Winter Activities with a Toddler

Since my daughter could walk and explore, I’ve always described her as an outdoor tot. She loves finding sticks, leaves, running around the playground or running through the grass. In the summer days that is incredibly easy to achieve and enjoy. Unfortunately the one downside to living in Michigan is our winter’s can get brutal. We may see the sun 3 times during this season. Michiganders may even start to question why we even put up with this state, but I promise we’re reminded every summer how beautiful our state is.

This is obviously not ideal for having a toddler that is absolutely in love with being outside, but doesn’t understand that’s difficult to do when it’s 12 degrees F. So what is a parent to do without losing their mind?

Brave the Cold!

If the temperature and wind isn’t too bad, then it’s our lucky day! I’ll suit up my daughter and let her run around outside for 20 minutes or so. We pull out her sled and she has a blast being pulled in the backyard. We’ll do the typical winter activity of building a snowman (that she’ll proceed to hug) and if I’m lucky I may be able to make a short game of shoveling the deck. I use outside time sparingly in the winter because my kid loves the snow and most times needs to be bribed back inside.  I’m not against using a bite a chocolate to get an upset toddler back inside when we’re both freezing our butts off.

Build an obstacle course or scavenger hunt!

Let your toddler completely take up the most space you can and create a course for them! We have a slide, pop up tent, tumble mat, and a tunnel that we will set up in different ways to make it as fun as possible for my daughter. I can usually get a solid 30 If you don’t have specific items, get creative! Use a pile of pillows as a hill to climb over or blankets for a tunnel to crawl through! If your toddler is a little older, making a scavenger hunt is a great activity! To make it easiest on myself, I like to focus the activity into one room and make it as simple as find me something that’s blue or find me 2 rubber ducks. This way it takes very little planning on my side and I can squeeze it some color or numbers practice.

Chores

It’s strange that this would be a recommendation, but in my experience little kids love to help. My daughter finds such joy in being a good helper. The chores I find easiest for my 2 and a half year old is sorting the laundry, putting laundry in and out of the washer/dryer, matching socks, and putting clean dishes away. If you make the boring activity as fun as possible, you can get them to focus on the chores longer. A bonus is that you can actually get some house work finished. If you want to do a fun chore with your little, find something to bake! I love baking breads since I almost always have the ingredients on hand, but bake whatever you’re good at! It’s a great activity to practice some motor skills.

Free Outings

I love to utilize our local library for entertainment. Most libraries I’ve visited has their kid section set up with toys that are perfect for entertaining without spending money. Even if the toys are older they’re in great condition and new to them. The obvious entertainment is finding them books to look through and read with, but some libraries also have fish tanks, STEM boxes, puzzles, or activity center boxes set up. Your libraries should also have activity groups to sign up for that are either free or extremely affordable. So make sure you are checking those out too! Also utilize going to the store with your toddler and letting them walk instead of using the shopping cart. I’d say know when the store is less likely to be busy that way you don’t have to be paranoid, but this is such a simply task or errand to get your little one involved.

Purchased Outings

If you don’t mind spending some money for an activity outside of the house, look to see what is in your area. Indoor trampoline places have popped up like crazy in the last 5 years. We’re close enough to Great Lakes Crossing (a rather large mall in Metro Detroit) where they have a Peppa Pig Land, Lego Land, and Sea Life. I’ve used Sea Life last winter and my daughter absolutely loved looking at all the fish. If you live closer to a bigger city, Check if there’s a science center near you. If you’re daring, take them to an art museum! For us, these places off discounts to those in the Metro Detroit area as a perk of some taxes going to them. The Detroit Institute of Art offers free admission if you live within Metro Detroit. So make sure to check out perks of your taxes and use them!!

I also suggest getting some workbooks to practice numbers, colors, or letters. I either find mine on Amazon or in the dollar spot at Target. If all else fails, throw on a movie or tv show for the kiddo to give yourself a break. You deserve it!

Do you live somewhere that gets rough winters? What type of things do you like to do with them to burn off some energy?