preschool winter activity

Looking for a preschool winter activity, something to occupy the little troopers with ? We came up with few suggestions. The snow activities we have are better suited for the outdoor arena. They will hopefully amuse your kids for at least a couple of hours, after that period, the odds are, you as the guardian will need a break.

1.Toboggans. Best toboggans in my opinion for preschool children are plastic moulded designs with back support. As the child accelerates, it is not as easy to fall off.

• races down a gentle slope fold the child into the toboggan , place gloves on, ideally something for protection of the head .Line up the children, and simultaneously push them off .As they sit low to the ground, and happen to fall off their impact is reasonably gentle, and their gloves will help them with sliding.
  
  
• expedition with joined toboggans join them up in a straight line one behind another. One child travelling behind another, is a pretty amusing idea for most of the kids we have done this with. They cultivate the sense of being a part of something bigger. Wow I am in a group of sleighs or toboggans. Strong daddies can usually pull up to 5 toboggans, any more than that you will probably have few laughs.
  
  
• dog assisted pull If you can find a dog close by, which is reasonably friendly looking, try to harness one to the toboggan. We have a Golden Retriever, and she is most obliging during kid's play.
  
  

Our little challenge is with the initial take off, which thus far has been “turbo assisted”.... as she willingly springs into action.

2 .Snowman. Good fun if you can build one reasonably quickly, without child’s enthusiasm wearing off. Our friend’s girls are more chilled out, and sedated than our boy is, consequently, they can build a whole fortress without loosing interest.

3. Tracks in snow. You make the track and get the children to follow.This can also be a fun preschool winter activity. It works on their general gross motor coordination, and balance. If you get them involved in matching one child’s foot imprint to another you can develop their sense of shape matching and size constancy.Wow Tommy’s foot is bigger than mine….Will your foot fit into this fox hole?



4. Snow angels. Good fun making shapes in the snow. Ask your child to form angel’s wing feathers using their hands. We can get our son to do this, but it shortly follows by an outbreak of a avalanche/ tornado type of event.

5. Rolling down the hill. Excellent activity for adventurous little boys. I mention boys because my experience has been that there are not many girls that do this? Rolling down the hill like a steamroller……..hooray .

6. Snow ball fights. A great fun activity better suited to the more senior members of our preschool winter activity group. This is good for development of eye hand coordination, which will later assist you when your child starts to bring you your coffee-right? They will be a little older by then.

7. Tube race. This activity is great fun assuming you have certain faith in your child’s loco-motor skills, and general coordination. Perhaps up to 5 years of age travel together with them. Choose your slope wisely. We don’t want them to get “vertical now”.

8. Exploring the scenery. Try this activity on a chair lift or a gondola. You are now a bird flying over the mountains.

9. Scaling a mound of snow. Build up a mound, or better still find one.Give each child a brightly colored flag on a post, and ask the to scale the mound as high as they can and plant a flag. Providing the slope is reasonably steep, whoever plants the pole the highest wins.


10. Letter writing with a dye filled bottle. Depending on your child’s mental age try to write letters on the snow. Perhaps better suited to 5years plus. This is a great preschool activity in many ways as it works on eye hand coordination. In addition it trains “visual memory”,ie Can Johnny remember what the letter looked like?

This activity also can train “size constancy”, ie Johnny can you remember what a big letter looks like? Can you show us how big it was? What would match the size of this letter? or do activities with lower case and upper case letters. Do not limit this snow activity to letters, shapes are great fun as well. Can you draw the same letter upside down…now that is a big ask !

11. Dye colored snow balls .Prepare different sized snow balls and color them to your preference. Colored cordial is good. It is organic and biodegradable (phew ). Ask your child to position alike colors together ie orange, red, violet and other colors separately. Then ask them to line up the balls in accordance to size. What size is the blue ball? Is it medium or small sized ?

12. Build a fortress. Find twigs if you are close to trees. Break them down into even, small sizes. Then align them in lines and build walls of a fortress! You will be training patience, task execution. Praise for successful completion. Maybe when they are older they will build your house’s fence. Now that would be sweet!

13. Evening torch chase. In a lot of ski destinations sun can begin to set around 4pm. If you are in a valley it might be 3.30pm. So taking your child for a 6.00pm walk I don’t think is too late. Allocate a torch to each child and allow them to chase each other, or follow each other’s light. Lots of fun with little effort on your behalf. You need your rest right ?…… and you want them to sleep well right?

14. Science project. This preschool winter activity may be better suited to the senior members of the group. No not you , but the senior of the children. Pack some ice into a pot, take it home to the bath tub and show them how the ice melts. All you have to do is give them luke warm water. Pour it on top and try to explain the melting process. Good luck.



Perhaps these preschool winter activities helped you stay amused. Perhaps they wore you down. In any case I hope your kids had fun.

If you are looking for an indoor preschool winter activity, follow this link.