Snow Day Games for Toddlers: Eight Indoor Games With a Balloon and Some Socks

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School is closed, the driveway is a sheet of ice, and your toddler has been awake since six. Here are eight snow day games for little ones that need nothing but a balloon, some socks and the living room. Every one takes about five minutes, which is how long a toddler stays with anything, and none of them involve a screen.

1. Snowball Toss

Roll up five pairs of white socks. Those are your snowballs. Put a laundry basket across the room and take turns tossing. Move the basket closer when it is hard and farther when it is easy. Count every one that lands.

2. Balloon Snowflake

Blow up a balloon. The rule: the snowflake cannot touch the floor. Tap it up with a hand or a paper plate and count the taps out loud. One is a win. Ten is a party.

3. Pancake Walk, winter edition

Balance the balloon on a paper plate and walk it from the couch to the kitchen without letting it slide off. Call it a tray of hot cocoa for extra giggles. Then walk it back.

4. Sled Pull

Put a stuffed animal on a towel and let your child pull it across the floor by the corners. Set up a path with pillows to steer around. Slow and steady is the whole game.

5. Over the Mountain

Stack two pillows on the floor. Your child taps the balloon over the mountain to you, and you tap it back. The mountain can grow as they get better.

6. Freeze Dance with a paddle

Put on a song. Everyone dances with a paper plate. When the music stops, freeze with the plate up high, down low or out to the side. Good for wiggles that have nowhere to go.

7. Hallway Rally

Sit facing each other in the hallway, a few feet apart, and tap the balloon back and forth. Count every hit. Three in a row is a rally. A rally gets a cheer, every time.

8. Fill the Basket, cleanup version

Scatter the socks, the stuffed animals and the paper plates. Your child races to put them all in the basket while you count to ten. Dump it out and go again. On the last round, the basket goes back where it belongs. The room is clean. You are welcome.

How to make a snow day feel like a plan

1. Pick three games, not eight. Three five-minute games, with a snack in between, fills a whole stretch of morning.
2. Same games tomorrow. Toddlers get braver the second time. The third time they will teach you.
3. End on a win. Stop while it is still fun. That is what makes them ask for it again.

Every game here is built on the same five skills we work on in our classes: catching, carrying, sending, aiming and rallying. If you want the cards printed and ready for the next snow day, Racky’s Play Pack has ten games, a 30-day play calendar, a star chart for the fridge and six coloring pages for $9.99. Or start free with the 10-day First Swing Challenge, one short game a day by email.