Creative Winter Activities for The Family That Are Completely Free

The backyard isn’t just for summer after all. For those of us who live in the sections of the world where winter is a very real, and snowy season, we still need to get outside and experience nature and get our exercise.

There are so many ways you can use your backyard in the winter and we are here to help you. You won’t just be having fun with your kids, you will also burn a ton of calories in the process! We love fitness while having fun here at MBP, so that’s always an added bonus.

Build a Snow Fort

You could take a weekend to make an igloo, or an igloo may be a bit more ambitious than you are looking for. Still, a fort of snow is a great thing for children to play in. You can make it simple or you can get creative. It all depends on what experience you want to have.

First, you draw an area in the snow where you want to build your fort. Then you get a beach bucket or plastic bins. You press the snow into the container and then pop it out with a yardstick to create a brick. If you make enough bricks you can actually make a snow fort.

Collecting enough snow for bricks should be easy if you use the stuff you cleared from your driveway or sidewalk, which can get super heavy using a shovel. Snow blowers, like the ones featured in Backyard Boss, can get the snow to your destination much simpler and quicker.

Of course, you should create a fort that is reasonable for the size of your yard, the amount of snow you have lying around, and the energy you have available. Once you have the fort build you can pour some cold water over the top of it, which will freeze the bricks together to make it sturdier.

Create a Tobogganing Hill

A toboggan run is another project that would be much easier for someone who owns a snow blower. You can pack the snow up against the side of your garage and gradually decrease as you go down. Try to build some type of stairway up the side so it’s easy to climb back up when the kids want to repeat a run.

If you don’t have enough room in your backyard to create an entire toboggan run then suggest to your children that they get together with their friends to build one at the local park. This could turn into a great community project that your family will remember for a lifetime.

Track Some Wildlife

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This activity is not only fun it’s educational. You and your children can look through the snow to see what animal tracks you can find. Of course, you want to be very careful of any potentially dangerous animal.

Yet, squirrels, raccoons, chipmunks, birds of all kinds, and so many other creatures make their way through our backyards after the snow has fallen. You can do some research on the internet and try to identify what track you have found. You can make a game of it and see who recognized the most paw or claw prints.

Make Snow Angels

Anyone who grew up in an area of the world where snow falls in the winter knows how to make a snow angel. If you are new to snow it’s super simple, totally free, and tons of fun. All you do is get dressed as warmly as possible, go outside, fall back into some soft fluffy snow that has just fallen, and then move your arms and legs in the snow.

The up and down of your arms make the dent in the snow look like wings and the movement of your legs from side to side makes it look like the angel is wearing a holy robe. What I love about snow angels is no matter how old you are, if you can get in the snow and make a snow angel, you feel like a kid again.

Build A Snowperson

You might think that everyone knows how to make a snowperson, but the reality is, that can’t be true. There are plenty of people who have never made a snowperson who might be too shy to ask. If you are one of those people, this is how you do it.

Create a ball of snow in your hand. Then you get on the ground and turn that ball into a bigger ball of snow by packing more and more into it. When it gets too big for you to hold then you start rolling it across your yard so that it gets bigger and bigger as you roll. Dry snow won’t work for this, unfortunately.

You can create three balls. One large, one medium, and one small. Place them in size order with the biggest on the bottom and you have your person. Then you can do all sorts of fun things to dress your snowperson. Carrots work great for noses and sticks work well for arms and hands.

Of course, there are no rules when it comes to creating your snowperson. Get as creative as you like.

There are so many free activities you can do with your kids right in your own backyard this winter, which is a good thing for us because playing outside when it’s snowing is the stuff childhood memories are made of.

What are some of your favorite winter activities?