We already talked about and covered the outside activities for kids. They are great for kids’ immune systems, imagination, and connection with nature. But what about those indoor winter activities?
Sometimes it’s just not the right time to go out on the snow, on a freezing day, and play. Sometimes all you and your kids need is fun, simple, yet creative indoor activity inside your cozy household.
Here are our top 10 indoor winter activities for kids of all ages!
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#1 Indoor snowball fight
Snowball fight inside the house? Impossible! Not really. Make snowballs out of white fabric available at your home, white socks, or simple balls of paper. Give your kids a bucket of these homemade snowballs and let them make a fighting terrain and have fun.
Your kid’s energy levels boost when there’s snowfall. Practice throwing snowballs at each other so they can later engage in a snowball fight to help them get some of that energy out.
#2 Cardboard rocket ship or doll house
To get your kids to be creative, try on building something together. Find a nearby market, furniture store, or other wholesale distribution facility and get a sizable packing box. It can be any box large enough for your building purposes.
Help your kid build the wanted thing. Firstly, tape one end and reinforce the sides with tape. Cut a door and windows where you want and in the shape your kid prefers. Encourage your child to create panels using household items like twine, empty bottles, caps, toilet paper rolls, or other recyclables that you already have available at your home.
#3 House snowman
Making a snowman is the first thing kids will do once the snow falls. If there’s no snow at your place or you cannot do outside activities, build one yourself inside the house!
All you need is a couple of different size white pillowcases to stuff. The larger one should be at the bottom while the smaller ones should be at the top. Get a scarf to put around the snowman’s neck, a carrot to glue for the nose, buttons for the eyes and coat, and of course a hat at the top. This is just an example of what you can do. However, let your kids decide how they want to decorate the snowman!
#4 Winter snacks
Making winter snacks is always a good idea. Kids love cooking and baking especially if such thing involves crafting snowmen, Santa’s, snowman’s, snowflakes, etc. Here’s an example of how to make Christmas winter snacks.
Go out to your local shop and get some snowman-shaped molds or any kind of Christmas-theme molds for baking cookies. Make and bake a batch of cookies with your regular recipe or if you prefer cupcakes. Get some whipped cream to color your snowman, add food coloring such as red to make a scarf and hat, orange to make a snowman nose and black for eyes and buttons.
#5 Indoor scavenger hunt
A scavenger hunt is one of the most favorite kids’ games ever. It is also great for all seasons, fall activities but as indoor winter activities as well. Organize one in your home! Hide hints around the house to create a quest that will keep them occupied as they cooperate to solve puzzles. For an additional special surprise, leave a “treasure chest” with a few sweets at the finish. Here’s how you can organize an indoor scavenger hunt.
Set the number of clues where each clue should lead to the next one. Clues don’t have to rhyme, but they should test the hunters and provide them a suggestion as to where to look next. Ensure the theme of the hunt is in the Christmas spirit.
For instance, ensure the kids are hunting ornaments around the house or maybe candies. Include both large and small items. Create a few simple clues and a few more difficult ones. Simple lists of things are simpler for smaller kids, but you might want to be more open-ended with older kids to urge them to think. Hide the items, set the rules and time, and let the hunt begins!
#6 Christmas mittens making
Instead of knitting the gloves, which can be very fun but a bit complicated and intended for older kids, draw and decorate them on white paper. All you will need is some markers and colorful sticky dots. Firstly, tape the white paper on the table or the ground and draw a few pairs of mittens on it. Give your kids markers and sticky colorful paper to decorate them and make the perfect Christmas mittens!
#7 Alphabet snowman
Learning the alphabet doesn’t have to be dull. Make it fun and easy with the snowman activity. All you need is scissors, white cardstock, marker, large easel paper, and painter’s tape.
For each letter of your kids’ name, draw a snowman and write the letter on the snowman and cut them. Tape a large piece of paper on the ground and then draw a snowman outline to make a snowman name puzzle. The aim is to practice the alphabet with your kids and see if they can match the snowmen with the letter to their outlines.
You can make this game even more interesting by hiding the snowmen with letter and making your kids hunt each one around the house. After they collect all the snowman letters of their name, help the attach them to the snowman outlines.
#8 Homemade Christmas movie theater
Sometimes all parents need is some easy activity without equipment. That’s when movies come to the rescue! Everyone loves movies, especially Christmas ones. Choose the favorite movie or Christmas cartoon that your kids love and set your theater. Collect a bunch of pillows, and Christmas blankets, and make some popcorn, cookies, and even hot cocoa. Jump in those comfy pajamas and enjoy this activity as a family. This particular activity is great for those cold winter nights while the snow is falling outside!
#9 Inside obstacle course
Build a few different obstacles around your house. The kids must finish a task, challenge, or movement at each station to move on to the next one. Consider the ages, skills, and number of kids participating as you build your obstacle course. You should also consider the available area. When creating station layouts and concepts, you can truly use your imagination. If you have stairs, carefully consider using them. You can also search your home for everyday objects that you might be able to use such as blankets, soup ladles, kitchen utensils, jump ropes, and empty paper towel rolls.
For instance: Take some strings and tape them to the walls or chairs and determine the height of the strings. Tell your, kids, that they need to pass through the strings without touching them. This can be just one of the obstacles you can create inside your house just like you would do for outside winter activities.
#10 Creative indoor 3D snowflakes
Snowflakes inside the house? Why not! We’ve already improvised the snowball fight. Why don’t we make some snowflakes as well? For such a craft you will need a paper (preferred white but you can let your kid choose the color), scissors, ruler and a pencil.
Start with folding the paper diagonally and cut the excess paper at the bottom. Once again fold the paper in half and than in third again and cut off points to make the top flat. Create your own snowflake pattern and mark all the empty spaces with an x. Cut off all the empty spaces marked with x and unfold your 3D snowflake! You can make it as an ornament and add a thread to a snowflake and hang it on your Christmas tree! It’s that simple yet one of the most creative indoor winter activities!