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Last Updated on September 15, 2020 by Natalie

Wintertime doesn’t mean the end of spending time outdoors with your kids. After it snows is one of my favorite times to get outside and play until we are ready to drop. What cool activities are there to do if you want to stay home and just play outside? There is so much stuff to do in winter that’s family friendly and a lot of fun.

Let’s check out fun things to do in winter with kids!

Fun Things to do in Winter with Kids

There are many fun things to do with kids in the winter outside. Sledding, ice skating, and skiing are all awesome activities, but what if the conditions aren’t right for doing those? What if it costs too much money? There’s a lot to do outdoors during the cold months.

What if there’s no snow? No problem! This list includes fun things to do in winter without snow, too.

As always, I advocate for letting kids get messy and have creative control over their art and play. Resist the urge to help. How do I overcome this? I participate and make my own masterpieces! All of these winter kids activities are family friendly.

Weather Related Note

As the saying goes, there is no bad weather, only bad clothing. If you’re going to be spending a lot of time outdoors, make sure that both the kids and the adults have weather appropriate clothing. If your weather is extreme, use your best judgement to decide how long to be outside. There are certain weather conditions that may not be appropriate times to spend outside (such as a white-out blizzard or extremely cold days). I trust that you will use your best judgement for the conditions in your area.

Get into your appropriate gear and try these winter family activities!

Disclaimer

Bonfires

Bonfires aren’t just for summer and autumn weather. They can absolutely be lit during the winter months, too. It can be used to create lunch or dinner, just as you would grill in the warmer months. Kids can easily cook hotdogs or make s’mores with adult supervision. It’s a great way to spend time outside during the winter. Kids can make snow statues or snow caves if the weather allows. They can also help tend the fire (use your best judgement regarding the age(s) of your children). Kids typically love collecting kindling (small sticks) to put into the fire, too.

Treasure Hunting

All you need to get started is an ice cube tray, water, and food coloring. Prepare the ice by filling the ice cube tray with water and then mix 1-2 drops of each color and color combinations of your choosing and freeze until solid (overnight is always an easy option) to create “jewels”. Then, put the icy jewels outside in your yard for your kids to find. If you have beach toys, a sand bucket is an excellent way for them to carry their newfound jewels.

As a bonus, the ice cube jewels can be reused on a different day for another treasure hunt or they can be used to build sculptures outside after they’ve been found, creating another activity without additional preparation! Once play is done or the ice cubes have become too melted, they can be left outside. If there’s snow, leaving them to melt on the snow will also create a splash of color in the midst of the winter blahs.

Snow Painting

Photo courtesy of Julie from Waiting for Fireflies.

An easy way to paint the snow, is by using this snow painting kit (which is the one used in the photo, carrot not included). You can also use drink mix mixed with water or food coloring mixed with water to create your own snow masterpieces.

The kits come with powered dye packets to mix into the bottles with water. They are brighter than the DIY method of using food coloring in empty soap bottles. However, both work equally well and are such a fun winter activity for kids.

In warmer climates, change this to ice painting. Kids can paint their snow statues, make colorful snow towns, or even just paint the snow on the ground. There’s no wrong way to create with paint and snow!

Blow Bubbles

Blowing bubbles are fun to do outside in the summer, so why not the winter, too? If it’s really cold (think 9-12 degrees F or -12.8 to -11.1 degrees C), some of the bubbles will freeze, which is fun to observe. They are also just as fun to pop in the winter as they are in the summer. Bear in mind that most are going to pop before they can freeze, so it will be especially neat to watch them when they freeze before popping.

Snow Bowling

Bowling is such a fun game and it can be easily played outdoors in the winter. One easy way is reuse plastic drinking bottles, filling them with water, and letting them freeze. Please don’t overfill or they may explode. You can knock them down using a rubber ball you find around your house, a beach ball, or you can try using an ice ball (similar to the ice lanterns above).

Alternatively, you can grab this hilariouslylarge bowling set and use it outside during the winter and summer both!

Winter Marble Run

If you have snow, make a marble run! Kids can design and change the design until they achieve their vision. Best of all, it’s virtually without mess!

If you don’t have snow, here’s an alternative: fill a baking sheet with water and freeze it. You definitely need one with some depth for this project (like this baking sheet). A metal brownie pan will work, too. Once the water is frozen, kids can work on their project outside, learning how to chisel the ice to get the marble to move. They can learn to use salt to  melt a path of ice, too.

It can be kept in the freezer and kids can work on it later, too!

Make an Ice Sun Catcher

This is such an easy and fun project for kids to do. First, they can go outside and collects bits of the wintertime nature. Second, lay those items into a flat dish (a pie tin works great for this project). At this point, you can add a string or ribbon, with a loop hanging out of the pie pan (if you forget, there’s a way to remedy it later). Third, let the sun catcher freeze. Once it’s frozen, hang it outside!

If you forget to add a string or ribbon during the freezing process, you can use a drill to make a hole (allow at least two inches from the edge to keep it strong for as long as possible).

In warmer climates, this can be done the exact same way, except the ice sun catcher will have to be frozen in your freezer. It will also melt much faster outside.

Snow Garden

This is an awesome snow day activity! All you need are pots (plastic pots work better than terracotta in this case), a gardening tool set or beach toy shovels, and artificial flowers. Then, let your kids fill those pots with snow and arrange the flowers as much as they want.

If you don’t want to buy new materials, see if your kids can find leaves under the snow and create their own “flowers” made from leaves and sticks.

Enjoy Being Outside in Winter

Whatever fun winter activities you chose to do, get outside and enjoy the winter. Another favorite thing to do after spending several hours outside, is to come inside and make a hot drink. Sometimes, it’s tea or hot chocolate. It can even be as simple as warm milk (or milk substitute for those with allergies), mixed with a small amount of sweetener and vanilla. I have fond memories from my childhood of cross-country skiing with my family and coming inside and enjoying a hot drink similar to those above. I loved winter as a kid and I hope my kids do, too.  Get outside and have some winter family fun!

What fun things to do in winter with kids are your favorite? The best feedback comes from readers. Please leave a comment with your thoughts and suggestions. Thank you!

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