Winter is almost here! While it’s easy to combat a common case of your little’s wiggles with a walk around the block or a trip to the park during the warmer seasons, these excursions can become more limited as the temperatures drop. To help combat the winter wiggles, we’ve compiled a list of alternative activities to keep your child moving on even the coldest days.
Here are a few ideas to keep preschoolers engaged and entertained this winter:
1. Give Them a Special Job
What better way to keep those little bodies moving than to give them special jobs around the house? Although chores can feel rote to adults, they can be extremely exciting to our little ones. Children love to be included in essential household tasks. Having their own responsibilities helps them feel like they’re a part of keeping the household running smoothly.
You can give your wiggle worm the job of watering plants, putting dirty laundry into a hamper, or taking simple tasks to help with dinner preparation. Including these special jobs in your child’s daily routine is a great way to give them something to look forward to on a snowy winter day.
2. Throw Them a Dance Party
There’s nothing like a good old-fashioned dance party to chase a case of the wiggles away (for both children and adults)! Tip: dance parties are also a fail-proof way to press the reset button if your child needs a break or a new activity.
Music has many benefits for children including increasing attention span and inspiring creativity. Dancing also promotes coordination and is a great way to incorporate physical exercise into your child’s day when the colder weather prevents you from heading outdoors. Add in songs with specific instructions to follow like “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes,” to add some additional educational benefits.
3. Read Aloud in a Rocking Chair
Parents of preschoolers often find themselves constantly seizing opportunities to sit down with a book and read with their child. However, if your little one has a case of the winter wiggles, they might not be ready for quiet reading time. Spice up your story read-alouds with a rocking chair session and a stack of books. That way, they can read and rock the wiggles away!
4. Play Hide and Seek or Hot and Cold
Hide and Seek is a classic game for wiggly preschoolers. The simple rules offer just the right amount of social and physical stimulation. You can also use the game Hot and Cold for a similar activity. Find an object, and tuck it safely away. As your children move around the room, you can give temperature-based clues to help lead them to their goal.
5. Build a Fort
Never underestimate the power of fort building to entertain young children with cabin fever! Fort building is an excellent activity to encourage open-ended, collaborative play amongst children and their siblings or peers. Open-ended, unstructured play is vital to the development of a child’s emotional intelligence. You may be surprised by the creativity and complexity your child shows as they build the fort of their dreams. Since fort building also involves repurposing materials to create a sturdy structure, you can also consider it an early lesson in engineering!
6. Engage in Sensory Playtime
Often the wiggles are a symptom of young children who are seeking additional sensory input. On colder days, when they have more time inside, children often crave the sensory stimulation that accompanies venturing out amongst people, a change of scenery, and new textures. Fortunately, there are several ways to recreate new sensory experiences for your child in your home. Sensory tables are an easy way to keep children entertained. Try adding water, sand, or dried rice to different storage bins and allow your children to dig and play!
The winter months in which ample time is spent indoors can be a joyful time with your preschooler. With a little imagination and resourcefulness, you can create beautiful memories indoors this winter while also offering social and educational learning opportunities for your child!
Learn and Play All Year Round
At The Gardner School, we provide fun and engaging activities each day to help your little one get their wiggles out! Our indoor and outdoor play areas mean children can run, jump, and climb no matter what the winter weather is. To learn why parents love The Gardner School for their children to play and grow, contact us to schedule a virtual tour.