New Year’s holidays with children in the country: games on the street

Surely every child in childhood dreamed of going to the North Pole, seeing a polar bear with his own eyes and getting into an igloo. But why go somewhere, because you can build an igloo in your yard and be a little Eskimo. We will deviate a little from the Eskimo traditions and will build an igloo not from snow, but from multi-colored ice bricks.

We start work with the manufacture of the bricks themselves. Milk or juice bags are ideal for this..

You can just fill in water, or you can tint it a little with watercolors or food dyes. This does not affect the freezing of water. In order not to mess around for a long time, it is better to fill in water in a shed or unheated garage, where you can monitor the freezing of water, and then it was convenient to carry it to the construction site.

After the bricks are well frozen, you need to remove the packaging that has become unnecessary, and you can start building the igloo. If there is no time to prepare ice bricks or there is not enough free time, then bricks can be prepared from snow. To do this, it must be tamped into the same milk cartons, but watch out for the preservation of the brick shape. Despite the fact that this is a temporary construction and it is made for fun, it is still better to observe proportions and adhere to safety measures. A real igloo has the following proportions: 2 m in height, 3-4 m in diameter.

But we don’t need such a large needle, so we will slightly reduce it. We clear a round area with a diameter of about 2 m, and we begin to lay our bricks in a circle, using snow and water instead of cement.

In the cold, this “solution” will set no worse than cement. Don’t forget to leave the exit. We lay out the walls right up to about knee height, then gradually narrow the circle to make a dome.

There is no need to rush, you need to be extremely careful and attentive so that the structure does not fall on you.

An igloo with a small corridor looks good. It also keeps snow and wind out of your building. This igloo can be used for a small picnic..

Icy colorful bricks will create a fabulous northern lights feeling around you.

Or maybe you are tired of construction in the summer and just want to go sledging down the mountain? It is good if there is a slide nearby, but if it is not, then it does not matter. Combine business with pleasure: clear the snow around the house and dump it in a heap. This work is not very fast, but if your children and neighbors help you, you will soon have a slide. Do not make it too steep, for sure children will ride from it, and it will be better if it is a long, gentle descent. In the process of pouring a pile of snow, immediately form a “blank” slide.

Determine where the steps are and where the descent is. Once your mountain of snow is high enough, form the slope itself. If the slide is large, then it is easier for two to do it, taking a board from both sides and dragging it from top to bottom, like a spatula. Make bumpers on the slide so that no one falls off it. Now you need to strengthen the slide by spilling it with a little water. It is better to do this with a watering can or a sprinkler. Then sprinkle with fresh snow again and level.

To make it convenient to climb the slide, cut out the steps with a shovel, making a small bevel inward, and also spill them with water. It is better to spill water in the late afternoon, then with the help of night frosts, the slide will grab faster. In the morning, visually assess the “track”, and, if necessary, add snow. On the ice steps, use a shovel or a hatchet to apply risks so that your feet do not slip, and after that you can become a tester and make the first descent from a homemade slide.

Did you see the slide, but you have no sleds or ice? It doesn’t matter, there are tons of items that are quite suitable for descending from the mountain. Our tests for you:

Cardboard. The larger the piece of cardboard, the better its handling. But he is short-lived, a couple of descents from the mountain will quickly turn him into rags. And the descent speed is not fast enough, only 17 km / h.

Disposable oilcloth tablecloth. Affordable, you probably have it in the country. But it is as short-lived as cardboard, although the handling is better and you can accelerate to 19 km / h.

Linoleum. The handling is not very good, but it will be enough for more than one ride. Plus, it’s a real rocket. Maximum speed 23 km / h.

Air bubble wrap. This is for real extreme lovers. Excellent handling and good speed. Among all the “sledges” that took part in this crash test, the descent speed is the highest – 25 km / h.

Have a ride? If you still have strength and untrapped snow, it’s time to play snowballs. But for this you need to make a shelter, that is, a fortress.

There are many options for building a fortress. After all, snow is a pliable material, and you can sculpt it as you like. The fastest and most convenient way is to roll snowballs like a snowman and stack them in rows on top of each other. A more sophisticated way is to make “pasochki” from a plastic bucket or square bowl. Such “bricks” are smooth and neat, creating the illusion of a real fortress.

Someone is working on the construction of a fortress or a slide, and someone is having fun, sculpting funny figures from snow.

You don’t have to be an artist or a great sculptor. Enough imagination and a sense of humor. And then the New Year mood will certainly come to you and will remain until you let it go.