Things to do during the winter?

[maherwoman]

Hi guys!

We just moved here to Edmonton, Alberta (Canada) from California. So, in one swift move, we went from somewhere that hardly even had any precipitation or any sort of winter at all (which we HATED), to somewhere that has oodles of winter (no worries, though...husband was born here, and I LOVE cold weather).

Given that the last time I lived somewhere that snowed when I was about my daughter's age (9yrs), I don't remember what there is to do outside during snowy days!

So, can you guys fill me in on things my daughter and I can do during the winter for physical education and for extracurricular activities?

Thank you so much!

[Theodore]

Build snow forts, snowmen, learn how to ice carve, go sledding, have snowball fights, etc. Sadly haven't had enough snow here recently to do much of that, but when I was a kid it was buckets of fun to go sledding, esp if you had snow + some freezing rain.

[DMoss35]

Hi,

Welcome to the Great White North! There are lots of fun games you can play with your daughter. Here's a fun one - it involves building a snowman, then practicing your throwing skills. It even involves a fitness component, if your daughter chases the snowballs, frisbees or hats that you toss.

http://www.physicaleducationupdate.com/public/421.cfm

[maherwoman]

Nice! Thank you so much DMoss35!

And thanks for the welcome, too!

[Blessings4all]

Shoveling is always great exercise for kids. We live in MN and that is what my kids do. Also, snow sculpture is fun. One year my youngest daughter made a nativity scene out of snow.

[TheAssistant]

I wrote a blog post on this not long ago!

http://e-expeditions.com/tours/2011/11/09/9-ways-to-stay-busy-indoors/

I hope you find it useful!

[Theodore]

Seems to be a mash-up of a handful of sites, not so much a really useful list of activities. For instance, in the Play Some Games section you mention Monopoly and Scrabble and then skip on to other stuff, totally ignoring the fact that there are hundreds of other board games available, including popular and more modern ones such as Risk 2210, Settlers of Catan, Agricola, etc., or online game sites such as zone.msn.com or kongregate.com, or so on. Needs more depth.

[TheAssistant]

Thank you for the feedback! They were meant to be ideas for inspiration, but I'll keep your advice in mind.

[Momma24]

We lived in Britain for 5 1/2 years, and although we didn't have alot of snow, we had days where the rain fell sideways (lived in a windy valley) and it was TOO COLD and wet to do much outdoors!
I'm not sure as to whether you are looking to spend some money on these activities, but some cheaper ideas might be finding a children's excercise video with which you could 'be silly' together, or to a little more pricey idea of a Wii/ Xbox with Kinect involving ACTIVE games! (They ARE fun for all!!) ANYTHING to get the heart pumping!
As a side-note, when my youngest was just beginning school, he was SO HYPER sometimes that I had to purchase one of those jogging trampolines and give him 10 minutes of jumping between subjects to tire him for sitting some more! : ) (On the dry days he took laps around the house! It was SO funny to see his hair flopping by the windows!)

[Tashathomson]

I think Ice skating is a good to go. Running around and having snowball fights are also best things to do with your daughter! You can also check if there are any homeschool groups in your area that organise group activities for the homeschooled kids.

Above All, Have lots of Fun!

[Instructor]

You could always take a martial arts class. They have homeshool programs for those too.