5 Fun Classroom Winter Activities To Beat the Winter Blahs
Share This:
No matter if you live in a sunny, warm place or somewhere where the weather is frigid and cold, the winter blahs can creep in and cause you and your students to want to just curl up and hibernate until spring… Adding some fun winter activities into your classroom routine can be exactly what you need to put some excitement and life back into your classroom during the winter months!
5 Favorite Winter Activities:
- Snow Observation & Water Cycle
- Snowman Craft & Activity
- Pinecone Bird Feeders
- Winter Word Ladders
- Math Fact Snowball Fights
1. Snow Observation and Water Cycle Lesson
The first winter activities to incorporate into your classroom are all about snow and water!
Snow Observation
If you do live somewhere where the weather is frigid and cold, then this snow observation activity is a fun one for you to try!
Once you have one of those snowfalls where the flakes are big and fluffy, it’s GO TIME! Give each student a clipboard with a piece of black construction paper or cardstock and a magnifying glass.
Take them outside on a snow investigation by catching snowflakes on the black paper and then observing them through the magnifying glasses. Encourage them to verbally share what they are noticing.
Once you come inside, pass out snow observation sheets. Encourage students to draw and write about what they observed, noticed, and learned.
Water Cycle
Next, explain the water cycle to your students so that they can have a better understanding of why we have snow in the first place.
Draw it out on chart paper so that you can keep it up for a while to refer back to.
Make sure to explain:
- evaporation- changing from a liquid to a gas, like when water dries up
- condensation- changing from a gas to a liquid, like when clouds are formed
- precipitation- water that falls to the ground, like rain or snow, sleet or hail
Water Cycle Song
Once you have explained how the water cycle works, you can teach them this fun song to help them remember! Add fun hand motions too to keep little ones engaged in learning.
*sung to the tune of She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain
Water travels in a cycle yes it does (big circle motion with arms)
Water travels in a cycle yes it does (big circle motion with arms)
It goes up as evaporation (raise arms up in front of you)
Forms clouds as condensation (twist hands away from each other in the air as if you are making a cloud)
And falls down as precipitation yes it does! (bring fingers down in front of you like rain)
Wrap It Up
Use these water cycle worksheets to reinforce their learning and or assess their comprehension.
2. Snowman Craft and Activity
A couple other winter activities that are sure to be a hit with your students are the snowman craft and winter mitten activities!
This adorable snowman craft is the perfect EASY craft for your little ones! Just print the patterns out on colored paper or cardstock, cut, and assemble.
In this same resource, you’ll also find a great companion activity for Steven Kellogg’s The Missing Mitten Mystery.
*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
This book is a great winter read-aloud! It is such an adorable story about a little girl named Annie who loses her mitten while spending the day having lots of adventures in the snow, only to find the mitten in a surprising place in the end.
After listening to this story, have your students complete these comprehension pages. Once those are finished, they can create their own adorable snowmen to match the one Annie made in the story.
3. Create Pinecone Bird Feeders
Winter activities are always more fun with kids can be hands-on, and this one is exactly that! Your students will SO enjoy making these pinecone bird feeders.
What You Need:
- A pinecone for each child (gather broad cones that are fairly open, because these will hold more food and be easier for the birds to hold onto. Do not use artificially scented pine cones or pine cones that have been painted or glittered, because those chemicals can be harmful to birds.)
- String or twine cut into 10-inch pieces
- Peanut butter, suet, or vegetable shortening (avoid peanut butter if you have any students with nut allergies in your classroom)*
- Birdseed
- A plastic butter knife
- A shallow dish or pie pan
*Consider how you can accommodate students with severe food allergies into your classroom community!
How to Make Your Pinecone Bird Feeders
1. Tie the string around the pine cone
Tie the string or twine around the middle of the pinecone, making sure it is in between the rows of scales and is securely in place.
2. Coat the pine cone with peanut butter
Use the butter knife to coat the pine cone with a layer of peanut butter or suet. Press some peanut butter in between the rows of scales, filling in the larger gaps and openings.
3. Roll the pine cone in birdseed
Once the pine cone is completely coated with peanut butter or suet, pour birdseed into a shallow pie pan and roll the pine cone in the birdseed.
Press lightly to help the seed stick to the cone.
4. Hang the feeders or prepare to send them home
If you have trees outside near your classroom, hang the pine cone bird feeders from branches in trees or bushes for the birds to find.
Set up an observation center nearby for students to bird-watch throughout the rest of winter.
Perfect observation center supplies:
- bird identification books
- play binoculars
- clipboards and paper
- colored pencils
If you decide to send the bird feeders home, wrap them in waxed paper and transport them home in plastic baggies.
4. Winter Word Ladders
Winter activities that are the perfect mix between fun and learning, are top notch around here! Your students will practice phonics and vocabulary at the same time with these winter word ladders!
Word ladders are a kind of puzzle where one word is changed into another word by substituting one letter at a time, each change creating a new word.
For example, cat-bat-bag-tag-tug-dug-dog
These aren’t just great for phonics and spelling work, but they are also perfect for incorporating vocabulary instruction into your day-to-day lessons. The clues leading to each change help build vocabulary skills.
The clues might be:
- change one letter in “cat” to make a word that means a mammal that flies at night. (bat)
- change one letter in “bat” to make a word that means a sack made out of paper. (bag)
- change one letter in “bag” to make a word that means a label in your clothes that tells the size. (tag)
These winter-themed word ladders are so fun to tackle together on those dreary, cold days!
5. Snowball Fight Math Facts
And finally, the best one of all of the winter activities might just be the math fact snowball fights!
- Using a basic math fact practice page, have each student put their name on the paper and complete one math problem on the page. They can complete any problem on the page.
- Then have them crumple up their paper into a “snowball” and hide behind their desk or chair in preparation for the math snowball fight.
- On the count of 3, everyone throws their snowballs across the room. Caution children to be careful not to aim for anyone’s head or face!
- Students then pick up the nearest “snowball” uncrumple it, and complete any math problem on the page. Then crumple the “snowball” back up and prepare for round 2 of the snowball fight.
- Continue in this manner until all the math problems are completed.
- Return the papers back to their original owners.
- Now have the students get out a crayon or marker, and they can “grade” their paper to see how the class did on their snowball fight math page.
This interactive winter activity is perfect for math practice pages, but you can use this with worksheets in any subject really. Play while working on whatever skills your kids need practice with the most!
Winter in the classroom doesn’t have to mean boring worksheets and a countdown until spring break! By incorporating these hands-on winter activities in your classroom this year, you’re sure to beat the winter blahs for yourself and your students!
Let me know if you have any questions about anything you see here. Don’t forget to pin this post to refer to it later!
Other posts you may enjoy:
12 Perfect Winter Read Alouds For the Elementary Classroom
Top 7 Successful Ways To Make Students and Families Feel Welcome This School Year
TREAT YOURSELF TO STRESS FREE PLANNING FOR BACK TO SCHOOL WITH THIS
Free Back To School Routines & Procedures Checklist
Everything you need to remember for back to school in one convenient place!
Diane Romo
Thank you for being here! I love sharing ideas with other teachers! If you are looking to enhance your teaching and build a positive classroom community, you have come to the right place!
