To be clear, we’re firmly in the pro–snow day, old-school day-off, no-virtual-teaching camp.
There’s something deeply human about a true snow day. We’re talking sledding, hot chocolate, canceled alarms, BOARD GAMES WITH THE FAM!!!, and the collective permission to slow the heck down. We’re not here to argue against that. When school is canceled, it should feel canceled.
That said… winter has a way of overstaying its welcome. And just because we are firmly in the pro “snow day” camp doesn’t mean our schools can afford to take so much time away from the regularly scheduled program.
If you’re staring down the barrel of multiple days off in a row, a string of weather-related closures, or a district that’s leaning toward virtual instruction to keep the calendar intact, the “snow day magic” can fade pretty quickly for teachers and students alike.
That’s where this post comes in.
This isn’t about replicating a normal school day on Zoom or forcing kids to stare at screens for hours on end. Instead, it’s about low-stress, flexible, creativity-forward options that respect the reality of winter disruptions while still giving students something meaningful (and even fun) to do.
Below are five of our favorite winter-ready resources that work beautifully for virtual or asynchronous instruction and are adaptable to any course or content area. Each one is designed to be light on setup, high on engagement, and easy to scale up or down depending on your context. We’re presenting them here as a sort of flurried, frenzied flyover. But if you’re a member of EMC² Learning? They’re ready and waiting for you inside of your user dashboard!
Do you wanna’ build a snowman… version of Abraham Lincoln?
If school gets cancelled and your students are stuck inside for multiple days at a time, this is where novelty becomes your greatest asset. Instead of asking students to stay glued to their screens, EMC² Learning’s all new “Take It Outside” photojournalism challenge invites them to step away from the keyboard and take learning beyond the classroom walls. By heading outdoors (or simply looking at familiar spaces with fresh eyes), students capture real-world evidence of their thinking—turning everyday moments into meaningful academic artifacts.
And that’s where the magic really happens. This fully editable lesson plan is built with choice, flexibility, and multiple pathways to expression at its core. Students curate digital portfolios of purposeful photos that document understanding, creativity, and connection—without every learner needing to produce the same thing in the same way. The result is a blizzard of original work that feels personal, authentic, and surprisingly rigorous… all while meeting students where they are and honoring the reality of an unpredictable winter.
Spon Con Chaos taps directly into a world students already know well—even if they don’t always recognize how it works. By stepping into the role of digital marketers, learners explore the algorithm-driven attention economy from the inside out, where clicks, influence, and persuasion collide. The familiar context creates instant buy-in, while the “super shady” tone gives students permission to question, critique, and poke at systems they usually consume passively.
Behind the scenes, the activity is intentionally designed to surface higher-order thinking without feeling like a traditional analysis task. As students analyze hyper-specific audiences, design sponsored content, and defend their choices, they’re practicing media literacy, rhetorical awareness, and ethical reasoning in a way that feels current and consequential. Multiple entry points, open-ended decisions, and collaborative debate give this resource strong UDL shine—making it especially effective in virtual or disrupted settings where engagement and relevance matter more than ever.
Desert Island Dilemma thrives on low-stakes controversy and high-engagement decision-making. From silly “baggage” like mispronouncing gif or putting pineapple on pizza to more content-specific quirks layered in by the teacher, students are instantly pulled into playful debate. The humor lowers the affective filter, while the absurdity gives everyone permission to jump in—even students who might otherwise hang back during more traditional discussions.
Underneath the chaos is a deceptively powerful thinking task. When students must decide who gets rescued first (and defend that choice!) they’re weighing evidence, prioritizing criteria, and articulating reasoning in real time. With scads of pre-populated, head-scratching modifiers already built in, teachers can focus on swapping in course content rather than inventing the framework from scratch. The open-ended structure offers strong UDL shine, multiple entry points, and endless replayability—making this an ideal choice when you need flexible, discussion-rich learning that works anywhere… even on a deserted island.
Portal Kombat leans hard into spectacle—and that’s exactly the point. By framing content as an over-the-top arena battle, this activity taps into students’ natural love of competition, characters, and dramatic storytelling. Choosing a fighter, building a backstory, and designing signature moves instantly transforms abstract concepts into something tangible, memorable, and worth defending.
Beneath the bravado, Portal Kombat is a structured exercise in synthesis and justification. To make their champion viable, students must understand their content deeply enough to translate it into strengths, weaknesses, and strategic advantages. The creative framing offers multiple entry points for learners with different interests and skill sets—writing, research, design, or verbal defense—giving it strong UDL shine. The result is a high-energy showdown that looks wild on the surface, but quietly demands rigorous thinking, clarity of reasoning, and content mastery to win the fight.
Story Spinner Smackdown: Winter Wonderslam turns a simple spin into a serious creativity engine. With nine virtual spinners, each packed with six winter-themed images, the number of possible combinations explodes—creating novelty every single round without adding complexity for the teacher. The winter arena sets the tone, but it’s the unpredictability of each spin that keeps students locked in and ready to respond.
What makes this work so well is how effortlessly it blends structure with freedom. Give a prompt, start a timer, and teams must stitch your course content to the images they’re dealt—thinking quickly, collaborating strategically, and making meaning on the fly. The visuals support diverse learners, the open-ended outcomes invite multiple modes of expression, and the optional wintry wildcards add just enough chaos to keep things fresh. It’s a flexible, replayable format that thrives in virtual settings while still delivering depth, focus, and plenty of seasonal fun.
The activities featured in EMC² Learning presentations and workshops are just a handful of the 1,100+ resources available and on their way to arrive shortly in the EMC² Learning library. This entire library is available to all members with an active Engagement Engineer or Engagement Engineer PLUS account, and is included with your annual site membership. We hope you’ll consider joining us as an Engagement Engineer to unlock a full year of site access. For complete details including our exclusive limited time offer for annual site membership, click here.
