8 Indoor Winter Activities for Kids

With the cold weather keeping everyone inside, here are 8 easy indoor, winter-themed activities kids will love!

Snowball Toss

Supplies: buckets or hula hoops, several pieces of white paper (balled up)

Details: Set up the buckets or hula hoops a short distance away from where the children will throw. Children will toss the snowballs (balled up paper) and try to land them in the buckets/hula hoops. Children can compete against each other or against themselves by seeing how far away they can stand and still make it.

Marshmallow Painting

Supplies: marshmallows, light blue construction paper, white paint, bowls for paint, baby wipes, crayons/markers

Details: Give each child a piece of light blue construction paper and a marshmallow. Show them how to dip the marshmallow in the white paint, then use the marshmallow like a paintbrush to paint a snowman on their paper. Once the paint dries, they can add eyes, nose, a mouth, etc. Optional: provide different sizes of marshmallows for kids to experiment with.

Build a Snow Fort

Supplies: white solo cups

Details: Give children a large stack of white solo cups, and encourage them to build a “snow fort” out of the cups. (Honesty moment: During a winter-themed Parents’ Night Out, I provided all these other cool games, but my 3^rd-5^th grade boys just played with the solo cups the whole time.)

Snowman Bowling or Snowman Slam

Supplies: water bottles decorated as snowmen, ball

Details: Decorate 6-10 water bottles or 2-liter bottles like snowmen: Draw eyes, a carrot nose, and a mouth on each bottle. Empty the bottles and fill them with white cotton balls or shredded white paper. Line up the bottles in a triangle (like bowling) and invite kids to roll the ball to knock the pins down. OR set up the snowman water bottles on a table and invite kids to toss a ball at them to knock them down.

Snowflake Scavenger Hunt

Supplies: Snowflake Scavenger Hunt Printable, clipboards, pencils, tape

Details: Print one copy of the snowflakes from the Snowflake Scavenger Hunt Printable (download that for free here), cut them out, and hang them up/hide them somewhere around the room. Print at least one Snowflake Scavenger Hunt List for each child and place them on clipboards. Children will hunt around the room for the snowflakes and cross them off their list when they find them.

Snow Blower (Group Game)

Supplies: cotton balls or ping pong balls, solo cups, table, straws, tape

Details: In this minute-to-win-it game, invite one player from each team/small group to the front and have them stand behind the table. Tape a solo cup to the front of the table for each player, and place a cotton ball or ping pong ball on the back of the table in front of each player. When you say go, each player will use a straw to try and blow the cotton ball/ping pong ball into their cup. If their cotton ball/ping pong ball blows off the table, they can pick it up but must start over at the back of the table. The first person to sink their snowball in the cup wins! Play again, using other players, as time allows.

Do You Wanna Build a Snowman? (Group Game)

Supplies: “Do You Wanna Build a Snowman” Song, for each team/small group: rolls of toilet paper, scarf, hat, large carrot (or orange construction paper, tape), black construction paper

Details: Divide the group into teams or small groups. Give each team a bag of snowman building supplies (toilet paper, scarf, hat, construction paper, tape). Each team will have about 6 minutes to work together to turn their volunteer leader into a snowman. Play the song “Do You Wanna Build a Snowman” twice as your timer. Vote on a winning team that has the best snowman at the end of the song. (And be sure to get pictures of each team with their snowman leader!)

True/False Snowflake Trivia (Group Game)

Supplies: Snowflake Trivia PowerPoint

Details: Play in teams: Give each team a whiteboard and dry erase marker or clipboard with paper and pen. Lead the teams through the Snowflake Trivia PowerPoint, helping them keep track of how many answers they get right. Use the Snowflake Trivia Cheat Sheet to preview questions and answers as you lead. The team with the most correct answers wins.

Play every-man-for-himself: Designate one side of the room as “true” and one side as “false.” As you read the questions, kids should move to the side of the room with the answer they think is correct.

All of these activities (and more!) are included in the PNO: Let It Snow resource, a complete download to help you host a 4-hour event your kids, youth, and parents will love. Learn more about PNO: Let It Snow here.