30 Winter & Cold Weather Activities for Wichita Kids

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Now that the cold Kansas weather has arrived, are you dreading the frightful feeling of cabin fever and the complaints of stir-crazy children? Here is a list of over 30 winter activities for those days when you need some inspiration!

Indoor Winter Activities

• Decorate shirts, bags or other fabric items. Try a freezer paper stencil (parents will need to help).

• Cut coffee filters as snowflakes, then water color paint them. Glue stick or tape them on windows.

• Watch the webcams from the Monterey Bay Aquarium online.

• Write up activities on little slips of paper, then have the kids pick a slip and do what it says.

• A large box and crayons or markers will be perfect for decorating, making a fort, spaceship or robot.

• Fill up bathtub with a few buckets of snow and let kids play in it. Or try a snow sensory bin using real or pretend snow!

• Load up on new books, puzzles and board games.

• Build forts inside with blankets and chairs (or set up a small tent indoors!). Have a family movie night and watch movies from inside the fort.

• Cleaning pennies. Let your little scientist go to work using a recipe made with a mixture of vinegar and salt.

• Ooblek. That’s cornstarch and water. There’s a Dr. Seuss book about it, too.

• Make snow ice cream. You will need fresh snow for this, of course. I tried this with my  preschooler last year and he loved it. We added food coloring and sprinkles to our snow ice cream, just for fun!

• Build DIY Ice Lanterns: These are simple to make and look beautiful on a cold winter evening.

•  Visit a museum: Exploration Place, Museum of World Treasures, or Wichita Art Museum (free on Saturdays!).

•  Fill a plastic pool with a few bags of dry beans. Add construction vehicles, cups and cars!

• A trip to one of Wichita’s trampolne parks

• Great Plains Nature Center offers multiple family programs throughout the year. Or bundle up and explore the great outdoors!

• Wichita Children’s Theater has fun productions for all ages.

• Hot Chocolate date at Starbucks or Cocoa Dolce. Or make your own hot chocolate at home (with parental supervision).

• Order a coffee and turn the kids loose on the Chick-Fil-A play place (East or West)

• Visit the Towne East indoor play place

• Check showtimes for a cheap Palace movie

Barnes & Noble has books to browse and toys to entertain

• Add a few Wichita story times to your weekly schedule

• Bake cookies and deliver them to your neighbors

 

Outdoor Winter Activities

• Make a snow wall. You will need a shoebox-size plastic storage box or tupperware container. Pack the container with snow to make the bricks!

• If your kids are a little older and can handle the chilly temps, bundle up and head to the zoo. You may have it all to yourself! The Sedgwick County Zoo offers discounted Winter Wednesdays starting in November.

• Build a snowman and then read Snowmen At Night or The Biggest Snowman Ever. If you don’t feel like heading out to the library, read a snow-themed book online and make a craft.

Go sledding.

• Have a winter picnic.

• Make snow angels.

• Teach your kids about serving others by shoveling a neighbor’s driveway.

• If temperatures are below freezing, blow bubbles and watch them freeze!

• Plan a snow scavenger hunt. You can find a downloadable checklist here.

• Bundle up and visit Cowtown. Breathe fresh air as you walk outside and pop into heated shops and houses to warm up!

More Things To Do In & Around Wichita This Holiday Season

Lauren Davis
Lauren and her husband Dan live in El Dorado with their two boys (born 2011 and 2014). They have added a goldendoodle, a hedgehog and two cats to their family in recent years and are expecting a daughter to join their crew at the end of 2020! She is an elementary school secretary, a member of the Junior League of Wichita and the Tri-County CASA Board of Directors. Lauren spent much of her childhood in Lawrence, Kansas and moved to El Dorado about ten years ago after her husband graduated from pharmacy school. She gets by on a lot of coffee and loves all the messy, fun, wild and wonderful parts of being a mom.

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