During the warm months, it’s easy to get outdoor sensory activities into your child’s schedule. It is much more difficult when the ground is covered by snow and the temperature is below freezing. These winter sensory activities are designed to provide much-needed sensory input during the cold months. Use these ideas to ensure your students or kids get outside and burn off that energy.
Going outside in the winter isn’t my favourite thing. Some of my kids completely love the winter. For one of them, the colder, the better. For the ones that feel the way I do about the cold though, I have to be creative in coming up with enticing ideas to get them to stay active in the winter. Just because it’s cold outside doesn’t mean that their need for sensory input goes away so it’s important to find ways to create winter sensory activities.
Outdoor Winter Sensory Activities
- Snow Angels
- Snowball Fights
- Rolling Down a Hill in the Snow
- Tobogganning
- Make a snow fort – Just be sure to do this with adult supervision as it can be dangerous if children get caught under collapsed snow.
- Stomp patterns or words into the snow
- Have a contest to see who can roll the biggest snowball
- Go snowshoeing
- Try cross-country or downhill skiing
- Go ice skating
- Set up an obstacle course in your backyard
- Build an igloo with a snow block maker or use milk cartons to make your own snow block maker
- Build a toboggan run
- Winter Nature Hike
- Shovelling Snow (great heavy work activity!)
- Play tag in the snow
- Hide plastic coins under the snow and have kids hunt for buried treasure
- Winter Scavenger Hunt
- Pour boiled maple syrup on the snow to make taffy – this is a French Canadian winter tradition
More Outdoor Winter Sensory Activities
- Make Mr. Potato Heads with Snow like they did at Happy Hooligans
- Make and hang bird feeders
- Taste Safe Ice Painting at Messy Little Monster
- Make Snow Ice Cream
- Winter Ice Jewels from Fireflies and Mud Pies
- Build an Igloo from Kids’ Craft Room
- Winter Ice Play from Learning and Exploring Through Play
- Build Coloured Ice Sculptures in the Snow from Happy Hooligans
- Glow Sticks in the Snow from Simple Fun for Kids
- Winter Gardening at Megan Zeni
- Make a Snow Volcano from Growing a Jewelled Rose
- Exploring Animal Tracks in the Snow by KC Edventures with Kids
- Snow Painting from Kids’ Craft Room
- Make a Road in the Snow from How Wee Learn
- Blow Frozen Bubbles – read how at Fireflies and Mud Pies
Once the weather warms up, you’ll want this list on hand:
Huge List of Outdoor Summer Sensory Activities
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