by Linda L Kinyon

Created on: January 20, 2011   Last Updated: January 25, 2011

Teens are resilient and bounce back quickly form the cold and harsh elements of the outdoors. That's why teens are perfect for many different activities on snow days.

One activity that can also earn the teen some extra cash is to gather together a few friends with snow shovels and go help neighbors shovel out of their homes and driveways. Often when helping out in this fashion the neighbors will hand the teens a few dollars for their efforts. Don't forget to remind them that they too live somewhere and that they can also shovel mom and dad out of the driveway as well.

Help the elderly. Many assisted living centers welcome teens to come and help shovel out the snow and even spend time with the residents. It's a great learning experience for the teens to learn some work ethics as well as learn about how life was “back when”. The elderly appreciate the teens and often reminisce about how their own teen years were.

After the teens have helped shovel folks in the neighborhood and the assisted living center out, have them come back home to warm up and prepare for the snow wars. Basically there are two teams and each team builds their own snow fort. The forts should be facing each other and at least 2 to 3 feet high.

Once the snow forts are built the two teams can have snowball fights and enjoy some snow time. It's great fun to have a flag flying on each fort. Teens can also use spray bottles with cold water and food coloring added to “spray paint” the snow on their snow forts. Let them get creative and enjoy their snow day.

Make snow murals. Using the spray bottles again, have the teens create murals in the yard. They can all work on one mural or they can again divide up into teams and have a contest. Either way your sure to have great yard decorations during the winter and the teens will be having a great time.

Have a snowman building contest. Divide into teams of 2 teens or more per team and each team has an hour or so to build a snowman. Then the younger siblings can be judges. Or, include the younger siblings by teaming them up evenly with teens and having the parents judge. Either way it's great fun.

Put several animal names into a hat such as a rabbit, cat, dog, whatever you can think of and have someone draw a name out of the hat. Then have the teams divide up to see who can make the best animal sculpture.

If the snow is deep enough teens can build an igloo (be careful of cave ins) and pretend to be Eskimos. Use buckets to pack the snow and build “snow bricks” to use in the igloo.

Make smore's over the barbecue pit in the snow and enjoy them for a great afternoon treat with hot cocoa after the day in the snow.

These tips should help the parents survive the “what can I do's” from teens on snow days and enjoy the time watching the teens as the work on their various projects.

Learn more about this author, Linda L Kinyon.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.