Winter Activities To Do With Kids

As we have had a couple of *kind of* wintery days recently, I have been hoping one of them would turn into a big snow, or at least some kind of snow day! But for a lot of people that may mean you have an unexpected full day at home with kids, whether its in the classroom or your own kids. So I thought it would be fun to write about some of the snow day/winter activities I have done in the past in the classroom in case any of you parents or teachers find yourselves needing some extra activities to do with the kids this winter!

Shaving Cream Puffy Paint

One of my favorite things to incorporate into the classroom during the winter months is learning about the Arctic animals and their environment. One of the things I loved focusing on specifically was the Northern Lights! Not only are they eye catching and fascinating, but they are great inspiration for art! We used oil pastels and drew arctic scenes one day, and then did the snow and shaving cream puffy paint the next day.

Showing kids how to use the oil pastels is a key part to this art activity though, because the blending of the pastels is what can create that smooth northern lights look... plus kids LOVE the parts that can get a little messy! We just used tissues and rubbed oil pastels in after we had drawn the pictures. We definitely ended up with oil pastels smeared all over our hands (and maybe some on our faces) but it was a ton of fun! The next day, we were able to go back and do another messy craft to make our arctic art even better!

To make shaving cream puffing paint, you basically just have to mix shaving cream and white Elmers glue. You want the consistency to still be fluffy like the shaving cream but have a little more stickiness than usual, that's what will help it stay on the paper and dry. We used it to add snow flakes, snow covered trees and mountains, and more.

We even had some kids that loved Minecraft make some pretty cool Minecraft polar bears with the oil pastels!

Arctic Habitat Dioramas

Dioramas may take a good amount of work, but they can really bring out the creativity and imagination kids have while still being educational! You don't always need fancy supplies for this either, we used basically any white and blue materials we found laying around! Packing foam, cotton balls, styrofoam, etc. Having the kids do a little planning before hand helped them come up with specific ideas of what they wanted, and then as they picked out materials they were able to find ways to bring their plans to life. I also wanted to make sure they had animals that could go with their habitats and provide ways for them to play with their creations after they were all done, so they each picked out an animal or two they wanted their arctic habitat to be for, and that really seemed to help them focus their ideas and come up with a solid plan. Most of the kids that wanted a penguin found ways to make snowy hills and slides for them (penguins are not actually found in the arctic, but in Antarctica, but that is a fact we all had learned about and thought was pretty cool, so some of them wanted to do an Antarctica habitat instead of the Arctic! But they all knew that penguins and polar bears cannot be found in the same habitat, unless in a zoo!) Some of the kids that chose an arctic fox or polar bear wanted to make an igloo/cave for their habitats. We even had one choose a snowy owl and found a way to have it hanging like it was actually flying!

As you can see this fun winter activity was able to combine learning and imagination and creativity, and that is always my favorite way to teach!

Making an Igloo Blanket Fort

What kid doesn't like making blanket forts?! Well this is a great way to combine the fun of blanket forts with learning more about survival in the arctic! Before we built our igloo, we had fun doing some research (yes, the kids had fun with the research part!) on how people actually build igloos and how they are able to keep them warmer on the inside than the outside. Did you know some people make large igloos that can safely have a fire on the inside and raise the temperature more than 40 degrees?? Its pretty cool! The kids loved learning about the vents added to the tops of igloos, as well as how a door/flap can be made from animal hide, and they found a way to create something similar!

We kept the igloo up for a few days and used it as a cozy reading spot! We even had a small lantern to go inside!

Ice and Salt Science and Sensory Activity

A simple and fun science activity that can keep kids busy for all afternoon!

This next one does require a tiny bit of prep the night before, but its quick and easy! All I had to do was take some arctic animal toys and put them in a small cup/container, put some water in it, then stick it in the freezer!

The next day, everyone got their own frozen arctic animal in a plastic bin, and had to figure out the quickest way to unfreeze them! At each table for them to use there were bowls with water that I dyed blue just for fun, as well as bowls of salt and scooping utensils. We wanted to find out if adding salt would actually help the ice melt sooner. At first, I wasn't sure if this activity would last more than 10 minutes, but it was a huge hit! Even after kids got their animals thawed out, they just wanted to stay and play. Don't underestimate the powers of sensory activities! There are lots of other ways to make this a more detailed science experiment as well. You could include other ingredients at the table for them to test out and see if there are other things lying around the room/house that can help ice melt faster. Or you could have a larger arctic sensory bin set up for them to take their animals to after they've gotten them out of the ice! Water beads would be a great addition for that, or even actual snow if there's some outside!

How Mammals Stay Warm in the Arctic Science Experiment

This last one is always a favorite.... The blubber experiment!

If you want to provide a hands on experiment that can show kids how seals, walruses, polar bears, and more animals can survive in drastically cold environments, this activity is a MUST!

This experiment uses plastic gloves, sandwich baggies, Crisco, and ice! You'll need two separate containers of ice and one bag filled with Crisco, which is what acts as the blubber some animals have. Most of the kids in the class weren't ones that would enjoy putting their hands straight into a bag of crisco, so the plastic gloves helped to prevent the messy slimy part. One hand goes in the bag with crisco and then into one bucket of ice, and the other hand just goes right into the other bucket of ice, that way they will be able to compare which hand gets cold faster, and how much an animal's blubber can actually help keep them warm!

These were some of the most memorable winter activities I've done with kids in the classroom, and often led to extended activities and learning because of how excited and engaged the class was. They were also fun for me as a teacher as well! They are all also things I could see myself doing with my niece if I ever needed to watch her on a snow day, so I think they are great ideas for parents as well if any of you find yourselves home with your kids all day on a snow day!