Outdoors/and More...
Hoop It Up
Grab a few hula hoops, and have a contest to see who can last the longest. It's a lot harder when you're all bundled up!
For the Birds
Hollow out an orange and fill with seeds to feed your feathered friends.
Ice Maker
When the temperature drops below 32 degrees, blow bubbles and watch them freeze on the wand.
Snow Graffiti
Give kids spray bottles full of water that's tinted with food coloring to decorate the white canvas in your backyard.
Fun Activities to Do in the Snow
Tic-Tac-Snow
Two players go for the championship in this classic game. Use crisscrossed sticks and pinecones as game pieces.
For the Birds
String cranberries, popcorn, and cereal onto fishing line for a garland to attract and nourish your feathered friends.
Ice and Easy
Freeze colored water into ice cubes, then hide them around the yard for a wintertime scavenger hunt.
Frosty Toss
Have a snowball-throwing contest! Make a target by creating a bright circle in the snow with colored water in a squirt bottle.
Build a Fort
Build a fort. Use sand buckets, loaf pans, and cut-up empty milk cartons to make a cool snow castle.
Go Tubing
Beach toys aren't just for sand. Have your kids sit in inner tubes and then race to the finish line using just their feet.
Swing Away
Make a golf course by packing down a section of snow every few feet. Bury tin cans halfway down in the snow to create holes, and mark them with mini flagsticks.
Pin the Smile on the Snowman
Pass out chocolate cookies, then blindfold each child and let him try to get the mouth, eyes, and buttons in place.
Play freeze tag Can you think of a more appropriate game for a chilly day? Once someone's tagged by the person who's "It," he has to stay frozen until another player tags him again.
Fun Outdoor Winter Games and Activities for Kids
1. FOOTPRINT TAG
Play tag as you normally would…but stepping only in others’ footprints.
2. SNOW BASEBALL
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Set up a baseball diamond with a mound of snow representing home plate and first, second and third bases.
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Place an empty water bottle on the top of each mound.
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The pitche stands in the middle of the diamond and hurls snowballs first at home plate, then around the bases.
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Whoever knocks down the bottles with the fewest pitches wins.
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3. SNOW GOLF
Take some time to smooth out a fairway and a green. Take an open can and plant it in the snow–this is the hole.
For golf balls, use hockey pucks. For clubs, use hockey sticks or real golf clubs.
4. POWDER-PUFF FOOTBALL (Play out in the snow!)
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All you need are two teams of three or more people to play, along with a spray bottle filled with a mix of water and food coloring to mark the playing field (a large rectangle with a center line should suffice).
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The teams line up at opposite ends of the field (the North and South poles) for a kickoff.
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Once someone on the receiving team catches the ball, he tries to move it back across the defense’s goal line by running with it or passing it to a teammate.
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Play stops if the person with the ball is tagged by an opponent or slides out of bounds.
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The teams then face off again on the spot. After four tries, or a touchdown, the ball goes to the other team.
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The game ends when either team gets cold.
5. FIND THE SNOW FLAG!
Tie a white cloth to the end of a short stick. Give each child a chance to hide it by staking it anywhere within an area with boundaries. Note how long it takes for the rest of the group to find it. Whoever hid the flag with the group that took the longest time to find it wins the game!
6. JUMP SNOW HURDLES
Lightly pack a lot of basketball-size snowballs and then use them to build a course of hurdles to jump over in a round of ‘Follow the Leader’.
7. ROPE SNOW TUG…. Have you ever tried TUG OF WAR in the snow?! Fun!!!
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Team up for a slip-sliding variation of tug-of-war.
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Tamp down a wide, shallow trench in the snow to serve as the mid line. Then, take up positions at the ends of a long, thick rope and let the tugging and towing begin.
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Whichever team pulls the entire opposing group over to its side of the trench wins.
WE have a winter Olympics and this is one of the things we do! Frodo/Colorado
As Frodo mentions above…Have an Olympics day with many of the activities on Kid Activities. Snow hurdles, Tug of War, Relay races, etc.
8. HULA HOOP CHALLENGE!
Have you ever tried using ‘Hula Hoops’ all bundled up in winter clothing? Have a contest to see who can last the longest!
9. FREEZE TAG
What fun in the winter-time! Play this just as you would indoors and any other time of the year. The person who is ‘It’ tags somene; that person stays frozen until another player tags him/her again to ‘unfreeze’ them.
10. Snowball Target Practice
In the winter– kids (and adults) like to throw snowballs. PLACE A SNOWBALL TARGET in a conspicuous place where it’s fine to throw snowballs. Make sure rules are established so no one gets hurt. It’s a great source of exercise for all kids, even those that are not athletically inclined. (This is also a good way to get the snowballs directed a ‘safe’ spots and not at other kids!)
No snow? Roll up those ‘saved” pieces of white paper and pretend they’re snowballs!
Similar to the above…HIT THE TARGET
Make a target by creating a bright circle in the snow with colored water in a squirt bottle.