My 15mo DS adores being outdoors and spends most of his days playing in the water and exploring our backyard. I'm starting to wonder what we'll do once it gets cold. What do you do with your outdoor-loving kiddos when the weather changes?
My 15mo DS adores being outdoors and spends most of his days playing in the water and exploring our backyard. I'm starting to wonder what we'll do once it gets cold. What do you do with your outdoor-loving kiddos when the weather changes?
persimmon / 1479 posts
We still try to go outside even if it's for a very short time. We do more building forts and activities inside. I think we're going to get these things for winter:
kiwi / 617 posts
Go outside!
Get your kiddo (and yourself!) good winter clothes and head outside! My loved playing in the snow. If it was just cold without snow, she still loved going for walks (walking & in stroller). We've used a beach set (pail, shovel, boat, etc.) for winter fun for 3 years now. My DD also loved pulling a wagon or sled around.
We would typically spend 1-1.5 hours outside in the morning and another hour in the afternoon. It takes a while to put all snow clothes on and off so really this will take up much of your day between meals and naps too
We live in Maine, so if we didn't play outside, we would be stick inside from November to April!
pomelo / 5621 posts
I’ve learned to suck it up and bundle up and go outside. We don’t spend as much time outside in the winter but the kids need the fresh air and to burn off energy.
Like @jennlin821: we’d be inside half the year otherwise.
Not to say sone days we don’t stay in. But then I let them just play and have fun with their toys.
apricot / 444 posts
I’ll admit I really hate going outside in the winter in Wisconsin. Things I do:
- Water Play: fill pots/pans with water and bring out bath toys, spatulas, spoons, etc
- Save lots of Amazon boxes to color or play in. After they’ve lost interest after a few days I’ll recycle it, just in time for the next one to arrive and we start over
- Pillow Party: Put all of the pillows from the house in one carpeted bedroom and jump around
- Bin of dried beans and hide little toys
- Bake cookies
- We bring our plastic slide inside
- Homemade salt playdough
I think my biggest hurdle is not that the kids get bored, but more so that I do. That in turn makes me cranky and feel less motivated. So I also try and do a lot of “jobs” for me during the day...
- Go through everyone’s closet once to organize and get rid of things that don’t fit or no longer want. Kids like playing with balled-up clothes
- Wipe all cabinets and give kids a cloth to “help”
- Go through play area toys and donate things we no longer use
- Cook dinner together
It takes twice as long to get chores done, but the kids are entertained and enjoy “helping” and I feel productive after a day of just being at home.
nectarine / 2047 posts
We live in Seattle now but have lived in Chicago and Maine and we have always just gone outside. My husband likes to say “there’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad gear!”
nectarine / 2436 posts
@foodiebee: are there any rec programs, like ice skating? Library classes or rock n tots at the YMCA? Gymnastics? Ski lessons? Not sure what covid looks like in your area but here in NY they still will have some programs for littles. Even once a week breaks up the weeks.
Otherwise we do embrace the winter even tho I bitch about it. Can't tell you how many times I've stood outside in the goddamn freezing cold pulling my kids around on a sled track we made (and he goes to outdoor school).
Nature walks after fresh snow, tubing/ sledding.
Michaels/AC moore, even TJMaxx have cute kids craft sets pretty cheap, like stepping stone things.
Go away for a night
Children's museums?
Family dinners
These are the ways we get through our 7 months winters 🤪
nectarine / 2987 posts
Good winter clothes and multiple shorter outside sessions daily. See the gearing up as part of the activity, not a waste of time.
Indoor activities from busytoddler
Quiet time and indoor play from workspaceforchildren
cherry / 247 posts
Check out Busy Toddler on instagram. She has a whole category of activities for that age (she calls them "tabies"- not yet a toddler, but also not a baby). She also has a website.
ETA: Her Pom Pom Push activity literally kept my "Taby" occupied for 20+ minutes DAILY when he was that age. Not every kid will respond to every activity, but once you find one they love, they can do it over and over and it never stops being fun.
kiwi / 662 posts
These are great!! Thank you all so much! And it's good to hear that I'm not crazy for thinking we'll just go outside anyway, no matter the temp.
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