Got cabin fever? You’re not alone. Being stuck indoors all winter will make anyone antsy. Instead of going stir crazy, try these fun things to do with kids in winter. From unique craft projects to fun in the snow, your entire family will grow closer as you make it through the colder months together.
Arts and Crafts
- Make paper snowflakes and hang them up in unexpected places around your home.
- Make a pine cone bird feeder using peanut butter and birdseed. Then hang it outside a window where you’ll get to see the birds enjoy the treat each day.
- Draw and color a mural showing a winter scene. Then hang it up in your living room where the kids will enjoy seeing it every day, or mail it to a family member who lives in an area of the country unaccustomed to snow.
- Use the back side of some leftover wrapping paper to draw and color life-sized pictures of one another.
Cooking Together
- Make homemade hot cocoa with marshmallows.
- Make ice cream using snow. All you need are milk or cream, vanilla, sugar, and the special ingredient: snow!
Games
- Go bowling. If your kids are young, try the duckpins for little ones.
- Play board games together, and be sure to introduce the kids to some of yourfavorites!
- Have a snowball fight. If your kids are different ages/sizes, set a few “ground rules” up front.
- Take a guess at how much snow is on the ground. Then grab a ruler and go measure it to see how much snow you’ve gotten this year. See who comes closest to the right answer!
Physical Activities
- Go sledding together. Don’t forget to bundle up and bring the bike helmets for added safety!
- Buy a kid-sized shovel and shovel the driveway or sidewalk together. If the snow is really deep, be sure to carve out a ‘lighter’ area for your kids to work.
- Build a snow fort together. Or, if it’s too cold outside, build your own super fort indoors out of blankets, pillows, and large boxes.
Educational/Cultural Enrichment
- Make a graph showing each day’s high and low temperatures for the week. Then make predictions about next week and see who’s closest to each day’s actual temperature.
- Visit your local library and check out books on winter themes. Then come home and take turns reading to one another. Bonus: use your phone to record one another reading and then save the recordings for bedtime stories on a night when you’re extra exhausted.
- Fill a spray bottle with colored water and write in the snow. This is a fun way for young kids to practice their letters.
- Have family movie night with hot cocoa, popcorn and lots of blankets by the fire. Choose family-friendly movies or better yet, let the kids select the film!
