the ceiling, hang up the snowman string in an open area. While the snowman sways and turns in the air, try and throw ping pong balls through the snowman’s hallowed tummies. Assign points to each tummy if you wish (10 at the top, then 5, 3, 1 respectively) and add up point totals for a competition. No points, I’m afraid, for hitting Mr. Snowman’s face! Unless…
Harry Connick Jr. steps in. Look how my kid model Harrison got a perfect “10” by hitting Harry on the nose!
3-D SNOWFLAKE
Let it snow…indeed! Bring the fun of a snowy day indoors with the creation of this 3-D snowflake that my daughter brought home from her school art class: so beautiful…and shockingly easy!
Fold a square into a triangle. From fold, cut three triangles nearly to the top.
Open square. Fold the inner triangle edges to overlap, and tape.
Flip over. Take second triangle edges to center, overlap and tape.
Flip over. Repeat until the icicle is completed.
Tape the tails of five to six icicles together, and you have your 3-D snowflake! To see a step-by-step tutorial, watch my Today show segment and see the snowflake as well as all of these activities in action.
GET GLAM
After a full day of activities, kids may need some pampering with a foot soak, mani-pedi and hairstyling.
Elizabeth soaking up the fun with all smiles.
Put out colorful nail polishes and a foot tub.
Teach basic braiding techniques like a three-part braid, French braid and cornrows using YouTube as a source for more advanced techniques. Place tons of colorful headbands, hair ties and bows out for the styling.
PLANET HOP GAME
Here’s a science savvy game that includes art, smarts and physical endurance!
Craft
Have your kids draw all of the eight planets and sun in our Solar System (include dwarf planet Pluto if inclined). Encourage them to get decorative with any art supplies you have. Discuss planet characteristics that will help them in this quest like color, size and atmosphere.
Game Set Up
Scatter the planets across the floor, placing them in planet order within hopping distance to one another. Tape down with masking tape if on a hardwood or tile floor.
Here is the planet order, closest to the sun:
Sun: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
A phrase to help you remember the order:
“My very excellent mother just searched up nanoscience.”
Have children start at the sun. Ask each child a Fun Planet Factoid about our solar system: below, a list to get you started.
Caleb (background) heading to the sun and Reese (foreground) planet hopping to Mother Earth.
Scoring: Once the answer is revealed, the child hops to that planet and stands next to it. If she gets the answer right too, she gets a point.
**KIDS PLANET HOP NO MATTER WHAT! Science is fun, even if you don’t know the right answer all the time.**
With so many Fun Planet Factoids, your kids can take a break and revisit the game later. You can ask the same questions again and again, to see how much they have learned!
Moderators: scale questions to the ability and knowledge of the child, especially if there is an age gap among the kids. Moderators also try and pick planets that are far away from the participants, so that kids get lots of hopping action and exercise.
Fun Planet Factoids:
This planet was named after the Messenger of the Roman Gods. (MERCURY)
This planet is pockmarked like the moon. (MERCURY) Why? Because with no atmosphere, it has nothing to absorb meteor impacts.
This planet is named for the Roman Goddess of Love and Beauty. (VENUS)
This planet is very bright in the sky and is often mistaken for, and reported as a UFO. (VENUS)
This planet is nicknamed “Waterworld.” (EARTH)
Two-thirds of this planet is covered up by oceans. (EARTH)
This planet is known as “The Red Planet”. (MARS)
NASA is exploring sustaining future human life on this planet. (MARS)
This planet’s big feature is known as the “Great Red Spot”: a giant storm, which has raged for hundreds of years. (JUPITER)
This planet is the most massive in our Solar System. (JUPITER)
This planet sports seven visible rings made of ice and rock. (SATURN)
This is the planet of many moons. (SATURN)
This planet is the coldest planet in our Solar System and is often referred to as the “ice giant”. (URANUS)
This planet has a blue-green tint due to methane in its atmosphere. (URANUS)
This planet is known for its strong winds, though its name refers to the Roman god of Water. (NEPTUNE)
This “ice giant” like Uranus, is actually the farthest from the sun in our Solar System and is made up mostly of gasses and ices. (NEPTUNE)
For other fun DIY crafts with kids, ways to organize the nursery and tips for surviving your next family road trip click on.