Winter weather can make for fun and games in the snow outside or indoors when it's just a little too cold for outdoor play. With a little creativity, you can create winter weather games that will provide a change of pace to the usual outdoor action. And if the fun has to be moved inside, games and activities that focus on weather, and winter weather in particular, will make for some nice winter memories, too.
Snowman Alternatives
When there's lots of snow on the ground, instead of building a snowman or snowfort, try to build some other types of snow sculptures. Make a snow volcano with food coloring for lava. Or snow version of your house. Make it a game and give players or teams 15 or 30 minutes to build a sculpture, and then award prizes for the best ones, most original ones, biggest sculptures, for example. Have large shovels and small gardening tools available for the shaping of these sculptures, and be sure to take pictures.
Weather Wiz Kids
If the winter weather is driving you indoors for an afternoon, there are some great weather-related online games for kids. Meteorologist Crystal Wicker developed "Weather Wiz Kids" for children to learn about winter weather and all types of meteorological phenomena in a fun way. In addition to many weather-related games, kids can find weather jokes, interesting weather photos and trivia, and even learn about forecasting the weather.
Snow Obstacle Course
For a little exercise and fun out in the snow, create an obstacle course in the snow in your yard. Pack "snow hurdles" about a foot high in a zig-zag pattern around the yard and play follow-the-leader. Mix it up by having players jump sideways over the hurdles or even backwards. You can even add to the obstacle course fun, but having a station along the way with a plastic baseball bat. When a player reaches that point, he must make a snowball, toss it in the air and smash it with the bat. Another station could be one where you stop and make a snow angel. Be creative and have fun.
Winter Word Searches
For a little mental challenge indoors during the winter, have kids or the whole family try to come up with as many words as they can using the letters in winter-related words or phrases. Give each player five minutes to come up with as many words as he can from each winter word. For example, if the word is "Snowman," some possible words using those letters include "snow," "man," "on," "mow," "son," "now," and "saw." Award a prize to the person who comes up with the most words and maybe a special prize for someone who comes up with especially long or interesting words.
