Winter Fun for Kids!


As any parent knows, a bored kid is a handful! And with the tendency of families to hibernate in winter, it’s easy to get in the “ho hum” mindset. This, of course, is when cabin fever sets in.

If you, like us, find the winter blues especially hard to cope with, imagine what it’s doing to your kids! But have no fear! There’s lots of things to do in the Sacandaga Lake area to break the winter tedium that’s fun for the whole family!

Outdoor Activities for Winter

Go sledding! There are lots of hills and trails in our area! And what better way to get out and have fun in winter than with a good romp in the snow! Sledding is fun for the whole family! Just remember, don’t stay out too long. The kids will need to get back inside after a couple hours to warm up.

Go skating! There’s lots of frozen surface area on the Great Sacandaga! Ice-skating is a great way to bring the family together! If your kids have never been ice-skating before, you can have a lot of fun teaching them – or, rather, picking them up off their butts!

Go on a winter nature hike! Nature hikes and winter hiking are a lot of fun and can be really educational. Visit a local bookstore and pick up a volume on local wildlife. Then, on your hike together, make a game of seeing how many species of wildlife you and the kids can identify together. Bird watching is especially fun at this time of year because of the colorful variety of birds that are active in winter!

Indoor Winter Activities

Have a family movie night! Movie nights bring the family together and can be made especially entertaining if combined with say, pizza night! Or perhaps involve the kids in helping making treats for the movie feast; say, cookies, popcorn, s’mores, or Rice Crispy squares!

Arts and crafts are always fun! Go to your local arts & crafts store and pick up magazines featuring crafts for the kids! Gather ’round the dining room table and create masterpieces of homespun goodness! When this writer was a kid, the family and I used to get together around the holidays and craft homemade Christmas ornaments for the tree!  Of course, Christmas is over now, but perhaps you can create Valentine’s or St. Patrick’s Day decorations for your home!

A fun thing to do in front of the computer with your kids is to create a family website! There are lots of free website services out there where you can create, say, an online family photo album! Let your kids choose the pictures and learn a little about creating a website!

And of course, the joys of scrapbooking simply cannot be overstated! Creating a family scrapbook is wildly entertaining and is a fantastic creative outlet – both for you and for the kids! You’ll generate tons of fun and cherishable memories while creating a lasting family treasure at the same time!

Other ideas for indoor family fun in winter include having a family game night, redecorating your kids’ room, tracing your family tree, or one of our personal favorites; make a home video! Have your kids put on a show and film it! Imagine the fun that and memories that will create!