Inside: Awesome winter activities for kids you can enjoy as a family
It’s the end of fall and you’re looking forward to winter.
Maybe you’re really excited to watch the first snowfall of the season with your kids.
Or maybe your kids are itchin’ to bust out the snowsuits and play outside for hours while you sit inside toasty warm, and watch them from the window drinking your hot coffee.
But if you’re from the Midwest, (like me) or anywhere else where it feels like winter for more than half the year, winter gets old fast!
(Seriously, one year Chicago had the nickname Chi-Beria, and it’s not unheard of for it to snow in May…)
Those warm, fuzzy feelings about winter disappear quickly!
It’s also no fun to be stuck inside for most of those 6 months when it’s below zero, with your kids who have so much pent up energy they’re running around like Cujo who just spotted a tasty bunny…
So you need a plan. How are you gonna keep yourself and your kids entertained throughout this long, very frigid winter?
Let me help you out girl!
Due to the lengthy Midwest winters we have to suffer through, I’ve come up with a list of winter activities that me and my kids love, (I’m positive you’ll love them too!) and they make the long frigid winter much more enjoyable.
30 Fun Winter Activities For Kids
- Build a snowman
- Have a snowball fight
- Snuggle up in blankets and read christmas stories together
- Make hot chocolate with marshmallows
- Build a snow fort and jump in it after you’re done with it
- Go sledding
- Visit a local winter festival
- Make paper snowflakes, (either out of coffee filters or construction paper,) decorate them, and hang them around the house
- Make snow angels in the yard
- Explain to your kids what donating means and why it’s important. Sit down with your kids and go through their old toys and clothes. Have them help you decide what to donate to those less fortunate. Then have them go with you to drop off the donation.
- Stay inside and play your favorite board games
- Build a fort, bring flashlights, and tell stories
- Play card games
- Make some winter crafts. Use glue to create winter pictures and add glitter. When it dries it’ll look like glittery snow!
- Bake cookies and decorate them
- Listen to holiday music while everyone helps decorate the house for the holidays
- Have a dance party or a sing songs together
- Have a tea party
- Play an indoor game of flashlight tag. Turn off all the lights and use your flashlights to ‘tag’ someone else.
- Have a volunteer day with your kids in your town
- See who can jump the most times in a row on the bed or an indoor trampoline
- Cook a meal as a family
- Take a walk through your neighborhood and look at the holiday lights, (you can also drive to another neighborhood to check out more lights and decorations).
- Have everyone go outside when it’s snowing and catch snowflakes on their tongues
- Make a snow sensory table for indoors. You can use white objects like cotton balls, rice, flour, moon sand, or actual snow!
- Go ice skating (indoors or outdoors)
- Get big sheets of paper, outline each of your kids whole bodies, and fill each one in! (Give each person hair, eyes, smiles, nose, clothes, etc.). You can also have your kids trace you so you can fill yourself in too.
- Have a lunch picnic inside your house
- Have a movie marathon
- Do individual puzzles together, or get a big floor puzzle and work together to finish it
Final Thoughts
As crazy as winter can make me, there are lots of great winter activities you can enjoy with your kids.
On the normal winter days you can have fun outside and on those exceptionally frigid arctic days, you can use these ideas for some inside fun! (You can grab a full years worth of activities for kids here!)
So bring on the inevitable winter and look forward to the fun you and your kids can have!
Don’t forget to pin this list to refer back to when you need it!
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