A Snow Day Game

Snow days are rather fun, when they happen one or two at a time. When they come 3, 4, or even (gasp!) 5 days in a row (and yes, tomorrow will be our 5th snow day this week), they become a little old. Ok, they become a lot old. They become “bang your head on the table and then go throw on a striped ref shirt and find a whistle, cause your kids are going at it again” old.

*sigh*

It sure is pretty to look at though, so at least there’s that! (That was the morning of Snow Day 3.)

So Nick, in his infinite wisdom, saw that I was looking a little crazed by the night of snow day #3, and offered a little help for the next day. He offered to create a game for the kids to play while he was at work, and I said “YES!”.

Daddy’s Game Board Rules:

* No starting the game until he’d left for work (he was buying me as much time as he could, bless his heart!)

* For the boxes that said “pic”, I would need to snap a picture and text it to him for it to be considered “done”.

* Boxes with an “L” meant Lily should participate, if her 3 year old self was willing.

* Activities must be done in order and together!

* Cleaning up as we go must be done – no trashed house at completion of the game! (My favorite rule probably.)

* Mommy was allowed to hand out “Sad Brads” (frowny faces, and no reason behind the name, it just rhymes) to anyone who was excessively whiny, uncooperative, etc. 3 Sad Brads and you’d have to do a chore before you completed the game.

* The game had to be completed by 3:30pm!

The kids had a ball today! I never had to hand out a Sad Brad, and I rarely had to break up a fight (which is saying something considering this was day 2 of it being too cold to go outside for long, so we were all breathing the same air for far too many hours).

Playing the Game

Multiple race heats to figure out which matchbox car is the fastest!

Draw a snowman family!

Predetermined chores – dusting, window washing and vacuuming

Bowl a game together on the Wii

Build a snowman!

For this one, Nick scooped up a 5 gallon bucket of snow and left it by the back door for me. All I had to do was scoop some out when it was time, and within a few minutes it had softened enough to form into balls. The boys got a kick out of this one!

Read!

Lily could just pick any book to read, but the boys had a specific assignment. Read certain pages in their children’s Bible, and answer two questions about the story.

20 Jumping Jacks, 20 Pushups and 20 Toe Touches

(Which Lily thought was a good time to tackle, climb, and cause general chaos.)

The game ended with the boys each having to clean up a certain number of items from a certain area of their room: under the bed, under their little table, and in their closet. The boys were so fast at getting back there and getting it done, that I didn’t get a picture!

I texted Nick at 2:45 and told him they’d finished the game, which was his signal to bring home prizes! Chocolate Milk for Lily, honey roasted peanuts for the boys, and Reese’s Peanut Butter cups for me (ooooh yeah).

Anyway, thought I’d share this with all of you ASAP in case you’ve been cooped up at home for far too many days (like me), and just don’t know else to do to keep your herd entertained. Happy gaming!

{And yep – my husband is awesomely creative, and I love him dearly!}