A snow day is a great opportunity to bond with your family and relieve stress. Ideally it allows you to leave your regular schedule behind and have some fun.  Here are lots of healthy snow day strategies.

Many people stock up on all their favorite foods for a snow day. It’s fun to share a special treat like hot maple syrup on fresh snow, or hot chocolate with marshmallows. But food does not need to be the main focus of the day. Purchasing nutritious foods, and avoiding too many temptations is a healthy snow day strategy.

Exercise Your Mind

Why not hold a Family Book Club Meeting on your next snow day? You can read a chapter of a family favorite and then discuss it. Or each person can read a chapter of their favorite book and then give the family a recap. Reading is a great way to de-stress and exercise your mind.

Exercise Your Body

Speaking of exercise, working out with your family is a healthy snow day strategy.  As parents you will be modeling good behavior and showing your children how fun exercise can be. If you don’t have weights at home, you can do bodyweight exercises, or use soup cans as your dumbbells.  You can also purchase 5 pound and 10 pound weights and lots of other equipment at secure300.inmotionhosting.com/~golde208/.

Moves like squats, lunges, bicep curls, pushups, tricep dips, bridges and planks can be part of a great family workout. Two sets of 10 reps each is a good place to start. You can provide some friendly competition with a final ‘Push up or Plank challenge’ and hand out medals for different awards.

There are many ways to get a good workout in, even during a snowstorm or Pandemic.  One of the best is to work out with a Golden Home Fitness Personal Trainer in the comfort of your own home.  All you need is our Golden Home Fitness app and your phone, tablet or laptop.  For your free Golden Home Fitness in-person or virtual workout click here.

Shoveling may not always be optional, but it can be a good workout.  Be sure to bend your knees and not to overextend yourself.  A shoveling contest is a great way to get everyone involved.

You could also go sledding, create a fort, snowshoe, have a snowball fight or build a snowman or snow woman.

Why not have a relay race or set up a circuit with jumping jacks, high knees, jump squats and snow angels? Working out together is a great way to bond, feel energized and de-stress.  It is one of our favorite healthy snow day strategies.

Reward Yourself and Relax

A post-workout reward routine is also an awesome tradition to start. Stretching, listening to your favorite music, or taking a warm bubble bath will feel like bliss. You can create a Snow Day Family Spa where you massage each other’s shoulders and paint each other’s nails.

Get Creative

Getting creative can make snow days a lot of fun. Why not create the grand opening of your own Family Museum? You can make play dough statues, watercolor masterpieces or origami butterflies. Each member of the family can opt to write a poem or short story and read it to the group.

Nourish Your Body and Soul

Snow days are a great time to get out of your normal routine. You can have breakfast for dinner or dinner for breakfast. Treats are great but having too many of them diminishes them, and doesn’t do us any favors in the long run.

Why not come up with a new family soup recipe? Each person can prepare and add his or her favorite ingredient to the pot. Homemade soup will taste even better after an active day, especially if you’ve worked out in the cold. Reading “Stone Soup” together would make this dinner extra special and memorable.  It is a European folk story about the value of sharing.

The next time a snow day rolls around, remember that creativity, physical activity and nourishing meals are healthy snow day strategies. The right combination of activities will help you truly bond and enjoy each other's company. We hope your next snow day is lots of fun, whatever combination of controlled chaos you come up with!