What To Do Outside With Your Kids In Cold Weather
So, it’s cold and wintery, and the children are complaining that “they’re bored”? You want to encourage them to have go outside and have fun, but they have already made some snow angels and built a snowman, so now what? Here are some fun snow activities to do with young kids:
Play snow soccer
You can play soccer in the snow in a smaller area than regular soccer, because the ball won’t roll far (or even not at all if the snow is light and fluffy!) Heads up – colorful balls will be more useful than white soccer balls.
Do outside art.
This activity is great for large numbers of kids or even 1 child by himself and also doesn’t require too much snow to be fun. To set this up, you need some spray bottles and food coloring. Add warm water to multiple spray bottles. Add a few drops of food coloring to each bottle. Screw the sprayer top on and shake them up. Now, children can take them outside and create their very own masterpieces on the snow canvas outside.
Play “Cut-the-Pie”
This is an oldie, but a goodie. This game is fundamentally a tag game played in the snow. First, have the kids make a large circle in the snow with their boots. Then, cut across the circle from one side to the other, creating several pie shaped triangles. One child will be “It” and have to chase their friends along the paths made with their boots, but all children must stay on the paths. When a child was tagged it is then his or her turn to be “It”.
Go snowshoeing
Obviously, the deeper the snow, the more fun this is, as the children will get a kick out of being able to walk on top of the snow. Children will discover new things wearing snowshoes, even in a familiar area, because they will be much taller than usual.
Wear pajamas under their coat and snow pants.
Why is it fun to wear jammies under a coat and snow pants? It just is – ask a preschooler.
Drink hot chocolate
Ok, this isn’t an outdoor activity, but it’s possibly the most important item on this list. Once you’ve got the children to go outside and they are having so much fun with all these fun activities, how do you get them back inside before hypothermia sets in – hot chocolate! And do NOT forget the marshmallows!