A dinner conversation we recently had wandered into the land of “Do you remember when the kids were little, we…?” As we laughed and talked about the past, I realized that most of our reminiscing centered on things we had done outdoors as a family. I wondered if those experiences were a big part of our kids’ memories too. Next time we were all together, I nonchalantly brought “Do you remember…?” into the conversation. (With our family, that is always easy to do.) They, of course, had other things that stuck out in their minds, but outdoor time together sparked a lot of memories and was a huge part of the conversation. Watching their animated faces, I realized how important those experiences had been to my children’s lives. The time outdoors as a family helped to make them the awesome adults they have become.
Some of the following are from our Do You Remember conversations and others have been suggested by friends. I’m sure there are countless other activities to add to the list. We would love to share your favorites with our readers.
- Build a snow family and add something to identify each.
- Create snow angels
- Build a fort or an igloo
- Have a snowball fight
- Go sledding
- Go ice skating
- Catch snowflakes on black paper and examine them with a magnifying glass
- Put food coloring in spray bottles and make snow paintings
- Identify animal tracks in the snow. (Follow them as far as you can)
- Blow bubbles when it’s REALLY cold to see what happens
- Identify trees by their bark or needles
- Take a winter night walk – listen for animal sounds
- Fill bird feeders with different kinds of seed and see what kinds of birds come
- Go on a scavenger hunt
- Collect pine cones and make them into bird feeders (Coat with peanut butter and roll in bird seed)
- Make a snow globe out of a glass jar ( Glue items to the lid; add water or a water/glycerin mixture; add glitter)
- Make a winter wreath out of things you collect on a walk
- Collect rocks to make rock animals
- Freeze ice blocks in different shapes then take outside and build an ice castle
- Cut and hang paper snowflakes
