Winter Activities
From Early Childhood News
Fill an empty grapefruit half with birdseed and suspend with rope or wire from branch.
Next time it’s snowing, chill a sheet of black construction paper in the freezer for 30 minutes; catch snowflakes on it. Look at each snowflake with a magnifying glass.
From Nature Conservancy Activitiy Guide
Take a winter walk around the yard, around the neighborhood, or at the park or nature preserve. Make a list of wintering birds, berries, tracks, tunnels – and don’t forget to look under logs to see what is sheltering there. Replace log. Then go in and have hot chocolate and snacks and talk about discoveries.
For very young children: hide stuffed animals in the yard, then go on a safari to find them; along the way, note the real animals, birds and other signs of winter. Build a snow fort. Pile snow, excavate a wide entrance and shovel out a place to sit.
Winter Fun
Make a snow angel; a partner helps the angel-maker get up neatly, without disturbing the edges.
Sprinkle cups of birdseed into the head and body. Add pine cones for angel’s spreading wings.
Snowman Race
Snowman Race: Have 2 kids or 2 teams make snowmen bottoms; at GO, they finish the snowman – body, hat, nose, etc.
Ideas from Outside Winter Time Fun by Barbara Shelby.
Winter Trees
Take a walk in your yard or neighborhood or park paying attention to trees—and don’t forget binoculars! Look for differences in evergreen trees; if possible, identify some; at least note the different shapes, needles, and cones. Look up high in the evergreen trees for cones still on them. Look up high in the deciduous trees and notice the branches and knobs. With the leaves gone, these are easier to see.
Search for animal homes in deciduous trees. Look for evidence of ways animals survive in winter.
Don’t forget to pack some peanut butter or suet into crevices of a large pinecone and roll in peanut butter and hang for the birds. Put some birdseed in an orange half or grapefruit half that has been hollowed out and hang from a tree branch.
Then have some hot chocolate – with lots of marshmallows!
Winter Stroll
Take a winter walk around the yard, around the neighborhood, at a park or nature preserve.
Make a list of wintering birds, berries, tracks, tunnels – and be sure to look under logs to see what is sheltering there. (Replace log.)
For very young children: hide stuffed animals in the yard and go on a safari to hunt for them; along the way, note real animals, birds, and signs of winter.
Afterwards, go in and have hot chocolate and talk about what you saw. Talk about birds like the chickadee and cardinal who stick around all winter; perhaps you can cut out pictures of some of these and paste onto construction paper to make a little book.
Fun in the Snow
As we go into winter and get closer to Christmas, a fun project you can do with your family and friends is to make reindeer food! You’ll need a bowl, something to store your food in, oats, bird seed, and peanuts. Mix two cups of oats, one cup of bird seed, and one cup of peanuts in your bowl. Save your reindeer food until Christmas eve, then sprinkle it in the yard for when Santa and the reindeer come, so the reindeer will have a snack, too!