Winter Activities to Do with Your Children

Inside Snow: We bring snow inside and put it in a tub or bucket and let them play with it. Sometimes they like to wear mittens other times, they use bare hands.

Songs about the weather: "Today it's snowing, Today it's snowing, Today it's snowing all day long. I can't believe, Today it's snowing, Today it's snowing, all day long."

Snow painting: Put water colored with food coloring into a spray bottle and spray the snow. Use a few different colors and make a rainbow in the snow bank.

Holiday Card Collages: I let them use the holiday cards we receive in the mail to make collages or to illustrate stories that they make up. The cards always have adorable pictures of snowmen, reindeer, Santa's, stars, trees, or whatever. This way they don't get thrown out or stuck in a box forever.

Noise makers for New Years Eve: Use toilet paper tubes and fill them with beans, buttons, popcorn kernels, or anything that is small and makes noise. Tape the ends of the tube, decorate the tube if you wish, and shake away.

Ice Skate: We put on our skates (socks) and carefully step onto the frozen pond (smooth floor-wood, tile, vinyl, etc.). We skate around the pond all afternoon and never get cold.

Snow scene pictures: Use popcorn, small marshmallows, potato flakes, packing peanuts, etc, and glue them onto paper to make a winter wonderland.

Baking: Baking anything always puts me in a good mood. Even something as easy as instant pudding allows the kids to help and practice pouring and mixing.

Finger Painting: Allow them to use the pudding they made to finger paint with. Put down wax paper or large sheet of butcher paper and let them draw with the pudding. This is good for little ones since it doesn't matter if they put their fingers in their mouths.

Ice Painting: Freeze water colored with food coloring in ice cube trays. When the ice is frozen take them out and let the kids "color" with them on white paper.