Winter Outdoor Family Activities

Winter Outdoor Family Fun!

It’s January in Canada. Which means it’s winter. It’s cold. And there’s lots of snow. Need some fun outdoor family activities to keep you and the kids occupied until spring arrives? We’ve got a list of fun suggestions below!

Snow Day Competition

Spend the day outdoors having friendly family competitions of the classics – seeing who can build the best snow person, build the best snow fort/castle, make the best snow angel, or make the most snowballs! You can end your day with a kids vs adults snowball fight for bragging rights.

Winter Scavenger Hunt

Bundle up the family and head outside for a winter scavenger hunt. You can find a list online or create one yourself, and get everyone looking around the neighbourhood for items like pinecones, animal tracks, icicles, or a snow person, to name a few.

Snow Painting

A fun way to get creative outdoors is by painting the snow. Simply fill a few spray bottles with water, and add a drop or two of food colouring to each bottle. Then, hand the spray bottles to the kids, and let them spray the snow until their heart's content.

Make a Snow Volcano

A fun (and educational) winter activity is making a snow volcano. And bonus – you can make it using basic household supplies. Add 1 tbsp of dish soap, 2 tbsp of baking soda and a few drops of food colouring to a tall cup or plastic bottle. Place it in the snow, and pack snow around it, in a volcano shape. Make sure to leave the area around the top of the cup free of snow. Then, add 30 mL of vinegar to the cup and watch it explode!!

Ice Marbles and Ice Bowling

If you have balloons lying around, you can make ice marbles! All you have to do is add a couple drops of food colouring into a balloon, fill it with water and then tie it up. Next, place the water-filled balloons outside to freeze for around 24 hours, depending on the temperature and size of the balloons. Once frozen, use a knife to carefully cut the balloon off. You can place your ice marbles around your yard as decoration. Or, you can use them as a bowling ball! Use 10 empty water bottles as bowling pins, and take turns ice bowling in the yard.  

Make a Frozen Suncatcher

Gather the family and try this fun activity! Head outside and find items to put in your suncatcher, like twigs, leaves, pinecones, berries, and seeds. Arrange all the items in a container that you’ll freeze it in, ideally something with a hole in the middle like a bundt pan (other pans or containers will work, you’ll just need to put a smaller cup or container in the middle so you can hang a string from it when it’s frozen). Once you have all the items in the pan, carefully fill the pan with enough water to cover the items. Place the pan outside to freeze until solid. Depending on the temperature, this could take a few hours or a whole night. Once frozen, carefully remove the frozen suncatcher from the pan, tie a string through the hole in the middle, and hang it outdoors to enjoy.

Winter Sports

If you and the family are up for a livelier activity, give one of our favourite winter sports a try. The options are endless – ice skating, tobogganing, ice hockey, downhill skiing, snowboarding, cross country skiing to name a few (with proper protective gear, of course). And it always helps to make a reservation ahead of time so you (and the kids!) aren’t disappointed.

All these activities will have you and your family loving the outdoors while making new memories! Getting outside and enjoying winter can make the cold season more enjoyable for everyone – especially when you end the day with hot chocolate with your loved ones!

To your Balanced health,
Your friends at The Balanced Company