10+ Cool Activities to Keep Busy this Winter

Ok confession time. This blog post has been sitting in my drafts folder for a whole YEAR! I had this idea that I'd do two wintery themed blog posts - one about Fun Activities to do Indoors which actually got published (but could do with an update mind you), and this one. So it's time to actually get - it - done!

I love seasonal themed learning, it's a great way for children to explore their changing world through their play. A four seasons round up post is also currently in the drafts folder!

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Snowflakes 

An oldie but a goodie! Miss M is obsessed with folding and cutting at the moment and she's finally learnt how to use scissors, so naturally she loved these. She took care of the folding, and I just held it for her while she cuts. Great for decorating windows!

Want more? Glue popsticks together to create a snowlake like this one at Childhood 101.

Winter Trees 

We call this 'tape resist 'painting' where you use painters tape to create the tree shape and paint over it all with wintery colours. Remove when dry and voila! Very easy.

Option B: Crayon resist painting. You can get a similar effect using a white crayon to draw the tree, and paint over it with blue water colour paints to let the crayon shine through.

Discovery Bottles

I shared my excitement on Instagram earlier today that I found PLASTIC Voss water bottles at my local Woolies! I had only ever seen glass ones before, so of course I grabbed a few to create discovery bottles (so pretty and pinnable!). We made a few wintery ones using blue food colouring, silvery glitter, alfoil pieces, dishwashing liquid and a few other bits and pieces.

You could even create a discovery bottle for all four seasons! (Mental note - do this for your round up post Lauren!)

Snow Dough

There's a couple of recipes I found for snow dough - we just used cornflour and vegetable oil to make this batch (plus some silvery glitter of course). Some Frozen figurines completed this small snowy world! (This idea - by me - appeared first in Kid Magazine Issue 29). 

We also tried it out with Peppa Pig and her friends after reading Peppa Goes Skiing.

Wintery Play Dough

This post wouldn't be complete without wintery themed play dough! I say that you know your a kid blogger if you can make play dough by heart (or guessing) and don't need a recipe! Basically I just throw plain flour, salt, cream of tartar, vegetable oil and a splash of boiling water together, and keep adding flour if it's sticky. We kept this batch white, but added glitter to make it special. Meanwhile I just grabbed whatever bits and pieces from my craft boxes that had a wintery feel!

Frozen Themed Activities

Finally, over at Childhood 101 - you can find instructions for how to make a Frozen ice castle! Love this one! Basically, you can add the Frozen characters to any activity and it makes it wintery LOL!

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Of course you could head outside, pop on the rain coat and gum boots, jump in muddy puddles, measure the rainfall, make mud pies, rug up and go for wintery walks on those rare sunny days. Outdoor play shouldn't stop just because it's winter!

So what do you think about winter? Love it? Hate it? Tolerate it?

Lauren xx

Linking with Jess