When facing another snow day, it’s easy to get discouraged staring at the walls of your house, especially when your young children begin to suffer from cabin fever, too.

As the sleet began to fall, I knew we needed a different approach to this snow day. Complaining comes naturally when plans are pushed over. On snowy, blustery, icy days, sometimes we all need a reminder that its only when we are down that we can make snow angels.

Rather than watching movies all day or each of us doing our own thing, I created Snow Day Sticks so we could make the most of our interrupted schedule.

Snow Day Sticks are a simple way to encourage spending time together. Each stick has an activity written on the end, and family members take turns picking what we’ll do next. In other words, I don’t have to listen to anyone whining that they are bored. These sticks are a fun variation of our Family Activity Jar.

The kids were so excited about the sticks, their normal dragging-of-feet switched to quick obedience. They got dressed, brushed their teeth, picked up the living room and read their Bibles without issue. And then, it was time to pick sticks!

So far today, we have put together puzzles, done one helpful chore (a sneaky way to make cleaning fun!) and had music time, including a piano concert by Jackson. Other potential stick choices include: dress up and put on a show, painting, putting up tents in the living room, reading time, individual room play, 15 minutes of electronics (such as Wii, Kindle, 3DS), Lego creation, science experiment (we have a kit we are anxious to try), make ships and sail them, play hide and go seek, playdough, cookie baking, and play board games. I’m looking forward to seeing what else we will do together this afternoon and evening! As a bonus, I’m sure we will have plenty of sticks left over for Spring Break next week.

Today could have been yet another day we were stuck inside. Instead we’ve enjoyed each other! Days together are never a waste.

Whenever I am tempted to complain, I need to consider God’s blessings. For me today, those blessings are named Jackson and Lauren.