Are your kiddos getting restless, and need something interesting to do at home? We’ve got some great ideas for all ages in this winter’s Crafts and Activities Guide. Most are for indoors, but there are some that can be taken outside on a nice day, too. We hope you have fun and enjoy them!
Most of our crafts require at least some adult supervision, depending upon the age of your crafters, so please skim each one to decide whether you should simply be nearby or closely within arm’s reach before they begin.
Also, some of the crafts ask you to enter your email or to subscribe to a newsletter in order to get your free downloadable templates. This is common, and you can easily unsubscribe if you no longer want to receive their craft-related emails.
And so, without further ado–whenever you’re ready have fun creating our favorite winter crafts and activities of 2022!
When you live near Phoenix, you never get snow–but it’s still fun to “make” some and pretend! Follow along with our snowy craft ideas to see if anything looks fun for your kiddos:
This pretty craft calls for 5 supplies, including a set of dabber dot markers but you can always just use regular markers and help the kiddos out, if they need it, as they go along.
The end results are lovely sparkling ‘snowflakes’ which can be hung anywhere you like. We think they’re perfectly suited for the window, where they can reflect the sunlight.
For this activity, you’ll need 3 supplies, including the two containers or little buckets you’ll use for the cotton balls on each side of the tray during the game, as well as the center container, which holds all the cotton balls to begin with. Be sure to use high-quality cotton balls and straws to avoid little pieces coming up the straw as you play.
These sparkly icicles are so cool and easy to make, you’re sure to be impressed! All you need to get started are 4 supplies, and one of them is the aluminum foil you probably already have in your cupboard. Make sure to guide your crafters to squeeze the icicles exactly as directed in step 6; this will ensure they’re shaped as desired, as well as working on the kiddos’ motor skills along the way.
Little Bins for Little Hands gets it right with this recipe. Sometimes kids just need to make some arctic slime! The scientific explanation of what slime actually is can be read about in the blog for kids old enough to fully grasp it. Otherwise, just scroll down to the supplies (you’ll need 8 – including liquid starch, which other sites say you can substitute with corn starch) and instructions.
Scroll through the Not So Wimpy Teacher’s blog to see which games your kiddos might like. We thought the one pictured looked fun, which is basically bowling with a pyramid instead of bowling pins. You can make your own fake snowballs (this recipe makes some with foam balls, glue and glitter, so use them somewhere it won’t matter if they come apart a little), or do something else like the No Sew Snowballs shared on the blog, which will probably take a quick trip to the dollar store for supplies.
These turn out so pretty, you’ll be amazed they’re made with Q-tips! Simply created using Q-tips, scissors, and glue, just follow the pictures on Instructables, and you’ll see how easily they’re made. For a little more detailed instructions, check out Homemade Ginger’s version.
Seems like all the little ones love Frozen these days, so how could you go wrong with this sparkly, exciting Frozen inspired Playdough? You’ll only need 7 supplies, including glitter (what child doesn’t love glitter?), and a large mixing bowl. Then it’s time for some imaginative, screen-free playtime!
Now that all the holiday packages have all been delivered, wrapped and unwrapped, most households currently have a bountiful array of empty boxes awaiting their destiny in the basement. All we need for this game are 3 large-ish boxes, each a little bit larger than the one above it, as shown, and 4 other easy-to-round-up supplies. So cut the holes and paint as shown, follow the rest of the instructions, then allow a suitable amount of time for the paint and marker ink to dry before playing the bean bag game. And then? Have a blast!
Take a cue from this kindergarten class’ studies of penguin behavior. By placing a balloon between their legs, the kiddos were able to practice walking like a penguin. You could even incorporate a race or some other type of game with this activity if the group likes that sort of thing. (This teacher worked in a discussion about penguin daddies keeping their babies warm between their feet while the moms are out hunting for food. We don’t have her lesson plans, but this free downloadable worksheet might work.)
You’ll only need 9 supplies to make two of these water bottle penguin crafts, and you probably have at least a couple of them in your home ready for repurposing. Be sure to make these in groups of two though–penguins are known to pair up for life!
These paper plate cuties from the Kids Craft Room are a cinch to make with just 8 supplies needed and a full set of photos to guide you along with the instructions. Great for preschoolers, it’s fun for little crafters to see the penguin “hatch” and then to interact with it as a puppet.
This fun craft from Messy Little Monster is great for encouraging reading by marking the pages of the last book your littles had out. Only 5 supplies are needed for this one (and one of them is your scissors.) You’ll need to print out the free template or, if you’re particularly artistic, you could try drawing it out yourself based on the images provided.
These chubby cuties are made entirely of marshmallows and food coloring, so your kiddos (and you, of course!) can eat them after you’ve constructed and admired them long enough! You’ll just need 6 super simple supplies for this craft, two of which are different sizes of marshmallows, and one which is water in a cup. **REMEMBER: Make sure your kiddos brush their teeth after eating these or tell them to wait until they get home to eat them where they’ll be able to brush their teeth when they’re done. In a pinch, at least make sure they drink a glass of water afterward to rinse some of the sugar off.
Take a peek at some real live polar bears through San Diego Zoo’s free live cams – it may take a minute to load, and you’ve got to have decent WiFi, but otherwise, no worries. You’ll be peeking in on the polar bears in seconds!
The zoo also offers a section of polar bear facts to read together if your kiddos are old enough.
Read up on a few fun polar bear facts (did you know that their skin is really black underneath all that white fur?) if you haven’t already when you click into this fun crafty blog. You only need 3 supplies (including the printable template) to make this fluffy paper plate craft. They walk you right through it with pictures to boot!
An easy time filler for a busy day, this simple dot-to-dot is free and printable for your kiddos to connect the dots and color the polar bear. (He’s already white if you print him on white paper, so you could just color on a scarf or winter sweater).
This cute craft from Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls is great for older kids (like about 7 and up) but can work for younger ones too, if you don’t mind helping them out! You’ll need 6 supplies, one of which is the pine cones themselves, so you may need to get some at a craft store.
This blog encourages crafters to learn about the snowy owl and other elements of the Arctic as part of the activity and there are a couple of free Arctic-themed lessons recommended toward the end for that purpose if you scroll down. Otherwise, among the few supplies needed for this project are a few loofahs, some colored construction paper, and some white tempera paint.
These free printable coloring pages with facts are always fun for kids to kill some time.
This site walks you through the process of painting a snowy owl, as well as other types of owls, (you can see what they really look like and read through the whole project’s instructions before purchasing your paints) and the creator believes the craft is adaptable to any age group with the proper helpers.
This paper plate craft from IHeartCraftyThings uses 7 supplies total, and 3 of them are scissors, glue, and paper plates. There are pictures to guide you every step of the way, and they also advise you to watch their YouTube tutorial before starting. You can’t go wrong with this one!
For the older kids you may have around, there are some fun activities on this site. You can have them work on the word search above if you can print this page, or there is also a quick Arctic fox quiz to test you on what you know about them – don’t worry about getting answers wrong, this is just for fun and to help you learn some fun fox facts!
Creator Rachel Werner writes simply the below as instructions for this craft: “Made this with my 4-year-old for her class project. They are studying Arctic animals and she wanted to make an Arctic fox. Super easy. Paint white with acrylic paint, black pom pom for nose, googly eyes, ears and tail are construction paper, belly is sparkly foam. Enjoy!”
If you can find those at the dollar store or craft store, you’re good to go! Just have someone with a steady hand cut the pieces out so they’re approximately all the same size and help the littles out with the paint and scissors. Can you find white bags? You’ll save yourself a step if you can!
Simple Everyday Mom shares another winner with this adorable craft, requiring only 6 supplies total, most of which you probably have in the house already. These little cuties come with a free downloadable template as well as pictures you can follow and a video tutorial.
Who doesn’t love the narwhal – also known as the unicorn of the sea?! This craft is simple enough to do with preschool or elementary aged kids, but you’ll need an email address to get the template, and, of course, the printer to print everything out.
The blog also recommends a few books about narwhals and shares some short videos about them, which might be fun to show if you have the equipment on hand.
Just six supplies are needed for this craft, which includes two sections of a cardboard egg carton as the narwhal’s main body. It looks pretty easy overall, but you will need to help with the hot glue gun, most likely.
If you’ve got some artists in your home, give them a chance at drawing their own narwhal with this handy free printable! It shows the process step by step. Be sure to offer plenty of extra scrap paper for practicing on.
This fun craft asks you to tap into your natural artistic abilities and draw the shapes for the narwhal craft rather than downloading another template. Kids with the skill to cut their own shapes out can do it; others, need a bit of help. They recommend reading Not Quite Narwhal to go with this craft (totally optional–but it may be easy to find at your local library), as well as a Scissor Skills book (also optional), and 5 actual required supplies. Their final product was posted on their Instagram page.
A fun winter snack or lunch, these quesadillas resemble Santa’s favorite reindeer! This is from a UK blog, so some of the wording is slightly different, but we can help you out! Basically, you need two whole-grain tortillas per serving (if you like that kind, otherwise just get the kind you like!), plus a handful of shredded cheese, some veggies, sauce, and/or meat/protein of your choice (they added ¼ green pepper, ¼ red pepper, and some pesto). Place the goodies inside the two tortillas, as directed, fry it up, and add the toppings at the end to make it look like a reindeer.
This super cute idea from IHeartCraftyThings is fun to make, either on its own or as part of a project where you make several animal finger puppets. (Polar bear finger puppet instructions are included in the IHeartCraftyThings blog here, for example). This was made for the ArtsyMomma blog, so additional instructions are here. 8 supplies are required, but one is optional and two are scissors and glue, so it should be pretty easy and likely only require one quick trip to the dollar or craft store to get everything you need.
Yep, caribou is another term for reindeer – and these caribou handprint crafts are pretty self-explanatory, but the instructions are hard to find, so we’ll just leave a few easy steps to follow in case you’re not sure:
You’ll need paper plates, safe, non-toxic brown fingerpaints, some self-adhesive animal noses (or you can draw them on), as well as some construction paper antlers, as shown. Of course, the kids make the handprints themselves with the fingerpaints, and it may take a few tries first. A little glue from a glue stick or a bottle of Elmer’s should probably work fine to stick the antlers on – then leave plenty of time for the glue and paint to dry before handling.
This worksheet is suitable for 4th graders (or any kids who can get into it, really), and it’s a free downloadable page from Education.com. You’ll have to create an account (just follow the prompts) but it’s free to download and print the worksheet. To deactivate the account afterward if you really don’t want future worksheets, just go to Account Settings (upper right corner) and scroll down to deactivate.
Well, we hope you found enough to do in this year’s Winter Arts and Activities Guide. Did you choose an animal to make? Or do you prefer the “snowy” options? Did we miss your favorite Arctic animal? If so, which one is it? Let us know a few fun facts about them and we might include them in our next activity guide!
We would love for you to take a picture and let us see what you made next time you visit Jungle Roots–we might even have a surprise in store for you if you do! Until then, remember to brush and floss regularly and make healthy food and snack choices. We look forward to seeing you!
At Jungle Roots Children’s Dentistry & Orthodontics, we strive to provide the highest comprehensive pediatric and orthodontic dental care in a unique, fun-filled environment staffed by a team of caring, energetic professionals. We believe the establishment of a “dental home” at an early age is the key to a lifetime of positive visits to the dentist.
