Fun Winter Sensory Activities for Kids

Where I live it’s a rare thing to see snow in December (though a recent Facebook memory reminded me it snowed in mid-December once, 10 years ago!) but this time of year, whether there’s real snow on the ground or some people are just wishing there was (or you live in the other half of the world where some snow sounds pretty nice right about now) it’s a great time to make some snow related sensory activities.

I almost added this snow marble run from Happy Toddler Playtime to my Christmas STEM projects roundup, but then I decided winter/snow deserved its own post because we’ll still be in winter a lot longer than we were in Christmas season. This one calls for actual snow and you can do it indoors or out, but you could probably use some of the snow alternatives we’ll talk about later to do this one if you don’t have real snow handy.

But if you do have snow, you can try this fun snow paint activity from Two Kids and a Coupon. I like that you can do it inside, because that’s always my preference when it’s cold and snowy.

If you don’t have real snow, you can make your own from hair conditioner and baking soda. Find the recipe and ideas for playing with it in this winter toddler sensory bind post from The Mindful Toddler. Or you can make snow dough with this recipe from The Best Ideas for Kids.

While you’re making snow playdough you can also print out these winter playdough mats from Crafty Kids Play. You can use store-bought dough or make your own in different colors.

Use Styrofoam from a leftover holiday packing box to make this arctic sensory bin from Little Ladoo.

Or make a melted snowman art project with homemade puffy paint. 5 Minutes for Mom shows you how with a tutorial from Busy Mommy Media.

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Lacing is a great fine motor activity, and most kids go through a phase where they enjoy working with lacing cards. It helps promote focus and is a great quiet activity for kids to do in the car or to fill time in the classroom. And of course knowing how to lace is the beginning of knowing how to sew, which is great for all kids to learn (more on teaching kids to sew here).

There are lots of ways to make your own lacing cards. This one is just a pin but it’s easy to make lacing cards with any shape a child is into using cardboard and a nail to poke the holes. This could be fun for letter and number recognition or spelling the child’s name. Or try this version from Hey Azka, which uses a hole punch to make bigger holes so you can lace with shoe laces.

You can also just do lacing cards with paper, but it’s a great idea to print them on card stock and/or laminate them to make them sturdier for little hands. Homeschool Share has a set of alphabet lacing cards, which are free with email signup. Deceptively Educational has a set of number lacing cards with numbers 0 to 10.

Picklebums has some basic shape lacing cards, too.

Living Life and Learning has a bunch of cute printable lacing cards, including back to school designs, shoes kids can lace and learn to tie and ocean themed lacing cards. She also has tips for making your own lacing cards.

A Rose Tinted World made their lacing cards with craft foam, which makes them a little more durable than paper and you can cut it more easily than cardboard. They used a die cutting machine but you can also cut shapes by hand.

I also love the cat and mouse cards from Seam Whisperer. They also have some spring themed designs. So cute!

If you want to make lacing cards that are more open ended, check out this tutorial form Pretty Life Girls to make lacing cards that are more like geo boards. Theirs are made with wood but you can also do this with cardboard, craft foam or card stock.

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