Winter can be a hard time to homeschool especially when the snow outside makes everything inside boring. But it doesn’t mean you have to give up all efforts altogether.
These montessori ideas for winter are a perfect way of combining learning and homeschool with the fun of the outdoors, along with some indoor for when your hands get cold.
With these 25 different montessori ideas for winter you can definitely find something to do with all ages.
Be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the post to download your free printable. With this printable, you’ll be able to check off each of the activities you’ve completed.
1. Blow Bubbles Outside
Bubbles are magical as everyone knows, but in the winter they are even more fun. Simply blow bubbles from a bubble stick and watch them freeze into fascinating, exquisite shapes.
You can look closely at them to work out how crystal structures are formed.
2. Track Wildlife Prints in the Snow
Either in your garden or in public areas nearby take a magnifying glass and see what animal tracks you can find.
Perhaps you will follow the forked prints of a walking bird, the sneaky prints of a rascally kitten, or even stumble upon the mythical but often reported big cat!
3. Paint in the Snow
Using non-toxic paint spray, or preferably squirty bottles filled with water and food colouring, channel your artistic flair and create masterpieces in the snow.
You can roll the snow around to make interesting shapes and 3D effects. The best thing is it will go away the next time it rains.
4. Create Snow Sculptures
Roll large snowballs around picking up snow until it is the size of a body, or any other item you can thing of; if you are feeling adventurous, why not try a house?
Then mix up food colouring with water, and paint your structure to really bring it to life.
5. Make Icicle Art
Using ice trays, cake moulds or jelly moulds, make ice cubes using water and different food colouring.
Take them outside, stack them together in artistic shapes, and gently pour cool water over your structure to ‘glue’ it together.
6. Bake Bread
Baking teaches many lessons. Mix flour, yeast, salt, and water in a bowl and squash together until you’ve formed dough.
Knead the bread for as long as the fun allows (it’s a long time) then put the dough in a bread tin in the oven to bake. Freshly baked bread on a cold day is unbeatable.
7. Study Hibernating Animals
Use a search engine or picture books to look up animals that hibernate through the winter. Find out what habitats they like, what food they store, and when they like to hibernate.
Then if you can, go outside and see if you can find any hibernation spots; don’t disturb them though!
8. Celebrate Holidays around the World
Somewhere in the world there is a celebration, religious holiday, or a national event occurring.
See what you can find on each day, and research it to find out how it is celebrated and by whom. For the fun bit, try to recreate the food and the costumes yourselves, and throw your own celebration at home.
9. Shovel Snow
Shovelling snow may sound like a chore, but it’s also really fun. Use adult and child shovels to clear paths and walkways, and if you have time use the excess snow to build a snow sculpture.
If you want a truly safe walkway, spread salt after you’ve cleared it to prevent freezing.
10. Make Bird Feeders
Look up online the foods that winter birds eat. Either buy or make a bird feeder out of scrap wood and wire. Mealworms, corn, and mixed seeds are a sure-fire win for attracting winter birds.
Fill up a bird feeder with your chosen ingredients and see what magnificent winter birds your creation attracts.
11. Learn About Ice
Learn about how ice is formed by making your own. Fill up an ice tray and place it in your freezer. Also place an ice tray filled with water outside when it is around or below freezing temperature.
Check each one every 15 minutes and observed how the crystals are formed and see which one freezes the quickest.
12. Grate Cinnamon Sticks
Using the fine side of a grater shave some cinnamon sticks into a small bowl. If you aren’t content with the texture, use a pestle and mortar to grind it into a smooth powder.
The effort will improve the taste of your coffee, hot chocolate, or cake mixture many times over.
13. Snowflake Matching Card Game
Print out some matching snowflake card sheets (readily and freely available online).
Use them to either play a matching memory game, turning two card over at a time until you turn over an identical pair, or take them outside and try to match the shapes to falling snowflakes.
14. Bark Rubbings
This is a less macabre version of grave rubbings, but equally fascinating. Place paper up against the bark of a tree and rub with the edge of a piece of charcoal or use a pencil to shade.
Do this on several different trees and compare the results.
15. Plant Bulbs
Now is a great time to plant bulbs in your garden. Dig a small hole, not much deeper than the height of the bulb itself.
Place the bulb, or bulbs, root downwards in the hole, and gently refill the hole with soil, pressing down. Enjoy watching them grow as the warmer months roll in.
16. Cut out paper Snowflakes
Either draw or trace out the shape of a snowflake on a piece of paper. Carefully cut out the shape, making sure not to accidentally cut the joining parts.
For snowflake paper chains, fold paper back on itself and cut them out the same way you would a Christmas paper chain.
17. Make Popsicle Snowflakes
Collect as many popsicle sticks as you can. Spread them out in snowflake shapes, joined in the middle. For more advanced versions use the popsicle sticks to form complicated snowflake shapes.
Either glue them together at the joins, or stick the whole shape onto card or paper, then display.
18. Investigate Freezing and Melting
First, fill one ice tray with water and another with salted water and place both in a freezer. See which one freezes and look up why. Do the same with multiple liquids to compare and contrast.
Next, place frozen items outside overnight on a cold but not freezing night and see what has melted by the morning.
19. Learn about Winter Activities
Read about, watch videos about, and learn about different sports and activities popular in the winter, such as skiing, snowboarding, and sledging.
If you can do any of them nearby then do so. If not, imagine what they would feel like and act out the activity, adding in jeopardy and exhilaration in equal measure.
20. Winter Scavenger Hunt
Create a list of winter items you expect to find around your local area, go outside and see what you can find. In a pandemic environment, don’t pick items up, but catalogue them.
Similarly, hide winter items around the house and garden, and set the kids loose to see what they can find.
21. Make a Snow Castle
If you have enough snow then shape it into low castle walls and place ramparts on top using large snowballs.
If there isn’t much snow, paint cardboard boxes white and build a small castle using scissors and tape. Take it, in turn, to attack and defend the snow castle using snowballs.
22. Tic-Tac Snow
Tic-Tac-Toe, or noughts and crosses, is a fun and simple game. Scrape a grid shape into the ground, creating nine boxes.
Take it in turns to scrape an O or an X into a box at a time, trying to create a row of three identical shapes. The winner is the first to make a row. Make the game best of three, five, or however many until you become bored.
23. Pin The Nose On The Snowman
If you can, build a snowman outdoors. Take it in turns to try and place a carrot (as a nose) in the spot on the snowman where the nose should be.
If you aren’t able to build a snowman, draw one or print one out, and attempt to place a colourful nose on the drawing using tape whilst blindfolded.
24. Learn About the Winter Solstice
Read and watch videos about the winter solstice, drawing examples of the connection to nature and links to the modern calendar.
Whether it is the correct day or not, try to wake up early and watch the sunrise, in costume if you wish. If you are into stargazing, learn about the connection between the solstice and the stars.
25. Gingerbread Cookies
Follow a recipe online to make gingerbread mix and roll them out into cookie shapes. Bake the cookies, and once they have cooled place them on a cooling rack.
Decorate them using piped icing, sugar balls, and food colouring. Make snowflake, snowman, and winter-sport themed images to reflect the season.
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