During the colder months, it can be tough to cobble together some fun family winter activities that everyone in your household will enjoy. After all, you might live in a multigenerational home. Or perhaps you just have a lot of young, energetic kids to entertain. Whatever your situation, you need some fun family winter activities, and you need them ASAP.
Below are some clever, thoughtful, and exciting ways to pass away the time when the temperature doesn’t rise much above freezing. Some involve outdoor events, whereas others allow you to stay indoors in warmth and comfort. Consequently, you’ll probably find at least one of these fun family winter activities intriguing and enticing.
Rent a Snowmobile
If you’ve never gotten on a snowmobile and gone for a zoom through the rural, safely maintained hills or valleys of your community, you’re missing out. Snowmobiling is one of those fun family winter activities that’s traditionally overlooked by people who didn’t grow up accustomed to being around snowmobiles. Fortunately, it’s not tough to learn how to handle a snowmobile securely and have a blast on those days when you want to exercise, but you want it outside your house or the gym.
You don’t have to go out to your nearest snowmobile dealer and purchase a new ride, though. Instead, ask around about renting a snowmobile, or maybe a few for every member of your family if they’re old enough to ride in partners or alone. That way, you won’t be too heavily invested in your snowmobile, just in case it turns out you’re more of a skier or snowboarder.
What will you get out of the experience with one of the most thrilling fun family winter activities available? Foremost, your adrenaline will get a rush. So will your cardiovascular system. Even though you’re not doing the work of providing the momentum during your ride, you’re still getting a workout. It’s kind of like operating a motorcycle, in a way. Your legs and arms will definitely feel a little achy the next day, especially if you snowmobile for a long time!
Another upside to snowmobiling is that it gets you away from your personal living space. During the past year, you may have turned your property into a place to conduct remote work, a place for your kids to do online schooling, and maybe even a place to start up a side hustle and make a little extra money. Snowmobiling allows you to get away from it all without needing to go on a big vacation or overspend. That alone makes it a wonderful way to mentally recharge.
As a final note, if you get bitten hard by the snowmobiling bug, you have plenty of options. In addition to purchasing your own snowmobile, you may want to look for Arctic Cat accessories. The accessories you get could include proper gear to ensure your ease on every snowmobiling trip you take in the future.
Learn How to Embroider
The art of embroidery may be entering into a phase as a lost skill. You can single-handedly revive it, at least in your home. How? Learn to embroider as a family. Or at least gather a couple of your family members together to discover how to embroider like people used to generations ago.
When you start to embroider, you’ll be working your brain like nobody’s business. Not only will you be forced to get super-creative, but you’ll have to focus your attention. It can be easy to make missteps at first when you’re embroidering. That’s okay, but you want to hone your concentration skills. Over time, you’ll develop a huge amount of patience, which is something everyone can use.
Another advantage to embroidering as a family group is that you could potentially work on a large project simultaneously. For instance, you might want to work on a mural piece that you plan on hanging on the wall. Each member of your family could be assigned a part of the embroidered mural. Once finished, it will become a treasured heirloom that you’ll probably want to pass down.
Of course, embroidering something will be a huge confidence booster, too. Kids especially enjoy this as one of their fun family winter activities. Children aren’t taught embroidery, sewing, knitting, or crocheting as much anymore. Spending time embroidering may give them a newfound pleasure that they will rely on to provide hours and hours of enjoyment over their lifetime.
One cool note: You could even get your extended family into the act with this, one of the favorite fun family winter activities. Just seek out a remote learning private school that specializes in teaching embroidery or another sewing-related art form. Sign up for classes and urge your extended family members to do likewise.
Every time there’s a class, you’ll see your loved ones’ shining faces! Your kids will appreciate being able to “hang out” with their cousins, grandparents, and other family members they don’t get to see too much. And everyone will get an education while they have a blast.
Finish Your Basement DIY-Style
Perhaps your family has a basement that’s never been redone but is dry enough to become a family room, extra bedroom, home fitness center, man cave, entertainment hideaway, or kids’ school-away-from-school zone. Whatever your vision for the room, winter is a good time to tackle an indoor DIY project.
To start on your basement renovation as one of this year’s fun family winter activities, talk with everyone about what you envision as a realistic plan for your space. Let everyone have a say before deciding how you’re going to makeover your basement. You might be able to accommodate everyone’s wishes if you’re imaginative enough. On the other hand, after everyone contributes to the brainstorming, you might end up whittling down their recommendations to one or two key ideas.
When you have the overall concept for your basement fixer-upper project, you can start looking for everything you need at the hardware store. Shop around, though. You can often get the best prices on Carpet not at a big retailer, but at your local carpet place. Many carpet houses sell very large remnants that could give you a wall-to-wall feel without requiring a wall-to-wall installation.
What else should you buy for the basement remodeling adventure? You’ll probably want paint, furnishings, lighting fixtures, and perhaps window treatments if your basement has windows. Remember: It’s best to toss out anything old that’s affecting your basement’s indoor air quality, such as an old rug that’s been around since Y2K was a thing.
One caveat about undertaking a basement DIY project as one of your fun family winter activities: You may need to bring in a professional. For example, if you’re planning to do any kind of plumbing or electrical work, you probably shouldn’t mess around yourself. The only exception would be if you were 100% confident that you could do the job at least as well as your typical handyman.
Paint the Kids’ Bathroom
While you’re transforming your basement, think about how you can use your extra supplies. One way could be to paint your children’s bathroom or even their bedrooms. That’s why it’s probably best to buy neutral palette paints that can go just about anywhere in the home.
To be sure, your kids might not think of painting their bathroom as part of their checklist of top fun family winter activities. It’s up to you to make the experience both meaningful and enjoyable.
Initially, give everyone something to do. The bathroom needs to be cleared out and scrubbed down before you can paint. Even the walls need to be cleaned and sanitized before you ever apply paint to them. If you’re also applying paint to bathroom cabinets or shelves, be sure to take a sponge to them as well.
Your children can partake in this chore, although it’s not going to be exactly fun unless you turn it into a game. Play music they love. Give out awards for the person who does the fastest, yet most thorough job, and have a good attitude. Prepping a space for painting always takes longer than you think it will. Leave your impatience and annoyance at the door, especially if you have little kids whose attention spans will wax and wane.
Once everything’s all ready to go, you’ll need to tape around the painted areas. Taping provides you with a good guideline. And it’s always helpful if you have younger painters who might have trouble staying within the lines. Remember that you’ll be painting the ceiling first, which will probably be best handled by adults and older teens. As soon as the ceiling has two or three coats of paint, you can move onto the walls, cabinets, and shelving.
To get the best possible result, put down drop cloths, wear old clothing, and buy higher-grade paintbrushes. Spending a few more dollars on paintbrushes absolutely can make all the difference in the way your kids’ bathroom looks when you’re done.
Teach Your Teen About Car Maintenance
Does telling your teenager about how to use oil filters during an oil change, or how to adequately inflate a tire, seem dreadfully boring? It can actually be a surprisingly good activity for family fun!
Teens who are just learning how to operate motor vehicles like to absorb all the information they can on cars, trucks, and SUVs. If you’re handy at all with your car, use the colder months to put the car in the garage and help your teen understand how it works. You don’t have to be able to remove an engine or rebuild a Buick, of course. You just have to know basic car maintenance tips and tricks.
Wonder if this is one of those fun family winter activities that’s actually going to offer a lasting, positive effect? Wonder no more: It will. Many kids who are discovering how to drive haven’t the slightest idea of what makes a car tick. Therefore, they have no way of knowing how to keep their car in tiptop condition.
Even if all you know how to do is top off the windshield wiper fluid, change a windshield wiper blade, or replace a tire, please take the time to work with your teen. The payoff will come down the road when your teenager takes amazing care of not only your cars but any cars the teen owns as an adult.
Here’s a surprise twist to this project: You might just learn something new, too. Kids have a way of teaching their parents, but only if their parents are smart enough to listen. Be on the lookout for hints you didn’t know about that your teenager shares based on recent investigations into proper car maintenance.
Adopt or Foster a Pet
Could this be the winter you finally give in and add a pet to your home? Having a pet has been shown to reduce stress and provide distractions from mental health conditions such as depression. However, you’ll want to be ready for the full responsibility of owning a cat or dog.
One way to explore if your kids are prepared to take care of an animal is to foster a dog or cat for a little while. Many no-kill shelters are happy to have new foster families where furry friends can get second chances. If you don’t know which no-kill shelters are operating in your region, get in touch with a pet clinic or animal hospital and ask for a referral.
When you decide it’s time to bring Fluffy or Fido into the fold, make sure your house is welcoming. Buy all the necessities to keep them feeling fit as a fiddle, such as a cat tree and faux fabric mice, or big rawhide bones and a large crate. Use your best judgment when shopping at a pet store. Most pets don’t need a lot of toys or stuff. They’ll need love most of all, which is why adopting a pet can be one of the most lasting fun family winter activities you’ll embark upon over the next few years.
Ready to make winter seem a little less dreary? Try a fun activity this weekend and see how it makes the time fly by in a terrific way.
