Winter activities to enjoy at daycare! Outdoor play and nature play that warm the heart and body.
We’ve gathered lots of ideas for activities you can enjoy with children during the cold winter months!
In addition to outdoor and playground activities that let kids interact with natural materials like snow, ice, and nuts, we’re introducing plenty of options for getting bodies moving to warm up, as well as traditional games that have been passed down through the years.
When it gets cold, we tend to stay indoors, but it’s a great chance to show kids that moving their bodies helps them warm up.
Incorporate a variety of activities and enjoy the winter season together with children—keeping both hearts and bodies warm and full of energy!
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Winter activities kids can enjoy at daycare! Outdoor play and nature play that warm the body and the heart (11–20)
yuzu bath
Many people may remember having yuzu in their baths during winter.
Some children might have experienced a yuzu bath at home or while traveling.
Yuzu baths are said to promote circulation and help with shoulder stiffness and lower back pain, but for children, let them enjoy the scent and feel.
The warm sensation of the water, the refreshing aroma of yuzu, and the gradually loosening texture of the peel’s fibers—all of these offer discoveries just by touching the yuzu in the bath.
You can put a whole fruit in, or place cut pieces in a mesh bag—prepare different yuzu variations for them to enjoy.
Chinese jump rope
Many adults probably played Daruma-san ga koronda at least once when they were children.
It’s a game where the “it” player chants “Daruma-san ga koronda” while the others try to creep closer to them.
If anyone is caught moving when the it-player turns around, they’re out and join as another “it.” The key is for the it-player to vary the timing of turning around—sometimes lulling others into carelessness, sometimes spinning suddenly—to keep it fun.
The non-it players watch the it-player’s movements closely to decide when it’s safe to move.
The rules are simple, and it’s a game people of all ages can enjoy, so give it a try!
Playing at harvesting winter vegetables
What vegetables come to mind when you think of winter? Daikon radish, long green onions, and carrots are classics among classics.
Hot pot often appears on winter dining tables, and those vegetables frequently go in as well.
So why not incorporate a winter vegetable harvesting play activity into your winter fun? Harvesting real vegetables might be difficult, but you can make vegetables out of newspaper or construction paper, bury them in the sandbox in the schoolyard, and have everyone dig them up to experience harvesting.
If you share fun facts about the vegetables—like their characteristics and why they’re considered winter vegetables—it can turn into a learning opportunity too.
Color tag
Iro-oni is a game with simple rules that even small children can enjoy.
In Iro-oni, players run away while looking for the color specified by the tagger (the “oni”).
If someone who isn’t touching the specified color gets tagged by the oni, that person becomes the next oni.
The key is to play in a place with lots of colors.
You can make it more fun by adjusting the rules to the age group—for example, setting a time limit or calling out multiple colors.
Iro-oni helps develop social skills and physical ability by encouraging rule-following and cooperation with friends.
Try arranging the rules to suit the age of the children and have fun!
Making a snowman
Even out in the cold, building snowmen warms the heart when you see the children’s cheerful smiles.
Rolling tightly packed snow and watching it grow bigger and bigger is exciting for adults too.
Using little stones for eyes and a carrot for the nose—creating different expressions with all kinds of things—looks like so much fun! Spending time together, lively and hands-on with nature, is sure to become a wonderful memory.
Forget the cold and lose yourself in making a snowman—give it a try!
marathon
Kids love running around and playing freely, don’t they? By running marathons, they can strengthen their cardiovascular function, build muscle and endurance, and the sense of accomplishment and confidence they gain when reaching a goal leads to significant growth.
When doing a marathon, it’s important to carefully monitor children’s physical condition, ensure proper hydration and sun protection, and take into account how they’re feeling on the day.
It’s also recommended to combine it with seasonal events—like parent-child marathons, treasure-hunt marathons, sports days, or field trips—to make it more fun.
Let’s be creative so that everyone can enjoy it safely.
Winter activities kids can enjoy at daycare! Outdoor and nature play that warm the body and soul (21–30)
Mochi Glasses & Mochi-Pounding Peta-peta-petan-ko
When making mochi, we use the onomatopoeic word “pettan,” don’t we? In this fingerplay song, you touch your thumb to each of your other fingers in time with that sound to act out pounding mochi.
And what you end up with isn’t a kagami-mochi, but… mochi glasses! They look like they’d really stick to your face, but it seems like a fun way to spark kids’ imaginations about what to make with mochi.
Moving your fingers precisely is trickier than it looks, so start slowly at first.
Once you get the hang of it, try speeding up for a challenge.