Winter can be a tedious time in the homeschool classroom with both the teacher and homeschool students feeling a bit stir crazy. Even if you have snow, it is a good idea to get outdoors at least once in a couple of days to expend all that pent up energy. You can even make it a learning experience using some of these activities.
A Winter Scavenger Hunt
Make a printable list of all the “treasure items” that you need to find. these could include a patch of melting ice, a shovel, an evergreen tree, a snowman, a pine cone, a bird feeder, and even an insect or animal of some type. Have the children come up with all the things that they associate with winter and draw your list from the things they find outdoors. Hand each child the printed list and set off to collect your treasure. This will make for a physical activity with a fair amount of observation thrown in.
Traditional Winter Sports
Some classic activities such as ice skating, sledding, or even something as informal as building a snowman, snow angel or just having a snowball fight can be undertaken. Pick the activity that your children enjoy doing the most when they are outdoors in the winter. Make this a weekly feature that they can look forward to when they are stuck inside in the homeschool classroom. The anticipation of the event is always the most exciting part of the day.
Snow Based Arts
There are a number of things you can do in the snow which require the arts and crafts supplies from the homeschool classroom. For those homeschooling students who love to draw, provide them a larger outdoor canvas. Add some food coloring to water and place it in squeeze bottles. Use different bottles for each color, then mark out a patch in the snow and ask your young artists to draw with the water in the snow. The water will freeze if it’s cold enough and the “painting” will be ready. You can also have them make icicles and set up their own stalactites and stalagmites in a cardboard box using different colored water.
