4 Winter Activities for Early Childhood Education Classrooms

When the temperature outside starts to drop, it's time to get creative with winter activities in the classroom!

These activities can help children learn about cooperation, taking turns, and sharing. They’re also a great way to build fine motor skills and encourage creativity.

Here we offer four winter activities that your early childhood education students will love.

1. Guide Your Students in Arts-and-Crafts Projects to Get Them in the Winter Spirit

There is an abundance of options for arts-and-crafts projects, so pick something you are excited about. Your enthusiasm will carry over to your students.

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• • Make a snowman out of paper plates.
    
    
  • Cut out snowflakes from construction paper and string them up around the room.
    
    
  • Create a giant mural of a snowy landscape using butcher paper and crayons.
    
    
  • Use cotton balls to create fluffy clouds on a blue piece of construction paper.
    
    
  • Draw a picture of a fireplace with flames made out of red, orange, and yellow tissue paper.
    
    
  • Make snow globes. Few materials are needed, they’re easy to make, and they are beautiful gifts for parents/families!

2. Lead a Winter-Themed Book Club

The Snowy Day, The Mitten, and The Hat are classics. Alternatively, maybe there’s a book that one of your students really loves, so you decide to go with that. As your students may not be confident readers quite yet, make it interactive by including books with flaps to lift or pop-up elements that bring the story to life.

3. Have Students Start a Seasonal Journal

Have your students brainstorm a list of things they love about winter. This could include activities, foods, weather, etc. Then have students choose their favorite winter thing from this list and write a short entry in their journals about why they love this particular thing.

Or you can go on a makeshift class field trip around the neighborhood and have students jot down a few sentences in their journal about what they’re observing. Maybe it’s holiday lights, interesting homes, fun landscapes or structures, or anything else that catches their eye. 

If some (or all) of your students aren’t writing yet, they can keep a drawing journal, or write collaboratively as a class or in small groups.

4. Go Outside

We have the luxury of incredibly mild winters here in many parts of Arizona, and there is no better time to embrace it than with young ones who want to move! Perhaps there is a basketball court at your school, and you can organize a game of H-O-R-S-E. Or you can send your students on a scavenger hunt (an adapted one so they travel in packs and are always in your line of sight). 

How about a “snowball” competition, using balled-up paper that would’ve ended up in the recycling bin anyway? Students could work in teams to throw the snowballs the furthest or try to hit a target — your imagination is your only boundary. If you happen to get snow in your area, simply use real snow, or even have them build a snowman!

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