Category: Winter Projects

Winter Picnic

Leave a comment

Winter Picnic (4)

We’re in the final stretch of winter, and if you’re equally sick of being indoors and dying to get your toddler outside, here’s the perfect idea: Don’t wait! Throw a winter indoor picnic instead.

While Veronika was napping, I set the whole stage including big blankets on the floor, soft balls to throw and play with, and a picnic basket full of little lunch items.

Winter Picnic (1)

When she woke up, she immediately needed to check everything out. The balls were a blast to play with, and soon she and big brother were happily devouring their meal.

Winter Picnic (2)

We invited a few “babies” along, and Veronika loved putting them in and out of the picnic basket!

Winter Picnic (5)

Older kids might have fun talking about favorite warm weather memories as they eat. My two were just thrilled with the change of location from the kitchen table! Did they eat as much as usual? No, but we sure had fun.

Winter Picnic (3)

Play Tourist in Your Town

Leave a comment

Tourist in Town (6).JPG

I love playing “tourist” in our home town with the kids, finding new ways to appreciate and discover the same place. One perfect way to do this is to head out in search of holiday decorations in December, when the same-old same-old houses suddenly look new again decked in holiday lights. Acting on a tip for the best neighborhood in town, we headed out to play tourist!

We made it special by getting everyone in pajamas first. And Travis got a candy cane!

Tourist in Town (1)

Don’t forget to set the radio to the holiday station!

Tourist in Town (2)

Travis knew we had a particular neighborhood as our destination, but that didn’t stop us from ogling every house along the way, rating the ones we liked best.

Tourist in Town (3)

The recommended neighborhood did not disappoint. There were flying Santa’s sleighs, giant penguins in doorways, sparkling candy canes, and more.

Tourist in Town (5)

Travis took it all in with wonder!

Tourist in Town (4).JPG

This was such a fun way to appreciate our town anew.

I Spy an Ornament

Leave a comment

I Spy Ornament (2)

Here’s a fun variation on “I Spy” to play around the Christmas tree after the sun goes down!

Turn off all the lights in the room so that the only illumination left comes from the tree lights. Take turns playing classic “I Spy” (“I spy something green”, “I spy something gold”,) and have the other family members guess which ornament it is.

I Spy Ornament (3)

Travis loved being in charge of shining a flashlight on the guessed ornament if it was correct. Because he’s young, his clues are sometimes hilarious. “I spy something at the top of the tree with wings.” Our angel!

I Spy Ornament (4)

This can also be a fun way to talk about family ornaments, for example explaining the significance behind homemade ones, family heirlooms, or those purchased on vacation.

I Spy Ornament (5)

Travis loved the game so much we might just play every night until the tree comes down!

I Spy Ornament (1)

Beach Party

1 Comment

Beach Party (3)

If you can’t get some place warm and beachy this winter, here’s my favorite suggestion for entertaining kids indoors: Bring the beach to you!

This morning, we woke to gray skies and cold weather, so on a whim I set out a few beach towels, as well as all our summer beach toys. There were sand buckets and shovels….

Beach Party (1)

…a travel tic-tac-toe game…

Beach Party (4)

…inflatable pool toys, and more! Of course for added authenticity, we cranked up the heat a few degrees so the kids could put on their bathing suits.

Beach Party (2)

I had intended the game mainly for Veronika, but big brother Travis had to join in, and soon was “sunbathing”.

Beach Party (5)

If you want to go all out, there’s so much you can do here. Add tropical music, tropical snacks, or even real sand and real water for your little ones to scoop and play with in a sensory way.

Apologies for the dark quality of these photos; yes we played this game before the winter sun was even up!

Easy Nature Sensory Bag

Leave a comment

Nature Sensory (6)

You could do this easy sensory activity with a toddler in any season, but it was particularly nice to fit in a little bit of nature in the winter. An unseasonably warm day meant our snow melted and Veronika and I headed outside briefly to find wintery treasures.

We returned inside with a pine cone, pine branches, a few leaves, and acorns. I filled a gallon-sized zip-top bag with just a bit of water, then added our treasures.

Nature Sensory (3)

Veronika was immediately intrigued when I handed it to her at her high chair tray (older toddlers might liked this taped down to a table). We talked about the different textures, especially the hard, round acorns.

Nature Sensory (2)

Because the colors were a bit drab this time of year, I ended up slipping inside a few tiny red jingle bells to mimic the look of red berries. Ok, so they were not really from nature, but they added quite the pop! She loved poking these around through the water with one finger.

Nature Sensory (8)

We can’t wait to do this activity in the spring, and see how different our nature bag looks!

Nature Sensory (7)

Brighten Dark Winter Nights

Leave a comment

Brighten Nights (3)

We are loving winter so far, with snow to play in and forts to build. The key, I have learned, to loving this darkest season is to keep things cozy. Here are four fun ways we’ve found to brighten the nights that begin as early as 4 p.m.!

First, we had an extra string of Christmas tree lights, and I gave Travis permission to hang them in his room.

Brighten Nights (1)

He loved that these had the option for flashing or steady modes, and he could control it with a button.

Brighten Nights (4)

Next, we made glow-in-the-dark paintings. Your kids can be deliberate or artsy with this activity…

Brighten Nights (10)

…Or just blob on the paint, as Travis did. He wanted maximum glow!

Brighten Nights (9)Next, we made a campfire. We scribbled brown marker on paper, rolled the paper up, and taped shut for quick “logs”.

Brighten Nights (6)

All our battery-powered tea lights in the house provided the perfect glow for reading Christmas stories and singing carols. A winter camp out!

Brighten Nights (7)

While we were at the “campfire”, we made sure to act out stories with shadow puppets, too.

Brighten Nights (8)

In sum, we’re staying cozy and happy, and excited for dark nights to come.

How to… Build a Snow Fort

Leave a comment

 

Snow Fort (g)

It’s only the third day of December and Travis is on the second snow day off from school. That meant we had to test out Highlights magazine’s tips for making the best snow fort!

Highlights recommended first delineating an area for your fort with a stick. We used a shovel instead, making a big square on our patio and then mounding up the walls to give us a base.

Snow Fort (a)

To make bricks for the walls, fill a rectangular container with snow. Drizzle with a little water, than add a final layer of snow on top.

Snow Fort (3)

Depending on the consistency of your snowfall, you may or may not need that extra water. We soon found that we did not – today anyway! Continue building until you have several layers of “bricks”.

Snow Fort (h)

We even tried adding windows.

Snow Fort alt.JPG

Simply twist an empty soup can to drill a little peephole.

Snow Fort var

Even more fun was adding food color to a spritz bottle; now we could decorate our fort’s walls with art (though I wish Travis hadn’t opted for orange!).

 

Snow Fort (f)

Travis loved being in charge of the “moat”, shoveling a long path away from our fort.

Snow Fort (d)

And we even armed ourselves with ammo, in case enemies (i.e. neighborhood friends) happened to storm the castle!

Snow Fort (i)

Don’t forget a side door to sneak out of! What special activities to you do on a snow day off from school? Please share in the comment!

Snow Fort (j)

Snow Skeeball

Leave a comment

Snow Skeeball (7).JPG

Finally! It took until March for us to receive our first real snowfall of the season, and we were so ready to play. Last weekend we were indoors at an arcade, so today we decided to replicate one of our favorite games in snowy form.

I fashioned a ramp out of the snow, making it lower at the bottom, and higher up top – good thing we had perfectly packable snow.

Snow Skeeball (2)

We wedged three buckets into the snow at intervals, and then I handed Travis a few golf balls.

Snow Skeeball (3)

Time to toss! We decided the first bucket was worth 1 point, the second was 2 points, and the third was 3. We even had tickets to use from a pretend-play carnival game!

Snow Skeeball (6)

The game was admittedly hard – next time we’d use bigger buckets. (Note: we’d also use colored balls, for rather obvious reasons!).

Snow Skeeball (5)

So here’s hoping for one more storm before spring. We’ll be out there playing skeeball… or should I say “ski ball”?

Snow Skeeball (4)

 

Pretend-Play Hot Cocoa

Leave a comment

fake cocoa (6)Ok, so this cute little craft won’t really warm the kids up during the polar vortex, but it will get their imaginative juices flowing! We loved this pretend play idea from High Five magazine.

I set up a table for Travis with all the materials we’d need: newspaper, brown paper, cotton balls, and big mugs for our “cocoa”.

First we needed to wad up a piece of newspaper for each cup.

fake cocoa (1)

Stuff in a mug to make a base.

fake cocoa (2)

Next, rip brown construction paper into pieces; smaller is better. Once you have a lot of pieces, crumple each up.

fake cocoa (3)

Add these pieces to your mug, and you’ll have a chocolaty cup of cocoa!

fake cocoa (4)

Travis loved adding “marshmallows” (soft cotton balls).

fake cocoa (5)

We thought it would be neat to trick his dad with this one, telling him we’d made him cocoa. Surprise! It wasn’t really meant to drink.

We also set up a little cafe for a few stuffed animal friends.

fake cocoa (7)

Travis did tire of the game rather quickly after that, but some kids may want to run their “hot cocoa stand” for a while. Have fun serving up drinks, making a full cocoa cafe, and more. I’d love to hear about it in the comments!

 

Picture Frame Winter Scene

Leave a comment

Picture Frame Winter (5).JPG

Here’s one of those crafts that didn’t exactly turned out as I imagined! My little artist had his own plans, but the whole point was the fun and the crafting moment together, not perfection.

To start, you’ll need a simple frame (you can find these cheap at a craft store, measuring about 5×7 inches). Travis loves the mechanics of removing the back off a frame, so was delighted to discover our project enabled him to do so.

Picture Frame Winter (1)

Cut a piece of leftover holiday wrapping paper to fit the glass of the frame, and insert.

Picture Frame Winter (2)

I set out acrylic paints and invited Travis to draw any winter-themed scene that would fit nicely with our Christmas tree background. He chose white for snow, and I encouraged him to paint a snowman, thinking of how the body is made up of various circles.

Picture Frame Winter (3)

Travis had his own plans, making a big snowy blanket of white. “It’s covering the trees,” he insisted.

 

Picture Frame Winter (4)

Luckily at this point I snapped a pic, because he soon decided he needed to “snow” over the trees completely with white paint. I laughed but didn’t tell him this rather negated the point of having wrapping paper inside the frame.

He then wanted to mix other colors over his white. “I’m an artist!” he declared, doing swirls of paint.

Picture Frame Winter (6)

Well, we didn’t end up with a winter scene, but we did end up with a good time!

Picture Frame Winter (7)

I encourage you to have fun with these, though. Your children could paint something quite beautiful in front of the wrapping paper background, whether snowmen or ornaments or anything else that fits the season. I’d love to hear what they come up with in the comments!