Winter Activities for Preschoolers
One benefit of living in Southern California is the weather. We don’t experience the freezing cold or snowstorms that other parts of the country do which means we can play outside almost all year round. However, if you want to bring a sense of winter wonderland into your home, we have cold-weather themed crafts, treats and songs for you and your little learners! Using simple supplies and a sense of fun, engage in a variety of winter activities for preschoolers this season.
Snowflake Activity
Why not decorate the windows or tree in your house with snowflakes made of painted popsicle sticks! Have your toddler or preschooler paint their sticks with whatever colors they would like.
Then glue the sticks together to match the pattern in the picture using children’s glue or a hot glue gun- grownups only. For a creative way to give the snowflake a frosted look, dip a toothbrush in white paint and then scrub the brush over the tines of a fork to create splatter. You can easily rest the snowflakes in the bows of the tree or use string to hang anywhere. Happy Hooligans has 25 other snowflake crafts to try.
Snowman Activity
Build snowmen and teach about emotions using play dough. Grab blue, white, and orange (for the nose) play dough; black and multi-colored pipe cleaners, yarn, or construction paper for the mouth and accessories. As you build the snowmen, ask your child to remember a time when they felt a strong emotion like happiness, sadness, or frustration. You can explain to your child how our faces can reflect emotions. See if you can build faces that reflect those emotions by shaping the mouth, eyes and eyebrows of the snowmen. These kind of open conversations are important to help your child express themselves and cultivate an emotionally supporting environment. Looking for more activities? Try these baked homemade ornaments.
Cooking Activity
Gather your little chefs and warm up with this simple orange and cinnamon apple cider. Cooking together helps children with math concepts and language development.
To start you will need:
- 1 gallon of apple cider unsweetened
- 1 orange, sliced
- 5 cinnamon sticks
- 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Simply add all the ingredients in a large pot, mix and simmer for 10 minutes. Then, cover it and let it sit for about five minutes. Strain out the cinnamon sticks and oranges and serve! Thank you Super Healthy Kids for this delicious sounding recipe.
Singing Activity
Your child may already know, “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?” but there are many more snowman or winter-themed songs to help your little one with language, movement, and focus. Pre-K Pages has compiled a Winter Songs for Preschoolers playlist with songs like this one, “I’m a Little Snowman.” Chant the lines together and have your child point to their eyes and nose as you go along.
I’m a little snowman, look at me.
These are my buttons, 1 2 3.
These are my eyes and this is my nose.
I wear a hat and scarf. Brrr…it’s cold! (Repeat 2x)
Bonus: This is also a great seasonal option if you need a new handwashing song!