51
Snow Day

Grab

Cold-weather gear

Snow shovel

Bucket

Hot cocoa mix

Spray bottle

Water bottle

Food coloring

Go

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! Fill your spray bottle and water bottle with cold water. Add a few drops of food coloring to each to make colorful water. Bundle up for cold weather and head outdoors to play in the white stuff.

Work together to build a snow dad and snow daughter. Personalize your snow-clones! Use your spray bottle of colored water to make rosy cheeks on their faces, or write your names on them by squirting colored water from the water bottle. Dress up your snow people with an old tie or work uniform for dad and an outgrown hoodie for daughter. Put mittens on their stick “arms” and create goofy expressions on their faces with buttons, carrots, or whatever is handy.

Build a snow fort or shelter together. Pack snow into a bucket to create snow blocks and stack them into a sturdy wall. Leave a gap in the blocks for a window. Place a couple of blocks inside to serve as chairs. Bring out some hot cocoa from the house and warm up in your shelter!

Use your colored water to paint a target on the ground. Have a contest to see who can throw the most snowballs into the target.

Finally, it wouldn’t be a snow day without making some snow angels. Admire your creations and then get inside to thaw out!

Dad to Dad

If you don’t live in a cold climate, you can still have a great time by making your own snow! Purchase snow powder at a craft store or sodium polyacrylate crystals at a garden supply store. Add water slowly to the powder and watch it expand into fluffy snow. You can even chill it in the freezer for a wintery effect. Put on your scarves, pour some hot cocoa, and have a wonderful do-it-yourself snow day!

Grow

There’s nothing more exciting to a kid than waking up to an unexpected day off of school (and we should know since we’re from Michigan!). Freshly fallen snow makes everything look clean and white—just perfect for making tracks with winter boots, skis, and sleds.

The Bible says that we can be as white as snow when God has done his work of cleansing us from sin. Isaiah 1:18 says, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” Are there any sins weighing on your conscience today? Are they stealing your joy and keeping you from being close to God? Take a few moments to silently talk to God about these struggles. Follow David’s example in Psalm 51 and pray his prayer to the Father:

Have mercy on me, O God,

according to your unfailing love;

according to your great compassion

blot out my transgressions.

Wash away all my iniquity

and cleanse me from my sin.

For I know my transgressions,

and my sin is always before me.

Against you, you only, have I sinned

and done what is evil in your sight;

so you are right in your verdict

and justified when you judge.

Surely I was sinful at birth,

sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;

you taught me wisdom in that secret place.

Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;

wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. (vv. 1–7)

Thank you, Father! Amen.