Ways to Celebrate Winter Indoors … and Survive It!
Winter is a time for big projects, long reads, soup or stew for supper, and snow!
Here are crafts, indoor activities and books that celebrate winter, as well as ways to help you get through the darkest time of year. Scroll down for tips on preventing winter burn-out, often experienced by hard-working homeschooling parents!
Crafts & Indoor Activities
Instructions for making paper snowflakes. These look great taped up on a window. Try writing a special word on each snowflake, or a letter on each using the snowflakes to spell out a message. While you’re making snowflakes, learn about Snowflake Bentley, who grew up in Vermont and became the first man to photograph a single snowflake! Here are some of his amazing photos.
Two easy bookmaking activities: Make a Gingerbread House Accordion Book out of a paper bag, and Make a Snowflake Accordion Book, both fun activities to do with age 5+.
Bookmaking for slightly older kids: Make a Summer/Winter Opposite Book (also called a Do-Si-Do Book) using recycled material for the cover.
How to Make a Gingerbread House. This is a major project accomplished in several sessions, more for decoration than for eating.
Learn about Cain’s Arcade, an inspiring story that might make you want to invent your own miniature arcade games. Here are instructions to make a mini Winter Olympics:
Two recipes for playdough:
Have indoor physical fun by creating an indoor obstacle course. Use furniture and objects. Place objects on the floor that you have to jump over or play a form of Limbo where you have to go underneath objects. Make a fort by putting a sheet over the dining table. Put pillows and a flashlight inside and create a cozy reading corner.
Make paper animal finger puppets. Print these on card stock for a more durable puppet. You will need scissors and tape.
Snakes (these are easier to twist around your hand if printed on regular paper)
Farm Animals (pig, mouse, cat, rabbit, horse)
Act out animal stories with your finger puppets! Decorate the blank snake puppets in holiday colors and Santa hats!
Make a balancing paper bird (may require adult help)
Books that Celebrate Winter
Activity Books
Let’s Go! Animal Tracks in the Snow! by Diane Polley, for ages 4-8.
The Little House Cookbook: Frontier Foods From Laura Ingall’s Wilder’s Classic Stories by Barbara M. Walker.
My Little House Crafts Book: 18 Projects from Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House Stories by Carolyn Strom Collins.
50 Things To Do in the Snow by Richard Skrein, on family adventuring in winter.
The Big Book of Nature Activities: A Year-Round Guide to Outdoor Learning by Jacob Rodenburg and Drew Monkman, with a section for each season, family and group activities for age 6 and up.
Books to read Together or Alone
The Snowy Day, by Ezra Jack Keats, for preschoolers, an award-winning classic.
Snow, by Uri Shulevitz, for preschoolers, delightful story and illustrations.
The Happy Day , by Ruth Krauss, a timeless classic for little ones, perfect for winter or spring.
A Perfect Day, by Carin Berger, for ages 4-8, charming version of a winter day.
Owl Moon, by Jane Yolen, for ages 3-8, a girl and her father on a moonlit winter night in the countryside.
A World Full of Winter Stories: 50 Folktales and Legends from Around the World by Angela McAllister.
Twelve Kinds of Ice, by Ellen Bryan Obed, for ages 6-9, twenty vignettes of one family's winter.
An Illustrated Collection of Nordic Animal Tales by Pirkko-Liisa Surojegin, for ages 6-10 (and up).
Little House in the Big Woods, by Laura Ingalls Wilder, for ages 8-12, a classic that makes you want to curl up in front of a fireplace.
Snow Treasure, by Marie McSwigan, for 8 and up, adventure set in Norway during World War II - my kids loved this book.
Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates, by Mary Mapes Dodge, ages 9-12, a favorite from my childhood.
The Girl who Dreamed Only Geese and other Tales of the Far North by Howard Norman, and 10 and up.
East by Edith Patou, first in a two-book series, a retelling of East of the Sun West of the Moon, a nordic fairytale for ages 12-17, highly recommended by my students.
The Secret Life of a Snowflake: An Up-Close Look at the Art and Science of Snowflakes, by Kenneth Libbrecht. Stunning photos of snowflakes makes this is a picture book for the whole family, with an introduction to the science of snow appropriate for youngsters. It will inspire you to take a closer look at all snowflakes!
Plan a Warm Weather Vacation
Nothing cheers up a cold, dark winter's day like planning a summer vacation. Whether it’s a day trip to a local beach or a road trip to visit family or friends, a flight to a far away place, or a trek in a National Park, planning it is half the fun! Use the National Park site to search for parks in your area or along your travel route. There are several National Parks in New York State, more in New Jersey and New England, all worth a visit. For brochures and maps, write or email a request to the Chamber of Commerce in the destination state or city, or write or visit a Tourist Bureau for the destination country. If you belong to AAA, request travel information and maps from them.
When I was eight years old, my parents planned a cross-country trip that summer. My mother asked me to write to every Chamber of Commerce in every state we would drive through. I did just that, saying when we would be there and requesting travel information. Over the next several weeks, bundles of mail arrived from state after state, each filled with brochures of scenic drives and museums and attractions, along with maps and pages of information. And it was all addressed to me! Receiving so much mail was a thrill for an eight-year-old! Especially during winter when I was stuck inside most of the time.
Prevent Winter Burn-out
This is the time to try something new! Have a little fun! Pamper yourself!
It’s easy to get the blues when you’re a hard-working homeschooling parent facing endless daily responsibilities, especially if you are stuck indoors during cold weather. Now is the time to make or do something new!
Listen to some new music.
Earn a new craft like jewelry-making or origami.
Start a project, such as a family scrapbook, a memory quilt, or knitting a scarf.
Make something new in the kitchen.
Recycle old materials into something new. Roll pages of old magazines into paper beads. Sew a memory quilt out of old clothes. Make a collage maybe adding photographs of people you know.
Play music and dance like nobody’s watching. If you have a baby or young child, mimic or mirror their movements.
Focus on a small task that gives you pleasure.
Make something beautiful, just for the fun of it!
Do this alone if you can. If not, invite the kids to join in.
Take time for yourself, and remember to breathe!