Games to Play in the Snow

Outdoor games that need real snow on the ground, each ending with a warm-up: press Pick 3 new games.

Games to Play in the Snow

  1. Angel With No Handprint1. Each player sits down in clean snow, lies back and sweeps arms and legs to make a snow angel. 2. The hard part is getting up: no handprint or footprint may be left inside the angel. 3. A partner may stand outside the outline and pull the player up by both hands. 4. The judges walk the row and point to any mark inside an angel. The cleanest one wins, and partners swap. Warm-up: brush each other off, then ten jumps on the spot. Ages 4 and up. Players: 2 to 12. Time: 8 min. Props: none.
  2. Sprayed Rings on a Snowbank1. Fill a spray bottle with water and a few drops of food coloring. Spray three rings, one inside the other, on the side of a snowbank. 2. From eight steps back, each thrower gets three snowballs. 3. The inside ring scores five, the middle ring three and the outer ring one. 4. Each hit leaves a white mark on the color, so respray between players. The first to 20 wins. Snowballs go at the target, never at a person. Warm-up: the scorer runs to the bank and back to call each hit. Ages 5 and up. Players: 2 to 10. Time: 10 min. Props: a spray bottle and food coloring.
  3. Sled Team on the Flat, Voice Commands Only1. On flat ground, two pullers hold the sled rope and one rider sits on the sled. 2. The team agrees on four words of its own for go, stop, left and right. 3. The pullers look only ahead and walk. The rider steers them around five stick gates by calling the words. 4. A missed gate is walked again. The fastest team around wins, then everyone changes places. Warm-up: riders take the next turn on the rope. Ages 5 and up. Players: 3 to 12. Time: 12 min. Props: a sled with a rope and five sticks.

Next step Winter party games for indoors

How it works

These games to play in the snow all need real snow on the ground: trails to tread, towers to build, targets for snowballs and a gentle slope for sleds. Snowballs are thrown at targets, never at people.

Read the full guide

Clean snow first, then the hill

Tracks, trails and hunts want an untouched patch, so play them before the yard is trampled. Building contests need snow that packs into a ball. Target games work in any yard with a clear side, and four of the Sled and slide games need a gentle slope with a flat run-out and an adult at the bottom.

Fun games to play in the snow with no sled

Most of the list needs none. Fox and Geese, Trodden Into Fresh Snow needs only boots, Tallest Snow Tower in Five Minutes needs a timer and a broom handle, and Three Throws at the Real Snowman's Hat needs an old hat and a snowman.

  • Each entry ends with its own warm-up for the players who are waiting.

Questions and answers

How do you play fox and geese in the snow?

Tread a big wheel into fresh snow: a rim, eight spokes and a hub. The fox starts on the hub and chases the geese along the paths only. A tagged goose becomes a fox, and each spot where a spoke meets the rim is safe.

What games can you play in the snow without any equipment?

Six Snowballs on the Fence Rail, Fewest Footprints Across the Yard, Angel With No Handprint and Highest Splat on the Big Tree use nothing but snow and boots.

What can kids do in the snow besides build a snowman?

Hold a contest. Snow Throne, Tested for a Count of Ten and Hollow Lantern of Snowballs are judged builds, and Snowball Golf to Boot-Stamped Holes turns the yard into a course.

Which snow games suit a group of ten or more?

Fox and Geese, Trodden Into Fresh Snow takes up to fourteen. Arrow Trail to the Hidden Mitten, Colored Ice Gem Hunt and Up-and-Down Sled Relay run in teams, so a dozen children play at once.

More tools

Browse Acting and Drawing

All 32 games

Tracks, trails and hunts 8

  • Angel With No Handprint 1. Each player sits down in clean snow, lies back and sweeps arms and legs to make a snow angel. 2. The hard part is getting up: no handprint or footprint may be left inside the angel. 3. A partner may stand outside the outline and pull the player up by both hands. 4. The judges walk the row and point to any mark inside an angel. The cleanest one wins, and partners swap. Warm-up: brush each other off, then ten jumps on the spot. Ages 4 and up. Players: 2 to 12. Time: 8 min. Props: none.
  • Arrow Trail to the Hidden Mitten 1. A snow version of hare and hounds: the trail is arrows, not scraps of paper. Two hares get a three-minute start and a spare mitten to hide, inside the yard or the part of the park an adult has marked. 2. Every ten steps the hares stamp or scratch an arrow in the snow showing which way they went. They may add two false arrows that end in a stamped X. 3. The hounds follow the arrows together. 4. The hounds win if they find the mitten within ten minutes; if not, the hares win. Then two new hares set off. Warm-up: the hounds count the three minutes in star jumps. Ages 6 and up. Players: 4 to 12. Time: 15 min. Props: a spare mitten or a bright hat.
  • Colored Ice Gem Hunt 1. The night before, freeze water with a drop of food coloring in ice cube trays, one color for each team. 2. An adult scatters the cubes over a marked patch of snow and brushes loose snow over them. 3. On go, teams dig with mittened hands for their own color only and drop each gem in the team bucket. 4. A gem of the wrong color is covered again. After five minutes the fullest bucket wins, and the gems stay in the buckets. Warm-up: jog the gems to the bucket, one at a time. Ages 4 and up. Players: 2 to 12. Time: 10 min. Props: colored ice cubes and a bucket for each team.
Show all 32 games (29 more)

Tracks, trails and hunts, continued

  • Fewest Footprints Across the Yard 1. Mark a start and a finish on two sides of a patch of untouched snow. 2. Each team of three or four crosses in single file, every player stepping in the prints of the one in front. 3. When a team is across, a judge from another team counts the prints it left. 4. The fewest prints wins, so long strides and careful feet beat speed. Warm-up: high knees on the spot while the judge counts. Ages 5 and up. Players: 4 to 12. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
  • Fox and Geese, Trodden Into Fresh Snow 1. Tag on paths, the way fox and geese is traditionally played in snow. Everyone shuffles in a line to tread a big wheel: a rim, eight spokes and a hub. 2. One fox starts on the hub. The geese spread out along the rim. 3. Everyone runs only on the trodden paths. A goose the fox tags becomes a fox too. 4. The spot where a spoke meets the rim is safe for one goose at a time. 5. The last goose free is the first fox of the next round. Warm-up: treading the wheel, twice around the rim. Ages 5 and up. Players: 5 to 14. Time: 12 min. Props: none.
  • Invent a Creature by Its Tracks 1. Each player or pair gets a strip of clean snow three strides long. 2. In three minutes they print the trail of an invented creature, using boots, mittens, elbows and a stick. 3. Everyone walks the gallery of trails. The makers stay silent while the others say how many legs the creature has and how it moves. 4. The makers then act the creature along its own trail, and the group votes for the trail it would least like to find by the back door. Warm-up: everyone copies each creature's walk for ten steps. Ages 4 and up. Players: 2 to 10. Time: 12 min. Props: a stick for each player or pair.
  • Stamp a Secret Word, a Letter at a Time 1. One team picks a word of four or five letters and tells nobody. 2. They stamp it into clean snow in letters as long as a sled, one letter at a time, in any order they like. 3. The other team watches from a step or a window and may shout one guess after each finished letter. 4. Guessing the word with letters still missing scores a point for each missing letter. Then the teams swap. Warm-up: the watchers march on the spot between guesses. Ages 7 and up. Players: 4 to 12. Time: 12 min. Props: none.
  • Trodden Snow Maze, Lowest Count In 1. Two builders tread a maze into a snowy lawn in ten minutes: one path to the middle and at least four dead ends. 2. The runners wait with their backs turned until it is done. 3. One at a time, each runner walks fast to the middle while a counter counts aloud. 4. Stepping over a wall of untouched snow sends the runner back to the start. 5. The lowest count picks the builders of the next maze. Warm-up: waiting runners jog on the spot to the counter's beat. Ages 5 and up. Players: 3 to 10. Time: 15 min. Props: none.

Building contests 8

  • Ball Run Down a Snow Pile 1. Use a pile of snow in the yard that is at least waist high, well away from any road. 2. Each team carves a winding groove from the top to the bottom with mittened hands and a spoon, banking the turns. 3. Set a tennis ball at the top and let go without a push. 4. Time each run. The slowest ball that reaches the bottom without stopping wins, so more bends beat a straight chute. Warm-up: the team that is not running a ball does jumping jacks for the length of each run. Ages 6 and up. Players: 2 to 10. Time: 15 min. Props: a tennis ball, spoons and a watch that shows seconds.
  • Hollow Lantern of Snowballs 1. Each team rolls about thirty snowballs the size of an orange. 2. Lay ten in a ring on the ground, then stack smaller rings on top, each leaning in a little, until the cone closes. 3. Leave a gap at the bottom and slide in a battery candle. 4. The tallest lantern still standing when its light goes on wins. At dusk the gaps between the snowballs glow. Warm-up: snowballs come from the far side of the yard, carried two at a time. Ages 6 and up. Players: 2 to 12. Time: 15 min. Props: a battery candle for each team.
  • One Lap, Widest Snowball 1. Mark one lap around the yard through clean snow. 2. Each player or pair starts with a snowball the size of a fist and rolls it once around the lap, no farther. 3. Packing by hand is allowed only at the start line. 4. Lay a scarf across each finished ball and pinch the width. The widest wins, and the balls become the bases of snowmen. Warm-up: the last quarter of the lap takes the whole body. Ages 4 and up. Players: 2 to 10. Time: 10 min. Props: a scarf to measure with.
  • Smallest Snowman That Stands 1. Each builder makes a three-ball snowman as small as they can, with two twig arms. 2. It has to stand by itself on a sled or a step for a count of five. 3. Line the snowmen up, and the judge measures each against a pencil. 4. The shortest whole snowman wins. One that loses its head may be rebuilt once. Warm-up: shake out both hands and clap twenty times before the judging. Ages 5 and up. Players: 2 to 12. Time: 8 min. Props: twigs, a pencil and a sled or a step for the lineup.
  • Snow Sculpture, Guess the Animal 1. Charades in snow. Each team draws an animal card and keeps it secret. 2. Teams have eight minutes to sculpt the animal lying down, about as long as a sled. 3. Sticks, cones and stones may be added for eyes, ears and tails. 4. Teams tour the sculptures with two guesses at each. A right guess scores for both the guessers and the sculptors. Warm-up: walk like each animal between sculptures. Ages 5 and up. Players: 4 to 12. Time: 15 min. Props: animal cards and a timer.
  • Snow Throne, Tested for a Count of Ten 1. Each team packs a chair out of snow: a seat, a back and two arms. 2. After ten minutes the lightest member of the team sits down slowly while everyone counts to ten. 3. A throne that holds scores five points. The other teams add a point for each extra they can name, such as a footstool, a cup holder or a crown. 4. The highest score chooses the next game. Warm-up: the whole team stamps the seat flat, twenty stamps each. Ages 5 and up. Players: 2 to 12. Time: 15 min. Props: a timer and, if there is one, a snow shovel.
  • Snow Wall With a Mitten-Wide Window 1. Each team builds a snow wall as high as its shortest member's knees, with a window through it. 2. The window is a hole with snow all the way around it, wide enough to pass a mitten through. 3. After ten minutes the judge passes a mitten through every window. 4. A window whose top has fallen in does not count. Among those that stand, the widest window wins. Warm-up: builders run to wave through each finished window. Ages 6 and up. Players: 2 to 12. Time: 12 min. Props: a timer.
  • Tallest Snow Tower in Five Minutes 1. Each team of two or three picks a spot and gets five minutes on a timer. 2. Pile, pack and stack snow into the tallest tower that stands on its own. 3. At time, hands come off. The judge counts slowly to ten, and a tower that falls during the count scores nothing. 4. Stand a broom handle beside each survivor and mark its height with a finger. The tallest wins. Warm-up: every armful of snow is fetched at a run. Ages 5 and up. Players: 2 to 12. Time: 8 min. Props: a timer and a broom handle.

Target games 8

  • Farthest Dent in Clean Snow 1. Stamp a throwing line at the edge of an empty patch of clean snow, with everyone behind it. 2. Each thrower lobs one snowball as far as they can. 3. A snowball leaves a dent where it lands. When the round is over, each thrower plants a stick in their own dent. 4. Three rounds, moving the stick only for a longer throw. The farthest stick wins. Snowballs go at the target, never at a person. Warm-up: arm circles, ten forward and ten back, before each round. Ages 5 and up. Players: 2 to 10. Time: 8 min. Props: a stick for each thrower.
  • Highest Splat on the Big Tree 1. Pick a tree with a wide, bare trunk and nothing but open yard behind it. 2. Throwers take turns from a stamped line six steps back, with everyone else behind them. 3. Each throws three snowballs, trying to leave a white mark as high up the trunk as they can. 4. The group agrees whose mark is highest after each round. That thrower moves a step back for the next one. Snowballs go at the target, never at a person. Warm-up: snowballs are made on the far side of the yard and carried back at a jog. Ages 5 and up. Players: 2 to 12. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
  • Land One in the Moving Sled 1. Tie a long rope to an empty sled. An adult stands well off to one side and pulls it slowly across the yard. 2. Throwers stand behind a line six steps from the sled's path. 3. Everyone lobs snowballs underarm as the sled passes, trying to land them in it. 4. Count what is in the sled after each pass. The group tries to beat its own best over five passes. Snowballs go at the target, never at a person. Warm-up: between passes, run to stock a pile of snowballs. Ages 4 and up. Players: 3 to 12. Time: 10 min. Props: a sled and a long rope.
  • Six Snowballs on the Fence Rail 1. Balance six snowballs along a fence rail or a low wall, with nothing and nobody behind it. 2. Throwers stand behind a line seven steps back. 3. Each gets five throws to clear the rail. 4. Score one for each ball knocked off, and a bonus two for clearing all six with a throw to spare. The thrower resets the rail. Snowballs go at the target, never at a person. Warm-up: reset the rail at a run. Ages 6 and up. Players: 2 to 10. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
  • Snowball Golf to Boot-Stamped Holes 1. Stamp six holes around the yard, each a ring of boot prints as wide as a sled, and plant a stick in each as a flag. 2. Players throw underarm from a start mark, then again from wherever the snowball landed, with a fresh snowball each time. 3. Count the throws it takes to land one inside the ring. 4. After six holes, the fewest throws wins. Snowballs go at the target, never at a person. Warm-up: march the course between holes. Ages 6 and up. Players: 2 to 8. Time: 15 min. Props: six sticks.
  • Sprayed Rings on a Snowbank 1. Fill a spray bottle with water and a few drops of food coloring. Spray three rings, one inside the other, on the side of a snowbank. 2. From eight steps back, each thrower gets three snowballs. 3. The inside ring scores five, the middle ring three and the outer ring one. 4. Each hit leaves a white mark on the color, so respray between players. The first to 20 wins. Snowballs go at the target, never at a person. Warm-up: the scorer runs to the bank and back to call each hit. Ages 5 and up. Players: 2 to 10. Time: 10 min. Props: a spray bottle and food coloring.
  • Ten Snow Pins From a Cup 1. Pack snow into a plastic cup and turn it out ten times to make ten pins in a triangle on a packed path. 2. From six steps back, each bowler rolls two snowballs along the ground. 3. Count the pins knocked over or broken. The bowler then molds new ones for the next player. 4. The highest total after three turns wins. Snowballs go at the target, never at a person. Warm-up: mold the ten pins fast enough to keep the game moving. Ages 4 and up. Players: 2 to 8. Time: 12 min. Props: a plastic cup.
  • Three Throws at the Real Snowman's Hat 1. Build a snowman, or use one from earlier, and set an old hat loosely on its head. 2. Stamp a throwing line eight steps away. Everyone stands behind it, and nobody stands behind the snowman. 3. Each thrower gets three snowballs a turn. 4. Knocking the hat off scores three, and hitting the snowman scores one. Whoever knocks the hat off puts it back. Snowballs go at the target, never at a person. Warm-up: make your three snowballs at a run. Ages 5 and up. Players: 2 to 12. Time: 10 min. Props: a snowman and an old hat.

Sled and slide games 8

  • Call Your Stopping Spot 1. On a gentle slope with an adult at the bottom, each rider first walks down and plants a stick where they think their sled will stop. 2. Riders slide one at a time, sitting, feet first. 3. Measure in boot lengths from the stopped sled to that rider's stick. 4. The closest call wins, so a short glide can beat a long one. Warm-up: two trips up the slope, one to plant the stick and one to ride. Ages 6 and up. Players: 2 to 10. Time: 15 min. Props: a sled and a stick for each rider.
  • Curling With Frozen Tubs 1. The night before, freeze water in four plastic tubs with lids. On the day, pack a flat lane of snow smooth with a shovel. 2. As in curling, the target is a set of rings: stamp three at the far end of the lane, one inside the other. 3. Two teams take turns sliding a tub along the lane from behind a line. A teammate may sweep loose snow out of its path with a broom. 4. After all four tubs, the team whose tub is nearest the middle scores a point. Play five rounds. Warm-up: sweepers sweep the whole lane between rounds. Ages 6 and up. Players: 2 to 8. Time: 15 min. Props: four lidded tubs of ice, a broom and a shovel.
  • Farthest Glide, No Push 1. Use a gentle slope with a long flat run-out. One adult stands at the bottom, to one side of the track. 2. One rider at a time sits on the sled, feet first, and lets go at the start stick without a push. 3. The rider stays on until the sled stops, then plants a stick beside it. 4. The adult calls the next rider when the track is clear. The farthest stick wins. Warm-up: the climb back up, pulling the sled. Ages 5 and up. Players: 2 to 10. Time: 15 min. Props: a sled and a stick for each rider.
  • One Push on the Flat: Saucer Shuffleboard 1. Pack a flat lane and stamp three scoring zones across its far end, worth one, two and three points. 2. A rider sits on a saucer sled at the start line, feet tucked up. 3. A partner gives one push with both hands on the rider's back from behind the line, and lets go. 4. The rider scores the zone where the saucer stops; sliding past the last zone scores nothing. Swap places, and add up five turns each. Warm-up: pusher and rider jog back and swap after every slide. Ages 5 and up. Players: 2 to 10. Time: 12 min. Props: a saucer sled.
  • Ride a Snowball Down Whole 1. At the top of a gentle slope, with an adult at the bottom, each rider packs a snowball as big as a grapefruit. 2. One at a time, the rider sits on the sled, feet first, with the snowball in their lap, and slides down. 3. At the bottom the snowball goes on the judging line beside the track, whole or in pieces. 4. A whole snowball scores two, and the biggest whole one scores a bonus point. Warm-up: the climb, with the sled and without the snowball. Ages 5 and up. Players: 2 to 10. Time: 12 min. Props: a sled.
  • Sled Team on the Flat, Voice Commands Only 1. On flat ground, two pullers hold the sled rope and one rider sits on the sled. 2. The team agrees on four words of its own for go, stop, left and right. 3. The pullers look only ahead and walk. The rider steers them around five stick gates by calling the words. 4. A missed gate is walked again. The fastest team around wins, then everyone changes places. Warm-up: riders take the next turn on the rope. Ages 5 and up. Players: 3 to 12. Time: 12 min. Props: a sled with a rope and five sticks.
  • Slide a Stick Down the Trough 1. Borrowed from snow snake, an Indigenous winter sport of the Great Lakes region in which wooden snow snakes are thrown along a trough of snow. Tread and smooth a straight, shallow trough twenty steps long on flat ground. 2. Each player has a smooth, straight stick about as long as an arm. 3. From the start of the trough, throw the stick underarm so that it slides along the groove. Everyone else stands behind the thrower. 4. Mark where each stick stops. The farthest slide after three throws wins. Warm-up: everyone treads the trough smooth again between rounds. Ages 7 and up. Players: 2 to 10. Time: 15 min. Props: a smooth stick for each player.
  • Up-and-Down Sled Relay 1. Use a gentle slope with an adult at the bottom, to one side. Teams of three or four wait at the bottom with one sled each. 2. The first rider pulls the sled up to the start stick, sits, and slides down feet first. 3. At the bottom the rider walks the sled out of the track and hands the rope to the next teammate. 4. The adult sends a rider up only when the track is clear. The first team with every member down wins. Warm-up: waiting teammates stamp out a team cheer. Ages 6 and up. Players: 4 to 12. Time: 15 min. Props: a sled for each team.

How this list was compiled: Written by the Game Night Generator editors for children outdoors in snow clothes, in our own words; ages, player counts and minutes are our estimates. Every game needs real snow on the ground. Snowballs are thrown at targets, never at a person, and the sled games use a gentle slope with an adult at the bottom. Checked against Wikipedia (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) on 2026-10-03, after the stem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/: Tag (game), for fox and geese; Paper chase (game), for hare and hounds; Snow snake; Curling; Snow angel; Shuffleboard. Licence: own work