Young children can enjoy winter activities both inside and out, depending on the weather. If there’s plenty of snow, but the day is fairly calm, then consider building a snowman! In this oldie but goodie video, your preschooler can learn about the science of building with snow in a fun, age-appropriate way.
Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?
When it’s time to go out and build, Your AAA Today suggests that you provide coal, buttons, or stones for the eyes. You can use the classic choice—a carrot—for the nose although they make other creative suggestions such as a spoon, a pinecone, an icicle, or a popsicle stick. Look for sticks that have finger-like little branches at the ends to use for arms. Then, you can use older clothing like hats and scarves to dress your snowman. If you’d like, you can help your preschooler use food coloring to add more pizzazz to the snow creature.
Sledding is a Great Winter Activity For Preschoolers
Another time-tested outdoor idea: sledding. Preschoolers don’t need great big hills; if a hill is fairly large, have the children wear helmets. Or your family can pack snow in the shape of walls and create a preschooler-sized snow fort. When you come back indoors, healthy mugs of hot chocolate will be appreciated by people of all ages.
Read Books About Winter
Plenty of great books about winter are out there for preschoolers. If you’ve just come inside from playing in the snow, your children might appreciate Sneezy the Snowman by Maureen Wright. Sneezy drinks cocoa to warm up. He also gets into a hot tub and stands by a nice, warm fire—and you can guess what happens next: Sneezy melts. Fortunately, the children in the story know what to do to help their snowy friend.
For a bedtime story, nothing beats tales about hibernation with Bear Snores On by Karma Wright, a favorite of many kids. Bear dozes off—as bears are supposed to do in the wintertime. As he sleeps, a variety of other chilly animals find their way into his cave. When Bear finally wakes up, he can join the party.
Winter Arts and Crafts
When thinking about fun indoor winter activities for preschoolers, they often enjoy arts and crafts. A handprint tree only requires a blue stock card plus paints, a pencil, and cotton swabs. Trace your child’s hand and forearm on the stock card and then paint in the space; she prefers brown to represent the trunk and branches of a tree. Then have your preschooler use the swabs as mini-paintbrushes, dabbing with winter colors such as white, pink, blue, and purple to create the rounded shape of a tree with leaves. Encourage them to be creative and to have fun.
Try Making Snowflake Marshmallows
To make snowflake marshmallows, you just need toothpicks and marshmallows in two sizes. Show your preschooler
pictures of snowflakes, and then put two mini marshmallows apiece on several toothpicks. Then put each of these into a large marshmallow to mimic the appearance of a snowflake.
This is one of the winter activities for preschoolers that serves a dual purpose. It’s a great STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) project. Plus, you can enjoy these marshmallows in your hot chocolate cup!