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Ideas for outdoor play during winter
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We live in Wisconsin where it gets cold and snowy during the winter. But there is the in-between time where there’s no snow, but it’s cold so the swingset, sand box, and traditional warmer weather activities have been “closed” for the winter. Does anyone have any ideas for creative play outside during the cold, but snowless times? Any favorite activities, games, imaginative play that your kids enjoy? I tried building fairy houses out of sticks with my older boy, but the younger one just knocked them over. 🙂 My boys are 4 1/2 and 20 months. (I do give them free, unstructured time, but there comes a point when they need a little direction.)
thank you!
This is our first year in Wisconsin. But we didn’t go out that much last year either since I’m a cold wimp and hadn’t thought about how important it is for kids to be outside in all of the seasons. So we are trying to get outside more now. Yesterday it was warm enough to walk to the park (1/2 mile each way). On the way back, we pretended to be on a jungle hunt for various animals. My girls (5 & 2) are very imaginative and really enjoyed it. I hope for us to go for at least a short walk even when it is cold. Sometimes we play ball in the driveway. You could introduce hopscotch with side walk chalk.
I’m excited to hear about other ideas too.
I live in Wisconsin too – you are certainly right about the cold in-between times, then there’s the cold, wet, not quite spring time! My son, also 4 1/2 invented his own sort of game with sandbox toys (minus the sand) he and his sister (age2) transport all kinds of things in their dumptruck and and push them with the bulldozer: small sticks, larger rocks, pinecones are especially good. For awhile, I had the sandbox toys out by our front yard and put them away in the garage (instead of the backyard sandbox) for this purpose. Could you try making sidewalk chalk roads? Walks are a grand idea, mine love them. We also have some outdoor “chores” we feed the dogs and carry in firewood (small pieces for the kids) My hardest part is getting out of the house during cold weather, because my hands get cold so easily – I prefer to stay in. What about a birdfeeder? As a toddler my son loved watching the birds out the window. You might also try a simple nature scavenger hunt (I used to do these as a teenager when I worked as a counelor at summer camp – but I don’t see why they wouldn’t work any other time of year – you could make a list of things to hunt for. sometimes we would gather everything in a paper bag. The infamous “Y” shaped stick comes to mind.) I have been meaning to come up with winter activity ideas (both outdoors and indoors) for awhile now, but got sidetracked with thanksgiving. I’ll do my best to post any further ideas I come up with. Seems my kids are pretty close to the same age as yours too.
This question is kind of along the same lines. I live in Maine and am a bit of a wimp about going out in the dead of winter. For years I’ve been trying to figure out what to do in the winter months when we are often times stuck inside for fitness/P.E. I have three girls (ages 12,10 and almost 8) and feel that they just don’t get enough activity in the winter. I’ve often thought of writing a mini-book called “Living Room Physical Fitness for Homeschoolers” but I’m too busy homeschooling! Any ideas out there? We live out in the country with no gyms, pools anywhere near by (and probably wouldn’t have the money for membership fees if there were). I’d love to hear what others do for P.E.
We just bought a mini trampoline to use in the winter time. It’s a great way to get out some energy.
I second the bird feeder and watching idea. My son loves it. Also we have found a DVD named Family Yoga to be good. It gives them something physical to do that does not require much space.I am pretty sensative to the “spiritual” paert of yoga but I do not rememebr this DVD as having anything offensive by that nature. You can let them put lots of containers with water out and let them play with it. They can play ice hockey with it, stack the cubes up . There is a curious George show that has this as their theme on PBS. You may be able to find it on you tube or PBSKIDS.org
If you want to stay away from yoga altogether, I really like Praise Moves. It is a a Christian alternative to yoga. Similar moves but you meditate on scriptures while you practice the moves.
We also live in Maine! Thankfully my boys, 7 & 8 love going outside in any weather. I really do not like going out in the cold months at all. But they will happily go out and play. We have those in between weather times too. They will take out their play guns and go hunting (we live in the woods). I know not everyone does the gun thing so that may nto be an option for all of you. They play tag, football, baseball, soccer. They also love to play with the dogs outdoors, we have two large breed dogs. Hide n Seek is another favorite game. We also have a bird feeder on our deck, so that is a constant source of entertainment. Especially since I’m not a big fan of birds. So it’s always fun for them to announce “Mom the blue jays are back!” lol
I also for general exercise will just have them go out and run laps around the yard. This also works for consequences for misbehavior. Or if they have only stayed out a short period of time, I will say “first you need to go and run 10 laps around the yard then you may come in.” . Warms up their blood and gets their heart pumping. Great exercise. You could also play Simon Says outdoors with the children. That is fun, and works on immediate obedience in a fun way. Also can be played indoors.
We have had such mild weather so far here in Maine for December… I”m loving it! My sister lives in Wisconsin though and said it has been cold!
I’d forgotten about the “10 laps around the house” trick. I have used it in the past to regain the cooperation of a child when they have somehow forgotten how to think
. I think I will use your suggestion when I’ve told them to go outside and play and 10 minutes later they’re asking if they can come in. Thanks for the reminder! It has been very mild here in Maine this fall- good for the oil bill and wood pile.Thanks for some good ideas ladies! I also live in Wisconsin and we have several bird feeders that my kids watch and “report” to me what they see. They are learning many kinds of birds and don’t even know it! We also have a tape with bird calls that they can listen to.
I love that others use the laps around the house. My oldest boy (5) is sometimes so exuberant that he needs to get rid of some energy before school starts in the morning although we haven’t been doing this now that it is so cold out! We do jumping jacks and other things in our living room and Simon Says.
. I think I will use your suggestion when I’ve told them to go outside and play and 10 minutes later they’re asking if they can come in. Thanks for the reminder! It has been very mild here in Maine this fall- good for the oil bill and wood pile.
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