42 Things to Do with Kids during a COVID Winter

Baby it’s cold outside! We’ve created a tried and tested list of activities to keep your kids busy during what’s left of this burrr cold COVID winter.

Hopefully, this does not end up as the longest winter break in the history of winter breaks (fingers crossed). Check out our tried and tested list of activities to do over the winter break!

Also, stay tuned as we are working on a virtual event calendar for March Break to keep your kiddos entertained (assuming March Break happens).

1 – Family talent show; everyone can prepare a performance, you can even zoom in other talented family members and friends. Perhaps add a request for a donation.

2 – Make a family photo book – photos will make you happy and you know you have been putting this off for a while. You can read our reviews of the best and worst ones! You can get your kids involved by having them help you choose pictures!

3 – Look at old photos/videos such as your wedding video, they’ll love it!

4 – Paint by Stickers perfect for 3 to 99 years old (it’s exactly as it sounds)!

5 – Make a movie with your kids; have them come up with a story, they star in it, you film and edit.

6 – Cook & bake with the kids; kids love cooking and baking. Pro-tip is to have everything ready and premeasured to make it a little less messy. Turn on the camera and call it a cooking show and watch their personalities come out! You can even live stream with the grandparents.

7 – Make puppets and put on a puppet show. You can make puppets from really any material such as socks and also check these reusable ones.

8 – Create a treasure map and hide treasures for them to find. Outdoor scavenger hunts. You can even give your kids a camera with a challenge to find things to take pictures of!

9 – Make construction paper rings to decorate the house. Imagine you made 10 a day, you would have 70 after 1 week of no school!

10 – Dress up parties; I regularly let my kids try on my inexpensive costume jewellery and they love it!

11 – Obstacle course; set up chairs to run around, blocks to hop over, a blanket to log roll on. This is a regular game in my home.

12 – Crafting; here is an epic website with so many crafts and it was created by a GTA mom!

13 – A donation challenge – have your kids help you clean out their toys to donate and/or sell and you can donate some of the funds from the sales. You can leverage Rebelstork – a quality secondhand marketplace for baby gear to sell off some of your stuff, or donate to Diabetes Canada (they will pick up toys!)

14 – Donation challenge 2.0 – if you have Free Little Pantries in your neighbourhood, then with your kids, go around and fill them up!

15 – Hide & Seek; it’s a favourite for my kids who are 3 and 5 years old. If you can find a really good hiding spot – you can get a nap out of it!

16 – Hot & cold game; remember that game as a kid?

17 – Make chocolate – you can do it from scratch or do like I do where I buy melting chocolate and have the kids pour into moulds and decorate with sprinkles.

18 – Science experiments!

19 – Sign up for subscription activities and education boxes such as Kiwico. You can sign up for just one month. Also check out list of our favourite subscription boxes here

20 – Build a fort with all those delivery boxes you have from ordering.

21 – DIY bowling; use your empty toilet paper rolls or paper towel rolls as your pins.

22 – Family workouts – Peloton has family workouts that our 3 year enjoyed with us!

23 – Create a play store; have your kids make play money, price tag, name their store, set their prices.

24 – Follow the leader (outside edition), but keep your distance from others. Let your kids lead you around the neighbourhood.

25 – Make two teams and create a tower building challenge…use building blocks, cardboard boxes, whatever you have! Make sure you have some tape on hand too.

26 – Play school; your kids are the teachers. This might actually give you insight into what their teachers are like.

27 – Magic carpet rides; if you have hardwood floors and a blanket, simply pull your kids on the blanket. This is a good full-body workout for you.

28 – Make banana ice cream.

29 – Set a Kid’s World Record! Really! Your kid can be a record holder if they are between 4 – 16 years old. Check out the website to see what kind of records other kids have set.

30 – Take an epic bubble bath; think Mexican resort foam party kinda bath.

31 – Family podcasts; check out this new one from beloved Guy Raz and NPR!

32 – Cookies and cupcake decorating: bust out the sprinkles, pretzels, mini Reece’s Pieces, whatever you have on hand and get decorating!

33 – Hopscotch + outdoor chalk; there are bound to be some nice weather days where you can create a chalk adventure for your kids and the neighbourhood.

34 – Lay down and let them put stickers on you #winwin.

35 – Audiobooks for kids (free for 30 days)!

36 – Cosmic Kids Yoga is a favourite for many. Check it out if you haven’t already for yoga classes based on popular movies, shows and stories!

37 – Epic is a leading digital library for kids 12 and under and you can get 30 days for free!

38 – Create a stop motion movie! Here’s an app to help you with it! Needs a lot of parental involvement and best for kids 4 and up.

39 – Arts for Kids hub guides your kids on how to draw! I love this one and do it with my 5 year old!

40 – Theme days like PJ day, spa day or Halloween to name a few!

41 – Indoor hopscotch – use some painters tape to map it out on your floor.

42 – Decorate your windows with paper snowflakes and/or uplifting messages for passerbyers.