8 Engaging Winter Activities to Spark Learning & Fun
Wintertime is a great time to unleash your child’s imagination as the colder weather often brings fewer local events and more time inside. I decided to share some of our favorite winter activities as well as some new ones we plan to do this winter!
1. Winter Scavenger Hunt
This is a fun activity that I’ve done with all of my kids over the years. My kids are not often excited to go take a walk in the winter, but this has always been a great way to engage them as they get fresh air and exercise. I included a FREE printable winter scavenger hunt list below. Kids can check the boxes, gather the items in a bag or older kids can snap pictures with their phone to make a collage or video!
2. Winter Painting
Painting snow was one of my go-to activities when my kids were younger, getting antsy in the house and just needed some fresh air. I’d fill spray bottles from the dollar tree with water and a few drops of food coloring then let them create. Now that we’re in the south without snow here are a few additional ideas to create art in the cold.
Melt Art: Put card stock or any other heavy paper at the bottom of a baking dish. Cover the paper with ice. Take the ice outside on a cold day and let the kids pour paint making a design on the ice. Bring the baking dish inside to let the ice melt and create a design. Once the ice has melted gently removed the paper so it can dry.
Freeze Art: Fill a cheap ice tray with water and stir in a little flour. Let your kids add food coloring and glitter if you’d like to each cube. Cover the tray with foil and stick popsicle sticks in each cube. Freeze in the freezer or outside. After they are frozen your kids can create a work of art with their ice paint!
3. DIY Snow
This is a fun activity that you can use to teach your child science. There are several different ways to make fake snow. I have two pinned that I included the links to below. We haven’t tried this one yet but it’s on the list this year!
4. Family Book Club
Winter is a great time to get caught up on your reading. It’s a great time to read as a family too. Make a list of books everyone in your family would like to read and spend time reading or discussing what you read together. Consider doing this with snacks and tea or letting your kids host family book club in their rooms with the snack of their choice!
5. Explore Museums, Libraries & More
The colder weather brings the opportunity to explore indoor options in your city. Museums, aquariums and libraries are great places to explore. Consider visiting a different place each week. Many libraries offer programs where you can check out passes to local places free of charge. Here’s the information for the experience pass in Georgia.
6. Winter Destinations
Look up the best winter destinations or the coldest places on Earth. Learn about where they are located, what makes them so cold, fun facts and make some of the foods from the area. Many places have virtual travel videos that can make this even more fun!
7. Igloo Building Challenge
If you live in the northern part of the US you may be able to do this one outside with snow. For those of us in warmer climates this would be a fun indoor activity for the whole family. Each family member will get two ice trays full of ice cubes, they must build an igloo with the ice cubes in the amount of time that everyone agrees on. This may be five minutes, fifteen minutes or at your own pace. This is a great activity to integrate STEM into. Working in teams could be another option. The person or team with the best igloo wins!
8. Family Puzzle
Do you know those really huge puzzles with a thousand pieces that are impossible to solve by yourself? Consider getting one of these puzzles and set it on a coffee table or side table. Work together as a family to put it together throughout the winter. Track your progress with photos!
