20 Fun Winter Activities For Kids

Last Updated on January 22, 2024 by Lori Pace

What can you do between snow play and hot chocolate inside? It is difficult to imagine how we can keep our kids entertained in winter, when it can feel so long. Here are winter activities for kids that you can try!

Outdoor Snow Play Winter Activities For Kids

Put on your scarf and hat. Let’s go outside to find some snow play ideas that will keep children entertained for longer than it took to put the right foot in the boot.

Snow Spray Painting

To make the paint, I just had to grab a few spray bottles (I made sure that the triggers were given a good squeeze in the store before buying them) and fill them with cold water and food coloring.

Snow Spray Paint

• 3/4 cup of cool water
• 10 drops of food colouring

Instructions

Add the food colouring to the water in a small spray bottle. Repeat for multiple colours/bottles. Spray the snow. 

Coloured Ice Sculptures in the Snow

Supplies:

• Water
• Food Colouring 
• Ice Cube Trays and Plastic Containers
• Water Bottle

Instructions

Get your small food containers, storage containers, and ice cube tray. Fill all the ice cube tray trays, containers, and containers with colored water. Then, I put some in our freezers and some outside to stay warm in sub-zero temperatures overnight. Once the coloured ice was frozen, move it to a large container in my chest freezer and repeat the process.

Mix 5 to 6 drops of colour into water and pour it into two ice cube trays. After you have made enough ice, all you need is a cold day. For your ice sculptures, it should be below 0°C (32°F)

Snow Volcano Science Experiment

Supplies

• Snow
• Baking soda
• White vinegar
• Washing up liquid (dish soap)
• Colouring 
• Small, thin tubes or bottles

Instructions

Make a volcano out of snow and place a small tube or bottle in its centre. Add a few drops of colouring, a lot of baking soda, and a little bit of dish soap to the tube. You now have your snow volcano setup. Now the fun starts! Use a small bottle of white vinegar to squirt into the tube containing baking soda. Your volcano will explode when the vinegar reacts to the baking soda. The washing up liquid makes volcano eruptions foamy.

Winter Activities For Kids: Snow-Frozen Yoghurt Melts

Supplies

• Yoghurt (Flavour of Your Own Choice)
• Berries
• Cookie Sheet

Instructions

Combine the berries and yoghurt together and place them on a cookie sheet. They came out perfectly fine even though we didn’t butter our cookie sheet. Place them outside to cool the yoghurt melts. Be sure to watch out for other animals. After taking 30 minutes to freeze the yoghurt meltings, bring them inside for a much needed snack.

How To Make Snow Paint

Supplies

Instructions

Collect your snow as the first part of this snow activity! Fill a small bowl with snow. This could be done after a snowy walk. Fill a small jug with snow, and bring it inside. Each small container should contain 1/2 cup of snow. Mix the snow with a spoon. 

Your snow paint is now ready for use. Your snow paint will be melted quickly so you will need to use it immediately. Place some scrap newspaper on the table. So, here starts the winter activities for kids.

Next, place the white cardstock. Paint with a paintbrush. Dip your brush into the snow paint. Anything you like can be painted! You can paint a winter scene, patterns, or even a rainbow.

Art Winter Activities for Kids

Paper Snowflake Garland

Supplies

• White paper
• Scissors
• Stapler
• Pencil

Instructions

Fold your paper in half along the length of the paper. To create even pleats, I folded the paper in half and then folded it again. To use as a template, cut one pleat. Take the remaining accordion and smash it together. Then staple the centre.

Make your snowflake design on the template that you have created and then cut it out. Draw your design on the stapled papers and then cut it out slowly. After you have cut the design, separate the pleats from the medallion and attach the ends.

Sparkly Snowflake Craft Winter Activities for Kids

Supplies

• Popsicle sticks (4 sticks per snowflake)
• Hot glue gun and glue sticks
• White glue
• Sequins, buttons, glitter, or jewels

Instructions

To make a snowflake for winter activities, kids can careful hot glue 4 popsicle sticks together. Let the kids decorate the popsicle sticks using their Markers. And allow them to cover the snowflakes with white glue, and then add sparkles to them!

Use a large container to contain the mess. After all the sequins had been used, children could grab a few from the large container and sprinkle them onto their snowflakes. Children would shake their snowflakes after the glue had dried to remove any remaining sequins. After the snowflakes had dried, we attached a ribbon loop using a hot glue gun to make them ready for hanging on a Christmas tree, door or window.

Cut and Glue Snowman Art

Supplies

• White paper roll 
• Colored construction paper
• Glue Stick 
• Child scissors (we love these!)

Instructions

Tape the white paper vertically to your table. Next, create the head and body of a snowman. Quickly cut out simple shapes and put them in the centre of the table with some scraps.

DIY Winter Solstice Lanterns

Supplies

• Mason Jars
• Wikki Stix
• Paint
• Twine/Yarn

Instructions

Our first step in this winter activities for kids is to make snowflakes from Wikki Stix in our glass mason containers. Our Wikki Stix were cut into three small sticks. These were then twisted together to form our six-sided snowflake. To make the snowflake designs, we cut some Wikki Stix smaller. One of my children decided that he wanted his lantern to look like a snowstorm. So he used little pieces of “snow” to make it happen.

One lantern was painted with regular strokes. These lines will disappear if you apply many coats of paint. Let them paint the lanterns and it created a nice, textured design. After the paint had dried, we attached twine or yarn to our lanterns. Lastly, simply add a candle to our lanterns.

Tape Resist Snowflake Winter Art Activity

Supplies

Instructions

Tape large pieces of paper to the wall or onto a table. Tape and scissors can be used to make tape snowflakes on your paper. Paint the entire white poster board. Do not leave any white spots. Allow it to dry overnight. Take off the tape to reveal the secret!

Winter Activities: Make Tissue Paper Mittens for Kids

Supplies

• Liquid glue 
• Chubby paint brushes 
• Tissue paper squares
• Large white paper 

Instructions

I used a 75/25 ratio of liquid glue to water. The glue stays sticky and dissolves easily. You can place the tissue paper on your mitten and then apply the glue/water mixture to it. You don’t want to use too much water as it can cause damage.

Draw a large mitten onto the paper. Lay out tissue paper squares or tear off pieces of tissue paper. Use a paintbrush to add water to the glue. Demonstrate how you lay one piece of tissue on the mitten, and then “paint” it with glue or water.

Simple Watercolour Snowmen

Supplies

• Watercolours
• White paper roll
• Markers

Instructions

Trace a few circles and leave the rest to your child. Start with just one snowman, and see where your ideas take you. We hang the finished painting on his bedroom door.

Indoor Winter Activities for Kids

Not only can kids play outside, but if the weather doesn’t allow, you can come up with some fun winter activities indoor for kids. Spending a quality time with family play an important role in your children’s mental health.

Ice Skating Bears

Supplies

• Storage bin
• Blue food colouring 
• Muffin pan 
• Counting bears 

Instructions

Put water 3/4 of the way in the muffin pan then freeze. Next, place the bears on their backs so that they can stand on the frozen circles. To fill the remainder of the hole, add cold water then refreeze.

Winter Bear Rescue

Supplies

• Muffin pan 
• Counting bears 
• Squirt bottles
• Salt 
• Under the bed storage bin 
• Something underneath

Instructions

These counting bears are the star of sensory play. They can be frozen and used as a rescue mission by your preschooler. You can freeze them all in a muffin pan so that they each have their own pods to rescue.

In each circle of a muffin pan, place a few counting bears. Add water then freeze overnight. You can remove the circles from your muffin pan the next day. Place the circles of ice in your sensory bin. Here I am using an under-the-bed storage bin. You can add colored WARM water. You may also add salt.

Squishy Snowman Sensory Bag

Supplies

• Craft Foam
• Glue Gun
• Clear Packing Tape
• White Glitter
• Silver Snowflake Confetti
• Cheap Clear Hair Gel
• Water
• Sandwich Bag

Instructions

Tape around the sides of our sandwich bag. Fold down the top and add clear hair gel. Add some water and glitter to the bag. The ingredients are gently mixed together by closing the bag. To add the foam eyes, nose and 5 red buttons, open the bag. Make sure to get rid of as much air as you can before closing the bag again.

We added a large strip of glue to the bag’s top and then we put the snowman’s head on using the glue gun. Our snowman was ready for play after allowing the glue to set for a few minutes.

Indoor Paint Snow Winter Activities for Kids

Supplies

• Storage Container
• Food Dye
• Snow (Get them outside)
• Paint Brushes

Instructions

The storage container should be filled with snow. Two bowls were enough to fill the storage container with colored water. Then give them paint brushes and it’s time for some cold art.

Feed the Snowman Activity

Supplies

• Plastic bottle
• Small tongs
• Cotton balls
• Construction paper

Instructions

You can use any type of bottle to make the snowman. You can make a quick face with construction paper. Then, place the snowman on a tray and add some cotton balls. To make it even more difficult, you can use your favourite plastic tongs (we have them all the time).

Snowman Themed Name Hunt

Supplies

• White cardstock
• Marker
• Scissors
• Large easel paper
• Painters tape

Instructions

Draw and cut out a snowman. One snowman will be needed for each letter in your child’s name. One snowman will have the letters of your child’s name drawn on it. Next, place a large piece of paper on the ground. Tape the paper to the floor and draw an outline around each snowman for a snowman name puzzle. Try to match your toddler’s snowmen with their outlines. Your toddler can hide the snowmen in the room, while you count.

Decorate the Mittens

Supplies

• White paper
• Markers 
• Dot stickers

Instructions

On white paper, draw a pair of mittens. Give your child dot stickers. Then, watch him create his mittens. This is a great activity to bond the two of you.

Winter Sensory Bin Activities: Animal Snow Rescue for Kids

Supplies

• Container
• Baking Soda
• Favourite Toys

Instructions

Use a container box then add the baking soda. Place their favourite toy and let them play.