Winter at Home Activities

If there’s one thing most people love about the winter, it’s all the delicious cookies and treats. A warm kitchen permeated with the smell of freshly baked cookies…nothing makes winter more wonderful!

And while baking involves following detailed directions, it also gives kids a chance to get creative with presentation. Grab your favorite sugar cookie recipe, then go wild with icing, sprinkles, and chocolate chips!

Planning exciting winter kids activities doesn’t have to mean going to the store and picking up special materials. You can do plenty with the resources you already have in and around your home.

Be creative! Use old dishes to set up a pretend restaurant. Make a bin of old clothing that your children can turn into interesting costumes. When you model using things in many different ways, you help kids learn to do the same.

Feed the Snowman” activity using an old bottle. With just a few supplies (cotton balls, construction paper), you can make a fantastic DIY toy.

What you need

1. Plastic bottle:  creamer bottle
2. Small tongs: These are also at the Dollar Store
3. Cotton balls
4. Construction paper
5. Cookie sheet or other tray

What do you do 

Creamer bottle as my snowman which worked great – it was just the right size for snowman feeding. You can use any bottle, just check the opening is wide enough to shove a pom pom ball into.

Make a quick face out of construction paper and glued it on.

Once the snowman/creamer bottle had come to life, set it into a tray with some cotton balls. 

Tip: To make it challenging,  added plastic tongs for toddlers and preschool age. This is optional if you are working with a  baby age-group that isn’t ready for tongs yet.  It’s quite a fine motor work out.

Absolutely one of the coolest (pun intended) art activities for kids is frozen paint. It’s surprisingly easy to make, and something worth having on hand for days when you absolutely need an indoor activity for kids.Frozen paint is not hard to make

You have to prep this activity the day before, which I typically hate doing. But for something as awesome as frozen paint, it’s worth it.

What you need

1. Paint
2. Ice Cube Trays
3. Foil

What do you do

1. Fill each slot of the ice cube tray with paint, about half way.
2. Top each slot with water.
3. Cover tray with foil.
4. Take a knife and gently cut slits in the foil above each slot in the ice cube tray.
5. Set craft sticks into the slits, which will be held upright by the foil.
6. Place ice cube trays in freezer overnight.

Place a set of frozen paint-sicles on a plate with just a hint of warm water to help the cube start melting.

Give kids paper and paint-sicle and let them paint away.

What  do you need

1. large tub
2. water
3. chunks of ice
4. cups
5. scoops
6. spoons
7. towels

What do you do 

1. Fill a large tub with cold water. Add various-sized chunks of ice. You can make large ice chunks by freezing water in milk cartons or plastic bowls.
2. Invite children to use their hands to play in the icy water.
3. Add cups, scoops, and spoons. Challenge children to use scoops or spoons to pick up the ice chunks. Keep towels nearby for cleanup and to warm up chilly hands.

More ideas

Keep the fun going. Experiment with warm water and salt. Pour warm water over the ice chunks. Do they begin to melt? Sprinkle salt over the ice. What happens? Salt melts ice.

Obstacle courses are a unique physical activity that encourage problem-solving, Creativity, and, of course, lots of fun.

To create your own, look at the everyday items you already have around the house and build the course around them.

For example, if you have painter’s tape, place a long strip on the floor and in a matter of seconds, you have a balance beam. You can also line up books on the floor and create a maze.

You can even place some dining room chairs a few feet apart, and your child can go over and under them to reach the other side. Almost any movable item around the house can be added to the obstacle course.

When kids are having lots of fun, safety is often the last thing on their minds. As a parent, your primary role will be to ensure that no one gets hurt. This might mean adding a few blankets, pillows, or cushions in strategic places.

When you plan the obstacle course with your child, get them excited by encouraging them to see the items from another perspective.

We’ll place this blanket here, and this will be our lake. You’ll need to “swim” across this lake and make it to the other side. We need to create a long tunnel. Do you think the chairs or the table can help with that?

This is a great activity to get the whole family involved. And for a more challenging game, you can even time everyone to see who can get through the course the fastest!

If you’re looking for an indoor winter activity that can involve the whole family and burn off extra energy, try an indoor “snowball” fight using paper!

What You Need

1. Paper
2. Masking tape
3. Indoor space big enough to run around in

What to Do

1. Find some paper you’re going to recycle and scrunch it up into balls—this is great for building fine motor skills.
2. This game is quite active, so clear some space for running around.
3. If there are several of you, divide up into two teams and split the play area in half with masking tape. Parents vs. kids is always a great way to go!
4. If your kids aren’t ready for rule-based games, have fun throwing paper snowballs at each other and running around the room. If your kids are old enough to understand rules, divide the snowballs up evenly between the teams and set a timer. Whichever team has the least snowballs on their side when the timer goes off wins!

Using snow and ice to create sensory activities is a fun way to enjoy winter without risking sniffles.

What You Need

1. Snow from outdoors
2. Cookie sheet

What to Do

1. Take some snow from outdoors and put it on a cookie sheet.
2. Let your child play with the snow to engage their sense of touch.

More Ways to Play

Try snow “painting.” Fill sauce or spray bottles with water and a few drops of food dye, and let your child show off their creativity. Squeezing the bottles or the spray triggers also helps younger kids practice fine motor skills. Just wear a smock or old clothes and lay out plastic to avoid staining.

Use pipe cleaners, small sticks, buttons, and baby carrots to make mini snowmen. See how creative your kids can get!

This tasty activity builds fine motor skills and imagination and helps your child learn size order and size vocabulary…and did we mention that it’s tasty?

What You Need

1. Bowl
2. Vanilla ice cream
3. Edible decorations (cereal, apple slices, carrots, etc.)

What to Do

1. Scoop vanilla ice cream into the bowl (the snowman’s “home”), making three balls: a large one for the bottom, a medium-sized one for the middle, and a small one for the top.
2. Decorate the snowman! Cheerios can be eyes, other cereals could be buttons, a small apple slice would make a good mouth, and of course, you can use the traditional carrot nose.

As you make the snowman, use size language like “small,” “smaller,” and “smallest,” or “big,” “bigger,” and “biggest” to help kids learn about size order and expand their size vocabulary.

Here’s how to make fake snow with flour and corn starch.

How to Make Fake Snow with Flour

The fake snow recipe below is NOT taste-safe, as it contains baby oil. Simply use vegetable oil in place of the baby oil if you’d rather it be a taste-safe version. Technically, you really don’t want kids eating handfuls of raw flour either .

Fake Snow Recipe 

1. 12 cups All-purpose flour
2. 12 cups Cornstarch
3. 3 cups Baby Oil or vegetable oil
4. Silver glitter (optional)
5. White glitter (optional)

Place on tray or in bin with shovels,spoons and other toys allow kids to explore and play with snow. 

Painting with Shaving Cream Puffy Paint is a very popular activity .

To Make Puffy Snowmen, you’ll need:

1. Shaving cream.
2. White glue.
3. Paintbrush (optional) or something to stir the paint.
4. Paper plate.
5. Construction paper or heavier.
6. Pencil.
7. Snowman template.
8. Scissors.

Place shaving cream and white glue on paper plate or paper. Using paintbrush, spoon or finger draw and play.

HOW TO MAKE A SNOW STORM JAR FOR KIDS

What You Need

1. A jar or similar container
2. Baby oil
3. White paint
4. Water
5. Iridescent glitter
6. Alka Seltzer
7. Blue food coloring (optional)

What to do

1. Begin by filling the jar that you are using 3/4 of the way with baby oil.  
2. Briefly set this to the side.
3. Making the "Snow"
4. Combine one teaspoon of white paint with one cup of very warm water.  
5. Stir until the paint is dissolved.  
6. Once mixed pour the "white water" into the jar, leaving a touch of room at the top. 
7. Have kids add glitter and food coloring if desired.  Then, wait for the glitter and water to settle at the bottom of the jar.

 Making the Snow Storm

1. Take an Alka-Seltzer tablet and break it into pieces.  
2. Then, have kids drop the pieces into the jar and watch what happens.....
3. The water will immediately begin to swirl and bubble in the oil, creating a dancing snow storm!
4. Wait till snow storm settles and then  add more Alka-Seltzer so that they could watch it again!