How To: Take Advantage of a Snow Day

If it hasn’t happened already, it’s sure to be right around the corner…the highly anticipated “snow day.”  Sure you can go sledding or make the ubiquitous snowman, but why not try something new? Birgitta Ralston’s Snow Play offers up wintertime projects and activities that involve the whole family, and will get the neighbors oohing and ahhing over your creations.  Make snow glow cones or ice charms or a snow castle—the possibilities are endless!  Here’s one to start out with, a fun but simple game that both kids and adults can get into…

Tallest Tower:

In this timed event, participants compete to build the tallest vertical stack of snowballs, and the excitement builds as the towers collapse and need to be reconstructed.

1. Find a flat patch of land with a good amount of snow. Players should kneel in the snow and wait for the referee to say, “Ready, set, go!” The referee uses a stopwatch to time the players.  Fifteen minutes is the recommended time frame.

2. Each player makes snowballs by packing the snow tightly together with their hands. To achieve the tallest tower, stack the snowballs on top of one another. If your tower takes a tumble while the clock is ticking, try to rebuild it before time runs out.

3. When time is up, the referee will call “Stop!” and use a ruler to stick to measure the height of each tower. The player with the tallest one wins