While many of us remember teenage snow days being delayed by the chore of shoveling, when you have HeatTrak Snow & Ice Melting Mats, your family can spend the day focusing on fun.
That soft snowy morning light is great for sleeping in - and if there’s no need to clear the walks, it’s tempting to stay in jammies all day. But, why spend a magical snow day inside binging a series or gaming, when you can get out and have a wintry ball?
If you’ve got a driveway with HeatTrak Mats, you’ve got a snow day-ready roller hockey rink, soccer practice field, pickleball court, or spikeball zone. For roller hockey or soccer, you don’t have to have a net. Just mark it out in the snow at the edge of the driveway!
Spikeball, which is a unique combo of volleyball and four square, is played by two teams of two players each. The ankle-high net is set between the two teams while the players take turns bouncing the ball on to the net to their opponent. If one team misses, the other team scores a point, and the first team to get 21 points wins. No net? You can just bounce off the ground and play by the same rules.
Pickleball is a little bit of tennis, badminton, and ping-pong, and can be played as singles or doubles. Officially, it’s supposed to be on a badminton court, but we think a driveway is just fine. Like with Spikeball, you don’t exactly have to have a net: you can string up a rope. You can also play with a tennis ball or wiffle ball if you can’t find an actual pickleball; if you don’t have pickleball paddles, ping-pong paddles are great substitutes (even if they are a bit small).
It’s always a nice reset to explore the neighborhood by taking a walk together - notice how the snow changes the landscape, and how animal and human tracks can tell a whole story. Back home, you could flex your artistic talents and build a snow sculpture. Or maybe your fam has more of a Tik Tok dance video vibe.
A snow day is also a great time to have your own version of a 24-hour film festival. All you need is imagination and a phone (or you can dig out the old movie camera)! Start out by writing your script, then develop a storyboard to guide how the shots will look, and scout your locations. Nominate your director and your lead camera operator (because someone has to hit the record button), and begin filming. Once you’ve wrapped, it’ll be fun to edit it all together into your snow day feature. Many computers come with video editing software like iMovie, or there are free options like Lightworks or HitFilm Express, or you can work like a pro in Premiere or Final Cut Pro. Be sure to add your credits roll - everyone can have legit movie industry job titles, or maybe you make some roles up. Regardless, you’ll have a great snow day story to share.
Whether you’re having a ball or making Oscar-worthy cinema, we’d love to see your family in action on your HeatTrak Heated Snow & Ice Melting Mats. You can submit your best photo and video for a chance to win $500 in our annual photo contest. We can't wait to see the action!
Share your snow day family fun!
