50 Fun Frugal Winter Activities for Kids!

Here in the Midwest, we are having an unusually horrible winter this year. It has been ridiculously cold and it just seems to be dragging on and on. So keeping my boys busy this winter has been a challenge. We haven't been able to play outside much, because the temperatures have been so low, so we have had to come up with new ideas for indoor play. We finally decided to compile a list of activities for indoor & outdoor activities for them to choose from. So I thought I would share them here!

Quiet Indoor Activities:

• Read a book! ~ Adults love to curl up with a good book on cold days, and so do kids! Hit the library, grab a stack of new books and hunker down and read for an afternoon!
• Write & illustrate you own book! ~ Kids love to be creative, so let them write their own story and draw pictures! If needed, you can help them write it out!
• Board games ~ These are great activites anytime of year, but especially great in the winter when you can't get outside!
• Play Office ~ Give your kids some old office supplies (old checks or deposit tickets, used paper, pens, pencils and a stapler) and let them set up an office!
• Grow an indoor garden ~ This one is a lot of fun to watch through the winter. Kids can enjoy the *responsibility* of taking care of their own plant!
• Cook something ~ Most kids love to measure and stir, so get them in the kitchen and let them mix up a snack or a batch of cookies!
• Indoor Picnic ~ Kids always get a kick out of the non-traditional things. Pack up some sandwiches & snacks, spread a tablecloth on the floor and have an indoor picnic!
• Math Treats Game ~ Find a great snack (m&m's work great) and have some fun with your child adding & subtracting. It's fun & TASTY!
• Rhyme Time ~ Say a word and have your child find a rhyming word. Kid's love to do this one, even if they are making up words, it will help them learn the concept of rhyming!
• ABC Game ~ Pick a category (like food), start with A, naming a food with each letter of the alphabet and see how far you can get!
• Movie Night ~ Let the kids usher you to your seats, dim the lights and pop popcorn and put in paper lunch sacks. Make it just like a real night at the movies!

Indoor Active Activities:

• Dance Off ~ Put on some music and let the kids take turns dancing. There doesn't have to be a winner, the kids will just have fun dancing!
• Exercise videos ~ Sounds silly, but kids love it! And it is a great way to keep them active and let them burn some energy during the winter...my kids particularly like Tae-Bo!
• What am I? Game ~ Like charades. Have one child act out an animal or object (my kids like to do cars, too) and the others have to guess what he is!
• Scavenger Hunt ~ For older kids, you can write a list of things to find indoors. For non-readers, you can draw or cut pictures from a magazine of items for them to find!
• Build a fort or tent ~ Grab some blankets and pillows and help the kids build a fort. Building it is fun, but kids can play in it for hours after it's built!
• Hot & Cold ~ Everyone leaves the room, while an object is hidden by one player. Try to find it, while the hider tells you when you are hot (close) or cold (far away).
• Hobo Band ~ Make some homemade instruments and start a band! (drums - old coffee can or pots & pans, guitar - kleenex box & rubberbands).
• Indoor Olympics ~ Get creative and come up with some silly games to play in the house. Then stage an olympics. Kids have a lot of fun "competing" in this one!
• Alphabet Eye Spy ~ The person who is *it*, has to choose an object, then says "I spy something that start with A", and the others have to guess what it is!
• Touch a color game ~ Someone shouts out a color, and everyone has to find something to touch that is that color. Last one to find the color, has to call out the next color.
• Alphabet hunt ~ Start with the letter A, each child must search and find something that starts with that letter. See how far you can get! X is tough!
• Play store! ~ Get out that monopoly money and let the kids open a store. They have a lot of fun with this one and also start to learn how money is really spent at a store!
• Block city ~ Get out the blocks or legos and build a city. Kid's don't know which is better...construction or demolition!
• Simon Says ~ An old classic that kid's today still love! It is always fun to change the name too! If a child named *Dan* is it...then change it to "Dan says". They get a kick out of that!
• What time is it Mr. Fox? ~ A good number game. Much like Mother may I, but the kids ask the fox what time it is, and are allowed to take that number of steps towards the fox!

Indoor Science Activities:

• Volcano ~ This one is lots of fun. You just need a jar or small cup, baking soda and vinegar. Place baking soda in cup and add soda. And watch it errupt! You can also add red coloring!
• Wave in a bottle ~ Fill a 2 liter bottle halfway with water colored with blue food coloring and fill the rest with oil. It will make a neat wave machine!
• Tornado bottle ~ You do need a plastic connector for this, but you can find them at most education stores!
• Color experiment ~ Add food coloring to several small glasses of milk. Mix colors to see what happens! Then you can drink your experiment!

Indoor Crafty Activities:

• Snowglobe ~ Make an object from clay, place it in the lid of a jar. Fill jar half with water, half with glycerine. Add blue coloring and glitter, put lid on & you have a great globe!
• TP roll binoculars ~ Lots of fun. Glue or tape 2 tubes together and let kids paint! They have lots of fun making & playing with after they dry!
• Macaroni Necklace ~ Even boys love to paint and make these! Let kids string up left over pasta, then paint it~
• Marble painting ~ Get an old 9 x 13 pan. Place a piece of paper in the bottom. Take marbles and coat in tempera paint, then put in pan & shake!
• Bubble painting ~ Place drops of food coloring in bubble mix. Blow "colored" bubbles onto a paper. When they pop, they leave a neat colored bubble shape on the paper!
• Toe painting ~ Messy, but lots of fun. Basically, it is a twist on finger painting. Try to paint with your toes!
• Potato stamping ~ Have the adult cut potatoes in half and carve shapes into the flat side. Dip into tempera paint and stamp with them! Lots of fun to use!
• Goo ~ Mix corn starch & water to form a liquid/solid goo. Put in 9x13 pan, give kids some kitchen utensils & cups and let them play!
• Homemade playdough ~ Always a classic for kids. Give them kitchen utensils (rolling pin, wooden spoons, etc) and let them play!
• Homemade puzzles ~ Either use photos or kid's drawings, glue to cardboard or cardstock (cereal boxes work), and cut into a puzzle shape!
• Paper mache ~ Kids can pretty much paper mache anything and have a good time! Let them mache and paint once dry and they will enjoy it!

Outdoor Activities:

• Animal Tracks ~ Put out some popcorn the night before. Check in the morning to see what kinds of animals left prints in the snow. Identify them!
• Bird feeding/watching ~ This helps the birds and the kids can enjoy seeing the birds in winter. The kids really enjoy filling the feeder on their own!
• Shovel for a friend ~ Shovel a friend or neighbors walkway. Kid's love to be helpful. They will enjoy this activity and someone else will benefit too!
• Photo tour ~ Kid's love to take photos. If you have a digital camera, hand it over to the kids and take a walk. It's fun to see what they took pictures of when you get home!

Outdoor SnowPlay Activities:

• Snowball fight ~ Always fun to play in the yard. When we play, we choose sides, and even our adult neighbors come out and choose a team to help!
• Snow Fort ~ Grab a bucket (or square tupperware works great!) and fill and make "bricks" to build a snow fort! The more snow, the bigger you can make it!
• Snow coloring ~ Grab a couple of spray bottles and add water with food coloring. Take them out and spray pictures into the snow!
• Snow angels ~ Kid's love laying in the snow...I have no idea why! But they do! So get out there and see who can make the perfect snow angel!
• Snow men ~ With enough snow, you can make a whole snow family! Don't forget the accessories, like old hats & scarves to make it unique!