12 Winter Activities You Can Do With the Whole Family
Getting out in the winter time is a hard enough task to do as a couple. Sometimes, it’s even harder to do with a family, especially a growing family. Kids ages are all over the place, parents are tired, and the big kids sometimes like things that the big kids don’t and vice versa. In this case, it’s sometimes easier to not do anything at all! We’re going to give you some ideas on how to get out as a family during those colder, darker winter days and also how to stay indoors and keep your family live lively.
Let’s get into the ideas!
Outdoor Family Outings
Getting outside in the winter might be even more important than in the summer. Our days are much shorter and time spent outside is usually cut short by the sun disappearing early in the evening. Nevertheless, it’s important to still make the most of your time outside enjoying the cold, crisp air as a family! If you have littler ones, staying closer to home is a smart choice as little legs get tired quickly!
Head to Your Local Sledding Hill
Most people aren’t lucky enough to have their own sledding hills in their backyards, but if you are, bravo! If not, head to your local sledding hill and get some runs in! Build a jump or make tiny snowball families to run over with your sled. Make sure your kids carry their own sleds – it's the best way to ensure they’re tired at the end of the day!
Take the Family On A Ski Day
Have a local mountain near you? Take your kids for a ski day! The youngest kids are usually four or five-year-olds, but kids can still learn fast if they’re older. The barrier to entry is sometimes expensive, but if your kids have a strong desire to get out and make some turns, it might be worth it in the end. Even going once or twice in a year makes the family look forward to that special time all together, riding the chairlift with each other, taking turns going off jumps and watching each other carve (and fall!) down the mountain!
Skate at Your Local Indoor or Outdoor Rink
In winter, many outdoor rinks open up for public skating! This has always been a fun activity for families to do in their town. Outdoor rinks offer less ice than indoor rinks on average, but the outdoor ambiance cannot be beaten. Many outdoor ice rinks have festive lights, decorated trees and some even have ice sculptures! If you can’t find any outdoor rinks in your area, there’s always indoor skating as well. Many rinks offer public skating times throughout the week, so search for rinks in your area and skate as a family!
Build A Snowman Family
Do you get snow where you live? If so, the next time it snows, get outside and make some creations in the snow! Sometimes, it’s fun to make one of each of the members in your family. Little ones might need help with this one, but that’s where the big kids can really shine. Helping each other out and communicating together as a family will help all of you really grow in love together!
Take A Snowy Walk in the Woods
You don’t need snowshoes to take a walk in the woods. Suit up in your snowsuits and snowpants and take a walk in the woods! This is especially fun after first snow or a recent snowstorm. If you don’t have woods or a forest near you, the park is also a great option! The point here is to get outside as a family and see what you can find! Often after first snow, animal tracks are visible in the snow. See what animals you can identify from tracks and try to find any that might be out walking around!
Look at Christmas Lights
It doesn’t need to be Christmas to enjoy Christmas lights or other light shows around town! Many places will leave their lights up far past Christmas, and some might leave them up all winter long as a special treat to customers. Look up some of the best areas to look at Christmas lights and make it a family outing, complete with hot chocolate at the end. This part isn’t required but it’s a fun tradition to start doing if you haven’t already!
Indoor Family Activities
Not everyone has snow like the northeast and mountainous regions, and not everyone on those regions wants to get outside all the time as a family. Those blizzards sure can keep people indoors and sometimes for days on end. If that’s the case, having some activities to do as a family indoors is imperative! It helps the life of the family, creates low stress for the parents, and still allows the kids to have fun with their whole family. Here’s a few ideas to help get your brain turning on what your kids might like doing during those long winter days!
Family Game Night
How often do you have family game nights? Some parents do it quite frequently while others seldom do it. Getting together around a board game or card game you can all play together allows you to all have fun together as a family. Many of those games create lasting memories via a funny a phrase someone said or the characteristics of each person playing the game. If your family loves doing this, consider making it a weekly tradition not just in the winter time, but year-round!
Have A Movie Night
Every week growing up, my family held movie nights on Friday or Saturday night. We’d have pizza on a picnic blanket and gather around our small TV to watch a movie we picked up from Blockbuster or a favorite we had on VHS or DVD. It always gave us something to look forward to and it was one of the best nights I remember from my childhood. Do this one weekend night during the winter and see if you can continue doing this throughout the year, like the family game nights. It’s a great way to get routine into your family’s life!
Bake a Batch of Cookies
Baking cookies seem like such a winter activity. The sweet aroma of fresh baked cookies seeps into every room from the kitchen and the whole house feels like home. If you typically make cookies fast and by yourself, allow one or two chances for your kids to participate in making cookies with you! Getting to do “grown-up” activities with my parents was always really fun and it’s a good way to bring the family together. And hey, while you’re at it, your kids may develop affinities for baking, starting with baking in the kitchen with their parents!
Make A Fancy Hot Chocolate
We’ve all had hot chocolate from a packet and combined it with milk and added some marshmallows, yes? Well, if you’ve never made your own hot chocolate from scratch, you’ve been missing out! Melting your own chocolate and decking out your drink with chocolate sauce, marshmallows, and homemade whipped cream is just decadent. Besides being the best hot chocolate you’ve ever had, your kids will probably love it and want to learn to make it, just like the cookies!
Start Talking About Summer Travel
If your family travels during the summer, start talking about warmer days and see what your family is thinking about! This is a way for the whole family to talk about their trip together and for the kids to feel included in their families plans! You can gauge their interest levels into certain activities you had thought of and hear what they have to say about it. Remember, no decisions need to come from this but the anticipatory trip will now be on their minds. Now, the whole family can build excitement for summer vacation!
Build A Fort
If you’ve never built a blanket fort with your kids before, now’s the time to start! It’s a great way to keep the kids busy during the day and allows them to have some rough-housing and fun indoors with their parents. It also is a good lesson in cleaning up their messes! The blanket fort can’t exist forever, and while it’s sad that it needs to be taken down, next time, the fort can be even bigger and better!
Getting together and spending time as a family is so important! This is how you’ll build those livelong connections that most people crave in their lifetimes. By starting these activities now and building traditions when your family is young, you’ll develop a desire to continue your family traditions and create new ones alone the way! It's the best way to create closeness and a sense of belonging in your own family. Each year, everyone in the family will look forward to different traditions or activities. This in turn gets everyone else excited and all of a sudden, your family life is blossoming!
If you're looking for even more ideas, follow us on Pinterest! We have boards dedicated to dating life, family life, parenting advice, merging stepfamilies and much more. It's a great way to get ideas for family activities and to have some fun!
If you're looking for resources on how to be a more effective parent, we have a few of our own here at Utah State University! Our two free courses, Parenting the Love and Logic Way and Parenting Home Runs ar designed for parents to learn communication with their kids, instill discipline, function cohesively as a family unit, and most of all, have fun! These courses are held online and in-person; both are offered multiple times every month, so be sure to check it out and see if one is starting soon! All courses are facilitated by USU educators and are held live, so make sure to bring any and all questions!
Thanks for reading and we’ll see you on the next one!