40+ Free Outdoor Winter Activities for Kids
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Winter was never my favorite season. I always preferred staying inside where it was warm—by a fire with some tea or hot chocolate if possible. (This was pre-kids, but now my drink of choice is coffee!)
After meeting my husband, I started to venture out more and discovered I did like going outside if I was appropriately dressed and going on an adventure. But I still preferred the indoors.
Once I had my first son, though, I realized I’d better work on becoming a winter person because he’d live outside if he could, regardless of the weather.
But playing in our small backyard got old pretty quickly. And I struggled to find free or inexpensive things to do with him. It’s taken some time, but I’ve come up with a list of free outdoor winter activities for kids that everyone will love.
Find a New Sliding Hill
My oldest son loves sliding, but he also loves a challenge. We have some decent snow banks in our yard by mid-winter, but they can lose their thrill after a while.
Take a walk around your neighborhood or in a wooded area to find new sliding hills. And, of course, if you’re in the woods, you’ll likely have the hill all to yourself.
Snowshoe or Hike with Hot Chocolate
Snowshoeing is one of my favorite things to do in winter—especially right after a fresh snowfall. My 4-year-old and 1-year-old get endless joy from knocking the snow off the tree branches.
Making a thermos of hot chocolate and stopping at the halfway point is a great way to warm up for the trek back.
Look for Winter Birds
Adventuring is such a good learning experience for kids. You can increase that impact by learning about and looking for winter birds.
I love the Merlin Bird ID app for this. It’s a free app that will allow you to identify a bird with audio or a photo. We use this app all the time!
Where I live, we have winter birds in the trees right outside our windows. My 4-year-old loves pointing out when he sees or hears a chickadee, especially when we’re out in the woods!
It’s incredible to watch him connect seeing the birds in different environments. And this helps him feel proud and builds his confidence.
Look for Animal Tracks
Another way to pack more learning into your adventures is to look for animal tracks. Before going out, look up what animals are in your area and what their tracks look like.
When you inevitably come across some tracks, ask your toddler what animal they think may have made the tracks. Of course, you may not get the correct answer, but they will likely enjoy this guessing game.
And who knows, maybe you’ll get lucky and see some of the wildlife that made the tracks! We often see deer where we are, and my kids love it. Just be sure to maintain a respectful distance from all wildlife.
Evergreen Identification
In the same vein, identifying evergreen trees can be fun.
Having a guidebook or looking them up on your phone can help here. I’d never given much thought about the trees specifically before my first son, but now I love looking up trees!
You’ll likely be surprised about some of the trees. There have been some I was sure I knew but was completely wrong!
Geocaching
If you’ve never been geocaching, I highly recommend it. It’s basically a treasure hunt, so your kids are bound to love it.
The benefits of geocaching in winter are:
- No bugs
- Fewer people
- Less undergrowth
Finding caches where you take what’s in it and leave something behind may be a good idea. It can be a good opportunity for your kids to make a little treasure they’d like to leave in the cache.
Find Some Frozen Waterfalls
Frozen waterfalls are impressive to look at, even if you’re not a kid. You can often hike or snowshoe into where they are.
As far as your toddler is concerned, they don’t even have to be big waterfalls—everything seems big in their eyes.
Combining the frozen waterfalls with the hot chocolate could provide an even more exciting time.
Go Stargazing
This might not be easy any other time of year unless you kept the kids up past bedtime. That can be fine occasionally for some kids, but it can cause some issues for many kids.
But winter is an excellent time for this because it gets dark early (there had to be at least one benefit!). So have a quick supper, get geared up, and head out on a clear evening.
I don’t know about you, but my oldest son is obsessed with the moon and stars. So, getting out on an adventure and seeing the moon and stars means he’s always talking about it for weeks!
Winter Scavenger Hunt
This adventure is perfect for toddlers! Once they know what something is, they point it out on repeat. So why not use all the new knowledge from previous adventures?
Make a list of the different trees, tracks, and birds you’ve been learning about, and see how many you can find. They’ll be so proud of themselves when they find them.
Have a Winter Picnic
Why not find a nice, cozy spot to have a winter picnic? Build a fire to sit around if you feel safe doing so, and sip soup from a thermos while eating sandwiches.
This is sure to be exciting for your kids. And hey, if you have a toddler, maybe the novelty of it will encourage them to eat more (how do they survive on so little some days??).
If an outdoor picnic doesn’t seem feasible, or the weather isn’t cooperating, we’ve done some indoor picnics, and they’ve been very well received!
Other Outdoor Fun
Here’s a list of even more activities and adventures to help you make the most of winter.
- Shoveling snow—This is one of my oldest son’s favorite things to do!
- Go for a sled ride—Both of my kids love being pulled in a sled.
- Build a snowman—This one is a classic. And, if you have toddlers, the arrangement of eyes, nose, etc., your kids will come up with will be entertaining.
- Paint the snow—With a watering can, spray bottle, or water bottle with a hole and some colored water, and put their art skills to work.
- Paint with snow—Use snow to make art on a brick house, fence, or tree trunk.
- Make a snow fort—Remember to keep it to walls only for safety.
- Make a snow maze—Have them help you build the walls and watch them try to find their way out.
- Watch some snow clearing—This keeps my kids entertained all winter.
- Play at the park—Climbing and sliding will be very different in the snow.
- Freeze different items—Put some things in containers with water and leave them outside.
- Play with your sandbox toys—These can be just as fun and useful with snow!
- Make colored ice globes—All you need is balloons and food coloring. They will add a bit of magic to your backyard.
- Freezing bubbles—Blowing bubbles and watching them turn to ice is fascinating!
- Study snowflakes—They’ll be thrilled to see all the different snowflakes.
- Fly a kite—Winter winds can make this activity easier than summer.
- Make colored icicles—attach some string to small bottles of water filled with different colored water.
- Host an outdoor playgroup—get all your kids’ friends together for some winter fun.
- Dissecting pinecones—if your kid is anything like mine—they love pinecones. They’ll love taking them apart and learning all about them.
- Make snow angels—They’ll love seeing the different shapes different movements make in the snow.
- Snowball target practice—This fills their need for throwing in a safe and fun way!
- Snowball fight—engage in friendly, supervised snowball battles.
- Ice skating—Visit a frozen pond or outdoor rink. If your kids aren’t old enough to skate, they’ll still have a lot of fun sliding around on the ice.
- Winter obstacle course—Set up challenges in the snow, like hopping and crawling.
- Snow Bowling—Use snowballs to knock over plastic bottles or pinecones.
- Make ice ornaments—Freeze water and items from nature walks, like leaves and berries, in molds and hang them outside.
- Outdoor Christmas Lights tour—If it’s Christmastime, take your kids for a walk around the neighborhood after supper.
- Campfire cooking—Make a campfire and cook a simple meal.
- Explore an ice cave—If you live near any ice caves, these are always impressive.
- Visit a winter festival—Many places have winter festivals with outdoor activities geared towards kids.
- Ice block sculptures—Freeze colored water in various containers and stack them to create sculptures
- Icicle collection—Hunt for icicles and compare their sizes, shapes, and clarity.
Make the Most of Winter!
Winter can be long and challenging to get through if you don’t enjoy anything about it. I spent so many years hating winter, and it just made me more miserable.
I was much happier through winter once I embraced it and found things I liked doing.
So, no matter what activities and adventures you choose this winter, get out there and enjoy yourselves!
