While cold weather days are great for staying cozy with the family indoors, sometimes children can get restless and often need a break away from the usual routine of playing with toys or watching tv. If you are looking for new ways to keep your children engaged and entertained, check out our list of indoor winter activities!
Marshmallow Counting:
- Grab a hot cocoa mug and a pair of dice, if you don’t have any dice around you can easily write down numbers and have your child draw from a cup.
2. Have your child roll the dice or draw a number and add that many marshmallows to the mug.
3. Keep rolling and adding until the mug is filled.
4. If your child is ready, count all the marshmallows in the mug at the end for an added challenge.
- Little scientists love exploring everyday objects and foods. Grab some jumbo marshmallows, hot cocoa, or any favorite snacks, and see what kind of observations you can make by using the five senses.
- While it may not be practical to build a snowman indoors, you can bring some of the sensory fun inside with DIY sensory snow! For added creativity, add some paint to this activity!
- To make sensory snow you will need:
- Baking soda
2. Shaving cream
3. A dish to mix it all up!
Directions: Pour baking soda into the dish and add shaving cream, continue mixing and adding portions of both ingredients until the “snow” is a consistency that is light and fluffy! The possibilities of getting creative with this project are endless!
- Bonus: If you have kiddos working on gross motor skills, and have watercolors around, you can also try painting ice cubes with pom poms – this is perfect for little ones working on those fine motor muscles. Check out igloo painting for another fun gross motor art project!
Penguin Hop Counting & Sensory Play
- A quick and easy penguin hop counting game is great for helping toddlers and preschoolers practice counting and following one-on-one directions.
- Setting out paper “icebergs” to hop onto “like a penguin” can be a fun way to get moving! This activity is something you can model with your child to keep everyone active during cold weather days. sazdxfgtdfc
- This can also easily be made into a sensory bin by adding ice and water into a bin and animals to “hop” from ice cube to ice cube. Adding in other factors such as color and new textures makes it a wonderful sensory bin to play with too!
You’ll find loads of winter activity ideas for sensory play, science experiments, winter art ideas, and even some winter-themed alphabet and counting activities on our Pinterest. They’re all perfect for toddlers, preschoolers, sensory-seekers, and young children who love to explore the wintery world around them.
Little Spurs Autism Centers offers collaborative and compassionate ABA Therapy to children 0-21 years old. Offering both center-based and home-based care, LSAC is excited to empower families by providing them with the support they need. For more information, please email us at autism@littlespurs.com
