These 10 winter activities for 2 and 3-year-olds are so much fun and great for working on developmental skills as well! Check out the list below and pick your favorites to try at home with your own toddler. These are all easy to prep and engaging for your little ones to enjoy together!
1. Snowflake Salt Painting
The first activity idea is snowflake salt painting. Here is a colorful and exciting way to “paint” with toddlers and is also great for working on fine motor skills. Toddlers love focusing on dropping different colors to make their snowflake beautiful and mastering the dropper and transferring the liquid from cups to paper.
All you need is:
- Glue
- Salt
- Food Coloring
- Eye Dropper
- Paper
Guide: First, you will draw a snowflake or print one out and trace the lines with some glue. Then, you will sprinkle salt over the glue and blow off the extra salt on the paper. Next, you will fill up cups with as many colors as you want with some food coloring and water. Last, have your toddler work on squeezing the droppers to get the color into them and transferring them carefully to the snowflake on the paper.
2. Winter Sensory Tray
This winter sensory tray is a great hands-on activity full of fun winter treasures. Sensory bins are a fantastic way to work on developing senses and toddlers love them!
All you need is:
- Sensory Bin Filler (I used rice cereal)
- Winter Loose Parts Pieces
- Tongs
- Tray/Bin
Guide: Add whatever sensory bin filler you want along with anything winter-related. I used Rice Krispies cereal in ours. Add cups, scoops, tongs, or anything you have in your home to add more stimulating movements for your toddler. If they are working with small pieces I always recommend 100% adult supervision.
3. Shaving Cream Letter Tracing
This shaving cream letter tracing is perfect for language learning and also a fun way to add in some sensory play. Your toddler will love practicing letters with this play-based learning activity. Engaging toddlers in hands-on play activities boost their development because they are dependent on using their senses to learn at a young age.
All you need is:
- A Tray
- Shaving Cream
- Food Coloring (optional)
- Letter Cards
Guide: First, get a mixing bowl and add in some shaving cream and food coloring of your choice. (This is optional) Next, Spread a thin layer of shaving cream on the tray and get out some letter cards. Last, Show your toddler how to make a letter with their fingers and let them explore and practice. As your toddler practices more and more you will see them get better and better.
4. Ice Gem Transfer
If you have some marbles around the house or cotton balls, this ice gem transfer can be recreated in your own home. This is a simple toddler activity you can do at home with your own little one and use different pieces for tons of other themes.
All you need is:
- Two containers
- Tongs (optional)
- Ice Gems (Marbles)
- A tray
Guide: Add small pieces to one container and have your toddler use the tongs to transfer the ice gems from one container to the next. *Your toddler may want to just pour the pieces from one container to the next and that’s perfectly okay!
5. Painting Snow
Painting snow is so fun for the winter season and you can also do a version of this for summertime too by painting ice! We had just enough snow here in Tennessee this year to use our “spray paint” to decorate the snow.
All You Need is:
- Snow (Or you can use ice)
- Spray Bottles
- Paint or Food Coloring
Guide: Fill your spray bottles mostly full of water. Add some nontoxic paint the rest of the way and swirl the spray bottle around until mixed. If you are using food coloring, the more drops you use the darker the water will be. Show your toddler how to hold it away from their face and how to squeeze the handle.
6. Smash The Frozen Ice Treasures
This, Smash the frozen treasures activity came from our winter Tinkergarten class in 2019. *Make sure to check and see if there are classes near you here!* At the time my toddler was about two and a half and his excitement was so awesome to watch. We do this activity a lot at home now with both my two and three-year-old boys.
All You Need Is:
- Ice Trays
- Water
- Food Coloring
- Toddler Hammer
- White sheet or towel (optional)
Guide: Mix up different colors of food coloring with water and pour them into the ice trays. Place the ice trays in the freezer until frozen. Place the white sheet or towel outside on the ground and place the ice treasures on the sheet or towel. Have your toddler use their hammer to smash up the ice treasure and watch as the colors break up into tons of colorful pieces.
*Check out this other frozen treasure activity using flowers.
7. Snowflake Gluing Activity
If your looking for a fun winter-themed fine motor activity for your toddler try this snowflake gluing activity. It’s great for practicing using their pincer grasp and is also a fun winter craft!
All You Need Is:
- Printed Snowflake
- Gluestick
- Foam Snowflakes
Guide: Print out a snowflake on some printer paper. Have your toddler use their glue to stick their foam snowflakes on the snowflake to decorate it.
8. Snowball Painting
Here is another great winter-themed craft idea using items you may have already in your home! This snowball painting activity is simple yet also uses fine motor skills to grasp the clothespin. It’s fun using different painting utensils and your toddler will love the different prints the pompoms make.
All You Need Is:
- Clothespins
- Pompoms
- Paint
- Paper
Guide: Use the clothespins to grasp the pompoms. Have your toddler dip the cotton balls into the paint and stamp around on their paper to make little snowballs everywhere.
Other Painting Activities For Toddlers:
- Painting With Dinosaurs
- Heart Shape Painting
- Painting Ice
- Edible Paint
- Cotton Ball Painting
- Painting With Corn
9. Arctic Playdough
This arctic playdough activity is such an exciting invitation to play idea for your toddler and a great way for them to use their imagination. I love making playdough kits for my toddlers because they have such fun creating with them. Using loose parts in your activities allows them to come up with endless play ideas on their own.
All You Need Is:
- Homemade Playdough
- Arctic Animals
- Marbles
- Playdough Rollers
- Ice Gems (These were given to me by my mom so I’m not sure where they were bought)
- Tray
Guide: Make your homemade playdough and add all the other pieces to a tray of your choice. Let your toddler mix the gems and marbles into the playdough or stamp the playdough with animal feet. If you have toddler playdough rollers, these are also a great thing to add to their tray.
10. How Many Mittens Tall Are You?
Finding fun ways to count with toddlers is such a great way to keep them learning. Measuring how many mittens tall are you is a great vertical activity to do with your toddler at home.
All you need are cutouts of mittens and that’s all! Cut out any size mittens you want and use some putty or tape to stick the mittens to the wall. Count with your toddler when you add another mitten to the wall and show them how many mittens tall they are.
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