I’m not a huge fan of winter weather. In fact, I have secret dreams of moving to Florida someday. I mean, don’t get me wrong, winter can be absolutely beautiful. But the runny noses, being cooped up inside all day, and it being so cold all the time really puts a drag on our family life! Before too long, we need some winter boredom busters for families!
If we’re not careful, we fall into the trap of ‘all the screens’ and spend days on end watching movies, playing games, and hibernating behind our phones or tablets. While there’s nothing wrong with having those lazy days, when they get excessive our family kind of falls apart in a mess of crankiness.
I started on a hunt for fresh, tech-free, simple ideas for family fun in the winter to help us connect as a family and get through the cold days together. So I asked the members of our free 52 Moments group to share the boredom busters that keep them enjoying the cold winter months, and here’s a few of my favorites!
Winter Boredom Busters for Families
Photo credit: Worthington Photography
Cook Together
This could be as simple as baking a loaf of banana bread or as complicated as dreaming up a 4-course fancy meal for the family. Get out the fancy china, just because and make the experience special!
Don’t worry if you’re not a “fancy cook”. Grab a recipe from Pinterest and try your hand. If it ends up a “Pinterest fail”, go grab some pizza and you’ll all have a fun family memory!
Schedule A Vacation (Or Staycation)
We are fortunate enough to have family in Florida, so we often try to beat winter boredom by scheduling a trip to see family in the middle of the winter months. Not everyone has the ability to up and travel to a warmer climate when the seasons change, but sometimes a fresh change of scenery can keep everyone sane.
If you’d like to stay local, put on your fake-tourist hat! We’ve definitely booked a hotel room in a neighboring town or city and become tourists for the day — scheduling trips to museums, restaurants, shops, or shows we’ll all enjoy. So often we never go “see the sights” where we actually live, so this can be a really fun way to get out of our routine during cold winter months!
Family Contests
A good old fashion contest can get everyone in the house energized and excited to connect. Here are some fun, silly, unique ideas to try
- Face painting: for the very brave you can let the kiddos decorate mom or dad’s face with face paints and see who creates the best/scariest/silliest face!
- Each person builds a lego car and has a car smash derby at the end. (you could also build a city, tower, or anything else as long as it involves destruction at the end!)
- Dance party (use the Echo Dot to easily play your favorite songs!)
- Chopped challenge: Get everyone in the kitchen using up all the old ingredients that have been in the fridge or pantry forever. Set a timer and cook up some snacks, then let everyone taste test when the timer goes off!
Read Together
Reading books aloud together (or listening to audio books!) is probably the first thing you think of for winter boredom busters, and for good reason! It’s such a simple way to connect with your family. Here are our recent family favorites!
J.K. Rowling
Her classic series is being re-imagined in beautiful coffee table style illustrated books that hold my 6 year old’s attention.
Roald Dahl
The best part of these books is that once we finish there is a movie that we can sit and also watch together to see the books come to life!
Ruth Stiles Gannett
She wrote and illustrated a 1940’s classic book series but it’s full of suspense and magic and imagination that holds everyone’s attention easily.
Create Art
One of my very favorite winter boredom busters is creating art together as a family. Last year we transformed the dining room in our home into a creative ‘maker’ space. We have scraps of paper, crayons, markers, glue, paint, paper, yarn, cardboard, pom poms, feathers, and other supplies at the ready waiting to be used.
To make art time easy and simple why not place a select set of supplies on a table and make treasure from ‘trash’. If you have younger kids you can have teams of family members to create something together and let the kiddos work with mom or dad to make something.
Instead of scripting what’s being made it can be fun to see everyone’s personalities shine through in their creations.
Play Board Games
Our community was quick to share their favorite board games. Our family typically defaults to Uno — this list was refreshing and gave us so many new ideas we’re excited to try this year!
Get Fresh Air
Even though it may feel like work to get everyone bundled up in winter gear to head outside, it’s guaranteed to refresh everyone’s spirits. The cold air of winter is invigorating, grounding, and kids will love the promise of hot cocoa when you return home from sledding, snow angels, or watching your breath make smoke in the cold air.
Make A Plan For Warmer Days
One of our 52 moments community members sits with her daughter and plans out a spring garden with her. You could dream up vegetables to plants, flowers to fill your beds, or a special fairy garden full of imagination and magic.
Subscription Boxes
Who doesn’t love getting snail mail? These days we mostly get bills or catalogs – boring! It’s no wonder subscription boxes have become all the rage! They are a lovely surprise that can bring spontaneity and joy back to our mailboxes, and they make super fun boredom busters! These are some of my family’s favorites!
Kiwi Crate: I love that they have options for all ages and types of creative kids! From things to build, to things to draw this is one you can customize to your child’s personality and stage of development.
Kid Stir: For the family who loves to cook together! Get recipes and ingredients the whole family can make together.
History Unboxed: There is so much to learn about the world and our past that’s outside of the curriculum kids learn in school. This is a great way to bring the past to your door and learning something new together!
Stitch Fix: Ok so many this one is primarily for me (mom) but surprisingly my family likes playing ‘fashion show’ each month when my box arrives. I try on the clothes and they vote for their favorites. It’s a win-win too because I don’t have to drag everyone to the store for me try on new clothes and they have fun sharing their opinion on what arrives on our doorstep each month.
Theme Days
If you know it’s going to be too snowy or icy to get out of the house for the day why not have a family theme day: pajama day, crazy hair day, favorite cartoon day, art day. Everyone can dress up, make themed meals, or use any of the other ideas above to bring an entire day of activities together that relate to the theme.
If you’re looking for the permission, guidance, and support to carve out little bits of time for you and your creativity more come join me for a completely FREE 6-day email class called ‘Recapture Time’. We’ll work together on juggling that full schedule of yours so you can get back to the creative projects that fulfill you. Just enter your email in the box below and we’ll get started right away!
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