Enjoy the winter break with these fun and meaningful family friendly activities!
The winter break has arrived and after all of the Christmas festivities have come to a close you may be wondering how to fill the time before the kids head back to school! I’ve included a list of 9 fun & simple ways to keep everyone happy and busy over the winter break. These activities are good for kids from 1-99, the hard part will be choosing which ones to do!
1. Leave “White Space” in your Calendar to Make Room for Un-rushed Quality Time
- Spend an afternoon in the kitchen baking your favourite cookies together
- Build a new Lego set or make a new creation with the Lego you already have
- Build an indoor fort with pillows & blankets and make sure to include twinkle lights so there’s a nice soft glow inside
- Enjoy playing with the new Christmas toys: just getting on the floor and playing with your little one brings them so much joy!
2. Get Outside & Enjoy the Winter Weather!
- Go sledding or skating
- Enjoy a winter walk & scavenger hunt
- Make a snowman and paint the snow with food colouring in spray bottles
- Build a bonfire and make s’mores
3. Make Movie Time Extra Special
Here are a few simple ways to make movie night extra special over the winter break:
- Wear your favourite pyjamas, grab a cuddly blanket and snuggle up together as you watch your movie of choice. Enjoy hot chocolate with marshmallows during the show!
- Create simple movie trays: use dollar store bins with 4 compartments to hold popcorn, a drink, and treats
- Make a “popcorn bar”: purchase some extra treats and have everyone add their favourite choices to their bowl of popcorn
- Try making Root beer floats: just add a scoop of ice cream to your favourite choice of pop, grab a straw and drink up!
4. Enjoy the Local Attractions in Your City
The winter break is the perfect time to enjoy a family friendly adventure in your city. Here are a few of our favourite choices:
- Head to the Edmonton Valley Zoo for the day
- Check out the Royal Alberta Museum and be immersed in historical stories
- Take a break from the cold weather and head to a greenhouse like Kuhlmann’s where you can not only buy a plant baby but can also take a walk through the Christmas store and market
- Head to West Edmonton Mall where you can enjoy up to 10 attractions! Try bowling or mini golf, visit the penguins at Marine Life, enjoy rides for all ages at Galaxyland, go skating at Ice Palace, or try out one of the 100 slides at World Waterpark … there is definitely something for everyone to enjoy!
5. Get Crafty!
- Cut out paper snowflakes and string them around the house
- Colour a winter themed colour by letter printable by Trail of Colors
- Create a paper bag snowman by i heart Crafty things
- Try making peppermint play dough by Kristen Hewitt
6. Learn through Play with Sensory Bins
A little bit of prep goes a long way when it comes to engaging sensory bins that allow imagination to run wild! Check out these fun ideas:
- Winter snowman sensory box by Where Imagination Grows
- Indoor snow play for kids by Growing a Jeweled Rose
- Check out these Montessori Inspired trays by Mama’s Happy Hive ; she uses many natural materials & includes free printables!
- Try the “Snowball Transfer Game“: using cotton balls, straws and a couple of buckets try to hold the cotton ball on the straw as you move it from the bucket in the middle to your bucket!
7. Puzzle Time
Puzzles are such a great way to spend quality time together, enjoy good conversation and promote problem solving in young children. It’s a great activity for the whole family! The question I must ask is, do you complete all of the outside pieces first?
- Pick out a puzzle to complete as a family: shop your home or make a special date to go out and pick one!
- Keep simple wooden puzzles like this or this on hand for your toddler when they lose interest
- Invest in a puzzle mat! If you don’t have the extra space to leave a puzzle sitting out while you complete it, this is a great way to put it away and take it back out when its time to work on it!
8. Play a Card or Board Game Together
I like to keep it simple with our choice of games. I’ve included some classic go-to card games & board games that are fun for the whole family! When your kids need to get their wiggles out, try playing a fun indoor game listed below!
- Classic Card Games: great for preschool aged children & up!
- Classic Board Games:
- Check out our family favourites in my family traditions post here!
- Fun Indoor Games for Kids:
- Scavenger Hunt: Just search “indoor scavenger hunt” on Pinterest for a ton of fun ideas!
- Balloon toss: simply try to keep a balloon from hitting the ground!
- Dance & Freeze party: put on your favourite tunes and then dance it out, every time you stop the music everyone has to hold a silly pose. (Lots of laughter guaranteed!)
- Hide & Seek: even our dog, Jake likes to play this classic game with the kids!
9. Story Time
Sitting together to read is such an amazing bonding experience and its fun too! We like to read stories before bed time each night but here’s a few more ideas to make reading extra fun!
- Read the book, then watch the movie! Here is a great list of books that have movies from Edventures with Kids!
- Read by the Christmas tree, or in the dark with only a flashlight!
- Read about a snowman, then go build one outside! Snowmen at Christmas is one of our favourite books!
- Choose a special word at the beginning of the book (for example: WINTER) and do an activity every time you hear it (jumping jacks, touch your toes 10 times…)
Sharing is caring! Be sure to save this pin so you can refer to this fun activity guide all winter long:
I hope you found this fun & simple list of winter activities for the kids to do over the break helpful and inspiring! What are some of your tried and true family fun activities to do over this season? I’d love to hear about them!
