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Outdoors in winter with toddlers?
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Sigh. It’s snowing. I don’t suppose any of you wants to give me permission to just cancel outdoor time for the next 5 months or so? Hibernation sounds like a nice idea right now. I’m just not ready for winter yet. I’m watching twin toddlers in my home daycare and today I’m just feeling blah about the prospect of having to bundle them up and take them outside everyday all winter. It’s such a challenge to keep the little ones entertained outdoors when they are wearing so many layers and the snow is up to their hips so that they can’t walk!
On the other hand, my older children (7, 5, and 3) had a blast this afternoon building a little mini snowman and throwing snowballs at the fence. They used almost every speck of snow in the yard.
I know, I just need to stop complaining and find all the beauties of the season. We’ll probably have another week of nice weather before the nasty weather settles in for good, and I’ll probably feel better then. Time to stop and count my blessings and pull myself out of this mood. I know we enjoyed most of our time outside last year. My creative juices just aren’t flowing yet! Any brilliant toddler-friendly ideas out there for outdoor time and nature study in the winter?
Joanne
I know what you mean. Just when you get the last one bundled the 1st one is cold and done. I wish there was a better way. Sometimes we do (and sometimes a LOT) skip outside time and we just do some major moving inside.
But snow can be beautiful. We like to catch the flakes on black paper, use a spray bottle with colored die to spray paint the snow in the yard, build forts and other things besides snowman. Angles will be all over the yard in no time. It isn’t much but it’s what I have this morning.!
oh I have a great one!!!! Put the kids in their snow pants stick them in the tub and put the snow in the tub…. 🙂
It is great! You don’t even need to put their coats on. Maybe their gloves though… LOL…. Snow is cold ya know. Just scoop it in a bucket and throw it in the tub. Leave the drain open so the melty stuff goes down. Then, when you are done you can scoop it out or wait till you have an ice skating rink and put on some skates! Tehe he
It will eventually melt. But if you are planning on using the tub I would scoop out a bunch to get it to drain faster. You can do this at your leasure though. 🙂 The kids always loved that one. Last year my son asked me why don’t I do that anymore. I said, ” Sweety you can just go outside and play” He said, ” I know mom but it gets cold out there sometimes and it is nice to make things in the snow when it is warm..” 🙂
He even went out to get the snow to do it. I had to laugh… He realized it was better to go outside and play. Tehe he HE was a little big for ALL the snow he wanted to bring in.
Most of our winter outdoor time involves scooping snow. We get fined if it isn’t cleared within 24 hours…and we have a lot of sidewalk! They each have a little snow shovel of their own. I can’t say they get a lot scooped, but it keeps them entertained while DH and I are scooping! 😉
I second the little snow shovels, my kids LOVED shoveling. We’ve also had some sucess with dumptrucks and other trucks that “plow” and sandbox toys that scoop. Many will work with sand and snow. (Just have to make sure they get picked up every time, and not snowed over – ask me how I know this!) My kids also liked playing “peguins” they would climb up the snow pile made from plowing the driveway and slide down into the yard. I’ve heard of “snow paint” I think it’s mixing food coloring with water in a squirt bottle? As for nature study, what about a savenger hunt? A walk? Most parks aren’t heavily used in the winter (unless they have trails for snowmoblies etc) as you said it’s just beautiful after a fresh snow. Bird feeders to watch from the house (my oldest would watch the birds at the feeder for sometimes a half hour or more when he was a toddler) we’ve also used Nature in a Nutshell for Kids by Jean Potter (from the library) for winter nature study ideas. (You’re older kids would might like it) It’s grouped by season, I can’t say I love every idea, and not every activity is done outdoors, but they’re are a few really fun ones (catching a snow flake on black paper, looking at it with maginfying glass – you need the right kind of snow, you know the one with the softer flakes.) My kids really liked this. There’s a few more about snow, temperature difference in snowbank, how fast packed vs. unpacked snow melts…Looking for animal tracks in snow. And one I’ve always wanted to try but we haven’t done yet: blowing bubbles in the winter, if it’s cold enough the bubbles are supposed to sparkle when they freeze and bounce when they hit the snow. But we haven’t tried it yet!
When I was expecting my third child (due in winter), I made a list of winter picture books for the older two and tried to come up with ideas for things to do inside. They were preschool age though, but maybe a few fun ideas for indoor activites with toddlers would help you have something to look forward to?
Can the older kids shovel a path or maze for the toddlers to run thru? Or everyone who can take turns pulling them on a sled around the yard or on a walk? This is of course obvious, but do you have somewhere you can go sledding with everyone?
Holly,
I saw a really cool idea that someone in our hometown had done with the tons of snow they had to clear from the sidewalk. They had a little yard and the snow from the roof and the snow from the side walk was about as tall as the roof on their house. The first year they made Ursalu and the little mermaid and flounder. The second year they made Sully and Mike on Monsters Inc. Every year a new character came out on DVD they would make a sculpture of it. Sure it took them alot of time but they had tons of snow to work with. They packed it down really tight and carved away until they got it where they liked it. Then, they used Kool-aid in a spray bottle and sprayed it down to harden it up. Made a really nice ice sculpture. I had talked to the father one time and I think the last time he spray painted it. The newspaper came out and took pictures of it every year. I am not sure if they still do it because we don’t live there anymore but it was so cool to see such creativity. He was just an ordinary father. NO sculpting skills what so ever. His family just got out and played in the snow. His daughter loved disney characters and the two just happen to mix. We made a pig in our front yard one year. That was the extent of it though. Other than snowmen, women, and their families. This past year we had a snow plow. I had my husband pile it in front of our trampoline. We had a snow fort underneath and what was suppose to be a pirate ship. LOL… Until my son lost the snow shovels in the ship and we couldn’t finish it till spring thaw. Tehe he
Hope you can do something cool like that! I would like to here what you tried if you do try omething.
Have a blessed snowy day!
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