Sometimes it’s too windy and cold to play in a snowstorm, but you can bring the snow in instead of sending the kids out. Imaginary snow, that is.

To wit, first I made Veronika an ice palace. Whether your kids pretend this is an ice cave, a snow fort, or a polar bear’s arctic den, imaginations will go wild as they crawl through any tunnel made with pillows and blankets. We went all out, adding blankets from the beds upstairs, not just the ones from the living room.

Veronika loved loading it up with “snowballs” (a.k.a. rolled up socks).

And she was thrilled when she discovered a secret back entrance.

There was even a secret window to peek through halfway down the tunnel.

Then we split up the ice tunnel into two barricades and it became the perfect snow fort for a snowball fight!

For snowballs, we simply balled up pairs of socks and added a few from crumpled white tissue paper. Now it was mommy versus Travis for all out war!

Travis cackled with glee hiding behind his wall or popping up to pelt me.

And he loved staging sneak attacks. Veronika may not have entirely understood, but she certainly picked up on the glee and soon tried her hand at tossing a few “snowballs”.

Attack!

By now I had two gleeful kids who would happily have played in their “snow fort” all day. I think at this point they were pretending it was a ski slope with avalanches rolling downhill!

Don’t forget clean-up: Make it a race to see who can toss all those sock balls back into a bin the fastest.

What will your kids do with an indoor snow fort? Please share in the comments!