So, the winters are here again! Thick woolens are out, it is snowing heavily outside and you are sitting in the house wondering, what to do with the kids to keep them engaged in such a weather! Or picture another scenario, you are a teacher and the kids have just come back from their Christmas holidays, now what outdoor activities or indoor art and craft activities to plan, which are not only fun but educate the children about the winter season? To help both parents and teachers, suggested below are some fun, as well as informative winter activities for kids.
Fun Winter Activities for Kids
Winter Poems
One of the most interesting indoor winter activities for kids is to have them recite some fun winter poems. You can read out these poems to the children and ask them to repeat after you. Here are three cute winter poems which the kids are sure to enjoy immensely.
A Chubby Little Snowman
A chubby little snowman
Had a carrot nose
Along came a rabbit
And what do you suppose?
That hungry little bunny,
Looking for his lunch,
ATE the snowman’s carrot nose…
Nibble, nibble, CRUNCH!
Snowflakes
Snowflakes, snowflakes falling down,
On the trees and on the ground.
I will build a man of snow,
Tall black hat and eyes of coal,
If the sun comes out today,
I will watch you melt away!
January
January opens
The box of the year
And brings out days
That are bright and clear.
And brings out days
That are cold and gray,
And shouts, “Come see
What I brought today!” – by Leland B. Jacobs
Winter Crafts
Kids’ crafts activities are a great way to engage them and at the same time, make them learn a thing or two about the winters. A simple craft activity that you can undertake with the kids is to make a snowman out of paper plates. Given below are the step wise instructions on how to do the same.
How to Make a Paper Snowman
Things Needed: Two paper plates, a red ribbon, black and red construction paper, colored markers, scissors, a hole punch and glue.
Instructions: Take one of the paper plates and cut out about two inches from all sides so as to form a smaller round paper plate out of it. This paper plate will serve as the face of the snow man. Next, punch a hole near the edge of both the paper plates. Take the red satin ribbon and tie both the paper plates together, by inserting the ribbon in these two holes. Tie it in such a way that you are able to make a beautiful bow with it in the front.
Take the black construction paper and draw two boots and a hat on it. Make the cut outs with scissors and stick them on the paper snowman. Next, take the red construction paper and make two mittens on it. Again, take out the cut outs and stick them on the snowman. In the end, with a black marker draw the eyes of the snowman as well as the buttons on the body. With a red marker, draw a triangular nose and a smiling mouth. This simple paper craft activity can be easily conducted with kids above five years of age. However, make sure that you use the scissors and the glue yourself. If it’s a large group of children, see to it that you have two to three adults to help you out with such winter craft activities for kids. You may further go to Christmas craft ideas.
Outdoor Winter Fun
When it comes to outdoor winter activities for kids, you just have to be a bit creative and you will be surprised at the number of ideas you can come up with. Here is a list of a few fun outdoor activities.
- A snow ball fight
- Building a snow fort
- Building a snowman
- Shovel snow around the house or on the school playground
- For younger kids – taking a nature walk. For older kids – taking photographs of the snow, birds and trees
- Building an igloo
- Check out the animals and birds around and draw pictures of the same
- Observe the changes in the sky at different points throughout the day, right from morning to afternoon to evening and finally, night.
- Enjoy hot chocolate in the sun
- Play winter games for kids such as writing names on the snow with the feet or making different shapes on it using spray bottles which have colored water in them
Winter Flashcards
Winter flashcards are a good way to educate the kids on the various winter animals and birds. You can prepare flashcards with the pictures of various winter animals and birds like polar bear, arctic fox, reindeer, harbor seal, pacific walrus, snowy owl, red squirrel, winter wren, hermit thrush, woodpecker and fox sparrow, which you will easily find on the Internet. Start the activity with showing these pictures to the kids and tell them the names of the birds and animals. Once they are able to identify these, plan a quiz with the same flashcards to test how much they are able to retain. To make it fun, give one candy for each right answer!
These are some fun winter activities for kids. These activities, games and crafts are sure to make the winters an interesting and memorable time for the kids!