Playing Together, Not Side by Side: What to Do On a Snow Day
Things a family can do on a snow day when a long unstructured day and everyone at home at once. Filterable by how much setup they need and how long they last.
A snow day sounds cosy until you realise it is 9:15 in the morning and everyone is still in the house. This list is for the version where you want to do something with your 10 to 13 year old, on one device or no device, without splitting off into separate screens.
Play Connect Four as a best-of-five with side switching
Use one phone or tablet and pass it back and forth. After each round, swap who goes first so one bad opening does not decide the whole set, and you get something that finishes in one sitting.
Use the hardest player setting only after the human wins once
If one of you is playing against the computer in Connect Four, start lower than your pride would like. Once the human wins, raise the difficulty and see how long that lasts.
Play Dots & Boxes on a small board, then a larger rematch
Start with the quicker version so nobody spends ten minutes pretending not to care. If the match stays close, run it back on a bigger board and keep the same two players.
Give the stronger player a handicap in Dots & Boxes
If one of you usually sees the chains coming and the other does not, give the stronger player a fixed penalty before the board starts. Losing two or three boxes at the start is often enough to keep things respectable.
Play Salvo with one rematch and switched ship-hiding order
One device works here because you pass it back and forth and cover the board while the other person looks away. A rematch matters, because the first round is often half learning how sneaky the other person is willing to be.
Turn Guess the Word into a shared six-guess discussion
Instead of one person silently doing it while the other watches, agree that every guess has to be said out loud before it is entered. The point is not speed, it is comparing logic and seeing which of you keeps insisting on a bad letter.
Do Picture Logic together, with one person calling rows and the other tapping
This works well if one of you likes spotting patterns and the other likes actually filling the grid. Switch roles halfway through so the patient one is not permanently reduced to being the finger.
Take turns on Mini Crossword, one clue each, no skipping without agreement
Read a clue aloud, let one person answer, then swap to the other clue-by-clue. It stops one person from bulldozing the whole 5x5 while the other becomes a spectator.
Run a hallway paper airplane league
Make two planes each, then test them over several rounds rather than one lucky throw. Best distance, straightest flight, and least dramatic crash are enough categories to keep it going.
Build a blanket corridor and time crawling heats
Use chairs, sofa edges, or whatever already exists, then make a route instead of a fort that takes over the house. Racing through it in turns gives the structure a purpose, which helps after the initial construction phase wears off.
Play silent charades with only household actions
Keep the prompts ordinary, making toast, looking for gloves, trying to open a stuck drawer. Pre-teens are often better at this when it is drier and less stage-school than adults expect.
Do a two-person scavenger hunt by room
Call out categories instead of specific objects, something red, something older than both of us, something that makes a noise. You go room by room and each person has to bring back one answer before moving on.
Make the longest domino run you can from household objects
Books, blocks, empty cartons, and folded paper all count if they fall in sequence. The useful rule is that if it collapses early, you repair only the failed section rather than restarting your whole morning.
Play twenty questions, but only with things in the house
Keeping the answers physically present stops the game drifting into obscure animals and fictional nonsense. It also means the other person can narrow things down by room, function, or who usually uses it.
Invent a two-person obstacle course with a referee round
One of you designs a route using cushions, masking tape if you have it, or simple start-stop markers. Then you swap, because building a silly course and having to complete someone else's version are different pleasures.
Do a laundry basket target challenge
Pick safe soft items, set a few distances, and alternate shots instead of throwing all at once. If one person is much better, make them use the non-dominant hand and everyone keeps their dignity.
Set up a home quiz where each of you writes five questions
The useful part is that both people have to host as well as answer. Keep the topics to things you both plausibly know, family history, books already read, rooms in the house, school subjects nobody is currently being tested on.
Play categories with one letter and a three-minute limit
Write down headings like food, place, object, person, and one ridiculous wildcard. Short rounds work better than trying to turn it into a full afternoon institution.
Do folded paper consequences stories
Each of you writes one line, folds the paper so the other can only see a sliver, then passes it back. The final story is usually nonsense, which is the point and also kinder than expecting literary merit before lunch.
Run a mini tournament of hangman variants
Take turns choosing words from agreed themes so nobody picks something impossible just to win. Add a fair rule, proper nouns do not count, and suddenly it becomes a contest rather than a trap.
Draw a map of the house from memory, then compare
Do it separately on paper, then put the maps side by side and see what each of you forgot or exaggerated. It is quietly competitive and oddly revealing about who notices doors, storage, and routes.
Play pencil-and-paper battleships with a small grid
A smaller grid keeps the rounds moving, which matters on a day that already feels overlong. If one player is much younger in spirit than in age, let them place one extra tiny ship and call it diplomacy.
Make a two-person comic with alternating panels
One of you draws panel one, the other continues it, and neither gets to explain where the plot should go. This removes the need to be good at drawing and replaces it with the need to commit to someone else's nonsense.
Do a code-writing challenge with a simple symbol swap
Invent a shared key, write short messages to each other, then see who can decode fastest. Keep the cipher basic or the game turns into admin and nobody asked for that on a snow day.
Cook one thing where both people actually have a role
Choose something simple enough that one person can measure and the other can mix, cut, or watch the timer. It works better when nobody is reduced to standing there while the more competent person quietly takes over.
Bake from whatever is already in the cupboards
The useful challenge is agreeing on a plan from limited options rather than turning it into a shopping problem. If it comes out slightly wrong, that is still an activity and now also a snack.
Rearrange one shelf or drawer as a timed team job
Pick a small area with a clear finish line, not the entire house in a burst of snow day optimism. One person empties and sorts, the other decides what actually goes back.
Make a cardboard challenge build from recycling
Choose a brief first, tallest tower, strongest bridge for a paperback, best marble path if you have a marble. Constraints help, because otherwise you spend half the time discussing what to make and calling that progress.
Create a one-room treasure hunt for another family member
You and your pre-teen design clues together, hide a few objects, then test whether the route makes any sense. It is more interesting than doing the hunt yourselves because making fair clues is harder than it looks.
Sort old photos or keepsakes and make each other guess the story
Take turns choosing an item and asking the other person what they think is going on. This works because pre-teens like being treated as someone who can infer things, not just someone being given family lore as homework.
Do a room redesign on paper with a real limit
Pick one bedroom or shared space and sketch a new layout using only what is already in the house. The rule that you cannot magically acquire furniture keeps it from floating off into fantasy estate development.
Make a snack rating panel with blind tasting
Use things you already have, cut or portion them so the brands and packaging disappear, and score texture, salt, crunch, or whatever matters. It is faintly ridiculous, which is why it works.
Take turns on 2048 with a running commentary rule
One person makes three moves while saying the plan out loud, then hands over. It turns a solo puzzle into a shared argument about whether saving a corner is wisdom or superstition.
Solve a Mini Sudoku together and ban silent pencil heroics
Pick a size that suits the patience available, then make every placement something one of you can explain. That keeps it collaborative instead of one person filling the grid while the other nods politely.
Do a read-aloud relay with accents kept to a minimum
Take a page or a paragraph each from something already in the house. The turn-taking matters more than performance, and nobody needs to discover hidden acting ambitions in the middle of winter.
Make a snow-day scorecard with silly events
Give points for things like best blanket nest, most dramatic weather report at the window, or quickest glove find. It creates a loose frame for the afternoon without making anyone feel managed.
Have a two-person debate on a harmless household question
Pick something low stakes, best breakfast, top shelf in the fridge, whether socks should match, and each of you has to argue a side. Swap sides halfway through if one person is too obviously right.
Try a memory tray challenge with ten objects
Put out a group of household items, study them for a minute, cover them, then write or say what you remember. Taking turns to set the tray is better than one person permanently playing examiner.
Do a collaborative playlist-on-paper without playing anything
Each of you writes five songs for a made-up purpose, stuck indoors, clearing snow, dramatic tea making, and then defends the choices. It scratches the same itch as making a playlist without requiring another screen.
Write dares for a household challenge jar and draw three each
Keep them practical and mildly silly, not humiliating and not destructive. Because you write them together first, the game stays in the lane of things you will both actually do.
Pro Tips
- *Start with something that ends in under fifteen minutes. On a long day, momentum matters more than ambition.
- *If one of you is clearly better, add a handicap early rather than pretending the mismatch will somehow become charming.
- *Alternate chooser rights. The person who picked the last activity does not pick the next one.
- *For one-device games, say the turn-taking rule out loud before you begin. Otherwise one person drifts into watching and the whole point is gone.
- *Keep one back-pocket option for late afternoon, when everyone is bored, mildly damp from snow gear, and less reasonable than they were at breakfast.