The cold winter months can be a boring time for children, but a smart parent can provide fun winter activities to do at home with kids that will end the doldrums and spark the imagination. Winter presents a difficult time for both children and parents, in that kids are usually home from school for extended periods on both half term and Christmas. Finding engaging winter activities not only gives children an outlet to disperse their pent-up energies but allows a parent quality time to better learn their children and to bond. Fortunately, there are a good number of both inside and outside winter activities for kids that fit the bill.
Fun Things To Do In The Winter
Outdoor winter activities for kids!
Outdoor winter activities to do at home with kids can be enhanced in enjoyment greatly with the occasion of a good snowfall. Fun things to do in the snow include creating snowmen, snow angels, snow forts and of course, having the always popular snowball fight between siblings and parents. The aftermath of a winter storm also presents opportunities for sledding and tobogganing, given that there is an appropriate incline in the immediate vicinity.
If snow is not in the equation, tossing around a football is a fun winter activity to do with kids, and it also gives everyone involved a chance to get some much-needed exercise.
Also if you don’t have real snow then sensory play with fake snow is a great activity for younger children.
Indoor winter activities
Inside the home, one of the most enjoyable winter activities to do with kids is to decorate the house for the holidays. Halloween and Christmas present a wonderful chance for children to express their imaginative thoughts and to contribute to a family’s holiday traditions. Included within this activity is the baking of holiday treats like Christmas cookies. Kids have a ball not only eating cookies but revel in the opportunity to decorate them, personalise them, and then present them as gifts to family and friends.
Halloween is also a great time to do some indoor Halloween activities with kids.
Winter art projects
Winter crafts for kids are also a great way to kill a few hours on a gloomy winter day. There are tons of websites on the internet that cater to children’s crafts in many forms such as paper crafts, wool crafts and others using common household items. Many of the websites offer children’s crafts and craft patterns for free, with easy-to-follow instructions that require little adult supervision.
The trick in discovering fun winter activities to do at home with kids is to experiment until a group of your children’s personal favourites are established. In this manner, once a parent detects boredom in a given pastime attention can be quickly diverted to another more engaging form of fun for kids.
A homemade movie night is also great in the winter. All you need is to find a great family film, choose a seasonal one like Frozen or Christmas Carol for added authenticity, make a carpet picnic, hot chocolate and you are good to go.
My three also like a board games evening, we have some great family games and I try to choose something that challenges and educates them at the same time, think Scrabble for example!
There are plenty of Christmas themed crafts that can be done at this time of the year too – make cards or print on brown paper ready for wrapping gifts. Teach children how to sew and make some Christmas decorations or start new traditions.
The weather doesn’t have to stop the fun – it may be cold outside but there is still plenty to do with the children at home. Children generally don’t mind the activity if they are having some attention from their parents, it is the doing something together that counts.
