It's been quite a while since I wrote anything. Between work, kids, and the holidays it's just been too busy to add one more thing to my list! January and February, in my opinion, are the two worst months of the year, especially if you don't love winter, like me. I always try to find things to keep me busy during this time of the year to make the time go by faster since we're trapped in the house. Today feels like -15 degrees outside so it's definitely not one of the "warm" winter days I could take the kids outside to play. Here's a list of some activities to do during the cold winter months to do with kids and just for yourself!
What to do on a boring cold day?
Indoor Winter Activities
Color In A Coloring Book
Who doesn't love coloring? Coloring in coloring books is good for people of all ages. It promotes creativity and can actually help you relax and destress. I personally like mandala coloring books like this one.
Play Online Games
Although you'll be staring at a screen, there are benefits to playing games online. Playing games helps you mentally exercise your brain. You'll work on figuring out strategies to help you solve whatever game you're playing. I have a few favorite games I like to play often.
Spider Solitaire
This has always been a favorite of mine to play and is often the game I always go back to. Spider Solitaire is like an amplified version of Solitaire that requires more strategic planning of moving cards in order to get a full set. The website Soliatire.org has seven versions of Solitaire games available, one of them being Spider.
Mahjong
Mahjong is another game I've been playing since I was a kid. This game requires planning to match up tiles that look the same so they disappear off the board. Once all of the tiles are matched up and there aren't any left, you've won. It sounds like it's super easy, but some tiles are surrounded by others that must be matched before they can be accessed, which makes it more fun to play. My favorite one is Mahjong 3D Time because you're racing against the clock.
Learn A New Craft
Winter after winter I always find myself learning how to do a new craft to keep busy. Here's some of the things I have taught myself or did over the years:
Macrame - I learned how to do macrame last year by watching YouTube videos. It's very easy to do, especially if you used to make friendship bracelets when you were a kid. I made potted plant hangers, but you can make wall hanging decor, dream catchers, and more.
Embroidery - My new project I started this year is learning how to embroider on an
embroidery hoop. I started on January 1st and I am doing a different picture every day on one hoop for the whole year. It's almost going to be like a diary of the year, in small pictures. It's been really fun to learn how to do the pictures and learn the different stitches. I can't wait to see how much improvement there will be after I do it for a year.
Painting - Obviously there is SO much your can do when it comes to painting. You can paint canvases, wood, your house, pots for plants and much more. This year I decided I am going to paint some bird houses. I love Spring and the birds outside and got some bird houses last year that did fill with babies! I got some plain, unfinished bird houses from Hobby Lobby so I can finish them myself. Something else I did last winter was make my own Little Free Library.
You might also like: Little Free Library: Best Tips for Creating Your Own
Cricut - I just got a Cricut for Christmas this year. It's something I know I will use often, but I haven't had a need to use it yet. Using the Cricut Maker you can make so many things including decorating t-shirts, making stencils, puzzles, and creating your own birthday cards. There's so many possibilities when using a Cricut, and if you're feeling ambitious you can make extra money on Etsy from selling your creations.
Learn How To Can Food
The perfect winter cooking activity is learning how to can food! This is great to start in the fall when you've picked the rest of your garden crop and you want to preserve it. If you don't have a garden, don't worry, you can get everything you need at the store to learn how to can and preserve foods. It's a very fun and satisfying process to know you've made so much food that will be good for an extended period of time. This year I made:
Strawberry Jam
Grape Jelly
Pickles
Zucchini Relish
Tomato Sauce
Salsa
Hot Pepper Jelly
Pickled Jalapenos
Next year I plan to do even more and learn new recipes. We've almost gone through our grape jelly stash, we make a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!
You might also like: Preserving Your Garden Crop: Best Recipes for Canning
Cook & Bake
This goes along with canning, but cooking and baking is a comforting (and delicious) activity you can do by yourself or with kids. My kids and I made homemade cinnamon rolls the other day and it wasted some time, was fun to do, and was yummy to eat once it was done. It showed the kids there is a whole process to making food and the final outcome. After you're done cooking, have an indoor picnic for some added fun!
What activities are best to do during Winter?
Outdoor Winter Activities
Build A Snow Fort
This takes it one step further than just building a snowman. When I was a kid my dad helped my brother and I build a snow fort. We used a traffic cone to pack snow in and stacked it on top of each other to build a castle we could play in. You can use any container you have in the house such as a beach bucket. Take out all of the toys you would use at the beach and let the kids use them in the snow! It'll be fun for them to make molds out of the snow and see what they can create.
Visit Ice Castles
I haven't personally been, but a very popular winter activity in my state are visiting the manmade Ice Castles. I've seen many pictures but I'm sure it's even more amazing to see in person. There are a few states that have Ice Castles every winter that you can walk through. You'll feel like you're in the movie Frozen experiencing the thousands of icicles and castles made by professional ice artists. If you go at night the castles are lit up with colorful lights.
Sledding & Ice Skating
Classic outdoor winter activities include going ice skating and sledding. If you have the space in your yard, create your own ice skating rink. Some stores sell inflatable skating rinks you can set up and fill with water. If you don't have that kind of space see if your town's parks and rec sets one up for the public. Also look around town for places open to the public that would make a good hill to use a sled on. We used to go to our elementary school after hours to use the big hill there.
Make Snow "Ice Cream"
As a kid I always loved when we made snow ice cream. All you n
eed to do is make sure you find a clean spot of freshly fallen snow, put some in a bowl or a pot and pour maple syrup on top. It's not fancy, but it's fun for kids to make and eat while outside playing in the snow.
Do Outdoor Photography
Depending where you live you could learn how to take some nice outdoor winter photographs. Although I don't like snow, I have to deal with it where I live. It's very pretty to take pictures right after a snow storm, especially if you catch the animals that are out in the snow. I took this picture of a cardinal during the latest storm.
What Are Some Activities You Do?
There are so many things you can do during the winter, these are just some of the activities I like to do to help pass the time. What do you do in the winter? Do you like being outside in the cold or prefer to stay in? Leave a comment with some more winter activity ideas!
Looking for more activities? I am delighted to be included in Twinkl's Fun Winter Activities blog. Why not check out other winter-themed resources on their site?