Entertain and engage children at home with these activities and games for all winter long! With the holidays over and a new year in full swing, these activity ideas are perfect for the winter months. Try an idea from this list for an after-school activity. Get the whole family involved on the weekend and bust boredom in record time! Fill your calendar with free activities for kids and watch the time fly by.
Build a snowman or snow fort outside.
If you live in a snowy climate, try building a snowman or snow fort! When you have finished, learn about igloos online and watch a documentary about winter animals. This winter activity combines fun and education! Kids also strengthen their motor skills by building and crafting with snow. If you live in a warmer state, build your snowman from fake snow and construct a fort out of blankets and chairs. The essential idea is the same, and kids can still learn about igloos and winter animals in snowy climates.
Paint a winter sledding scene.
Help your child find their inner artiste! This is a great preschool or kindergarten activity that requires very few craft supplies. For this painting project, you can either finger paint or use a paint brush. Paint dots of white glitter paint at the top of the paper to represent snow falling. Add this same paint at the bottom to draw your snow and snow hill. Then paint a person sledding. This paint activity helps children express their creativity and use their imagination to create a scene.
Try a winter fitness challenge inside.
Create a chart so kids start their day with a little exercise, like 10 jumping jacks, 5 high jumps, or kids’ yoga exercises. This is a great way to stay active and healthy, even if you can’t get outside as much. You can also add rewards to the fitness challenge. For every week of fitness, try doing something the child loves to do or reward them with a special fruit treat. The whole family can get involved too!
Start mindfulness meditation Mondays.
Guide your family in a breathing meditation, to clear your minds and find focus. This can be for 30 seconds or 5 minutes, as long as you like. Here are some verbal instructions, to lead the meditation:
- We’re going to close our eyes and clear our minds.
- Now smile. When we smile, it sends a happy signal to our brain.
- Breathe deeply in. Keep smiling. Feel that positive energy fill you up.
- Breathe out. Let it all out. Very nice.
Meditation helps children and adults clear the mind, relax the body, and ease anxiety. Guided meditation is one helpful way to start the day. Try to incorporate this into your daily routine and see if it helps improve focus and self-confidence.
Enjoy a love-themed storytime to warm up winter.
Even if Valentine’s Day is over, you can still celebrate with children’s storybooks that focus on love and kindness. Storybooks open a child’s world to new ideas and experiences. They can also inspire a child to practice kindness and compassion. Personalized children’s books are especially meaningful, with the child’s name on the book cover and throughout the story. With the child as the star of the story, he or she can see themselves doing good and showing love to others. Children can learn about family love and God’s love with custom books like Who Loves Me? and God Loves You! Two siblings or friends can read about spending fun time together with the book We Go Together Like…. To warm up your winter nights, cuddle up with a personalized children’s book that’s all about loving each other and others!
Play a flashlight ABC’s and numbers game.
This children’s game is a great learning opportunity! Practice your letters and numbers in this fun twist on hide and seek. First, hide a few letters and numbers in your house. Since this game is played in the dark, you can hide them in obvious places—on a chair, on the floor, etc. Give hints about what letters and numbers you have hidden. For example, hint about the sound the letter makes, or hold up fingers and ask what number you are holding up. Kids will search for the letters and numbers in a dark room, using a flashlight to see. This may seem like a simple game, but kids will love the excitement of searching in the dark!
Learn at home with this children’s STEM activity.
This STEM activity is perfect for kids to learn in winter! You’ll need candy hearts and household items such as an eraser, marker, small toys, and an ice cube. Create a sheet that asks comparison questions. Here are some ideas:
- What is longer? 10 candy hearts or 1 eraser?
- What is longer? 20 candy hearts or 2 markers?
- What is shorter? 17 candy hearts or 3 small toys?
- What weighs more? 27 candy hearts or 2 pencils? (for this, you will need a balance scale)
- What will float in water? 1 candy heart or 1 ice cube?
*Add baking soda and vinegar to the water with the candy heart and then see what happens!
The child will make an educated guess and then see if their guess is correct! This is a fun lesson for pre-school, kindergarten and elementary school kids. By comparing and contrasting, kids will practice their math and science skills.
Resources:
https://happilyevermom.com/flashlight-alphabet-game-kids-can-find-letter/
