200 Winter activities for preschoolers
Winter is here and the school year is half over! Can you believe it? Do you have big plans for Winter crafts or winter activities for your preschoolers this January? If you’re like me, you had big plans for this Winter and then life happened and left you less prepared than you imagined.
If that’s you, don’t worry. Me and some awesome teacher author friends have come together again to help out. Our winter activities bundle is back for the third year and is better than ever! I hope you and your students have just as much fun learning with these Winter theme activities as we did creating them.

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Winter Science Experiments with Hot Chocolate
Do you remember my Halloween science experiment with Candy Corn or my Christmas science experiment with Candy Canes? Of course you do. It was jam packed with loads of learning fun for the Fall and Winter. Well, this Winter science experiment with Hot Chocolate is equally as fun and is a great way to explore science this Winter.
This Winter science experiment for kids is low prep and will leave your students hanging on the edge of their seats as they observe what happens to Marsmallows in different temperatures.
As always, there are 3 variations of worksheets that come with this activity to help you differentiate instruction based on your students needs.
Be sure to also check out my gingerbread science experiment for kids.
Winter Books & Winter Theme Activities
Reading aloud to children is the very best way to help them fall in love with books and encourage them to become lifelong readers. You can help your preschoolers build reading fluency and print awareness while learning about all kinds of exciting new things!
Check out these winter poems and books about arctic animals for kids. These books are filled with engaging stories, beautiful pictures, and lots of fun for your preschoolers this Winter. Add them to your winter preschool theme for even more learning fun.
- The Snow Bear by Miriam Moss
- If You Were a Penguin by Florence Minor
- Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? by Eric Carle
- Animals in Winter by Henrietta Bancroft
- The Mitten by Jan Brett
Pairing a book with a penguin handprint craft or game is a fantastic way to extend the learning with your preschoolers this Winter. Plus, games teach important skills like taking turns, sharing, good sportsmanship, communication, and strategy. Check out my favorite winter games for kids:
These winter would you rather questions would also be a hit to use this December. I hope these get your semester started on the right foot. Now, here are some of my favorite crafts and activities to do in January with kids!
Arctic Animal Crafts & Winter Theme Art Activities
I’ve put together some really adorable Winter animal crafts and arctic animal activities you can use with your preschoolers at home or in the classroom.
Introduce these adorable arctic animal crafts to your students as you learn all about penguins, polar bears, moose and more this winter!

Crafts and art projects are awesome for helping preschoolers build fine motor skills and practice creative expression. Plus, these low prep printables will make it easy for you to have some fun with your kiddos this January.
Printable Activities and Winter crafts for kids
Are arctic animal crafts not really your thing? Check out some of my other awesome winter activities for preschoolers to encourage early literacy skills, build fine motor skills, and practice creative expression in your classroom or homeschool space this January.
Winter Write the Room
This activity is awesome for getting your preschoolers up out of their seats this January. While you’re encouraging healthy physical activity and helping them get all those wiggles out, they’ll also be expanding their vocabulary. Preschoolers will walk around the room finding words and writing them down.

I’ve included a winter math activity for preschoolers too. Use my printable no-prep mitten cards to help your preschoolers practice counting, one-to-one correspondence, and number identification. Just print out the cute winter number worksheets and encourage your preschoolers to count the mittens and color the corresponding number.
This winter activity for preschoolers goes well with Jan Brett’s book The Mitten.
You can add more fun and games by having your preschoolers practice their matching skills by matching real mittens too.
Build a Snow Globe
Aren’t snow globes magical? They make a fun winter activity for preschoolers too. With this adorable printable, your preschool learners can practice counting, number recognition, and fine motor skills while creating their own little snow globe scene.

All you need to play this January preschool activity is my Build a Snowglobe template, a pair of tweezers, several snowflakes and some snowballs. Your students will love choosing a card and transferring the correct amount of items into the snow globe to create their winter scene.
Winter Name Craft
Make your preschoolers feel extra special this Winter with an adorable snow globe name craft winter activity. This activity will help your early learners begin to recognize the letters in their own names. Plus, it’s a great way to begin exploring concepts of print with your kiddos this January too.

This printable winter activity for preschool is a cute keepsake for parents or grandparents. It makes a really adorable January bulletin board for your classroom too. If you want, you can bring in some real snow globes to explore with your preschool learners this Winter too.
These easy winter activity printables are perfect for learning at home or in the classroom. It’s a simple way to ease back into lessons after the holiday break or end on a high note just before the break.
January Preschool activities
Teach your preschoolers shapes with this shape sort winter activity. Match the real life objects to the correct snowman body.

Here’s another fun snowman matching activity. Here your little ones will identify the numbers on the snowball and match it to the right amount of buttons. There’s also an alphabet version where your preschoolers can match the uppercase and lowercase letters!

I just love write the rooms. They are always a blast and the kids are constantly engaged throughout them. In this winter write the room activity, your children will be counting the number of buttons on each snowman and coloring it in on the winter theme worksheet. Be sure to grab this free winter activity today! Pair it with these winter bingo printables for even more fun.
Winter Color by Number Printables for Kids
Color by number printables are some of my favorite ways to reinforce letters and numbers.
These winter coloring pages are some of my favorites because they also teach beginning sounds to kids. Grab them all for free today!
Hands On Winter Activities for Preschoolers
Are you looking for indoor winter activities for hands on learning fun? In addition to these printable winter crafts and snowman activities, you can explore some of these fun ideas with your preschool learners too:
Hot Cocoa Station
Practice measuring, counting, and following directions with your preschoolers this Winter. Create your very own hot cocoa stand. Don’t forget the marshmallows!
Even your youngest learners can help count out marshmallows and scoops of cocoa. My preschoolers love to stir the cocoa in the cups. Add extra fun to this Winter activity with sprinkles and peppermint sticks.
Winter Science Experiments with Snow
There’s so much to explore about the season with your kids this January! Learn about the five senses by touching, smelling, and even tasting snow this season as you make your own snow cream! Here’s what you’ll need:
- Approx. 8 cups of Snow (or shaved ice)
- ⅓ cup Sugar
- 1 cup Milk
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla
- Sprinkles (optional)
First, whisk together sugar, milk, salt, and vanilla. Then, gather snow. Mix the snow with the other ingredients until you achieve an ice cream-like consistency. Pair this experiment with a snowman kindness craft for even more fun.
Winter Activities for Toddlers
Learn to write your name in this fun winter activity for toddlers. Simply trace your child’s name on a piece of paper.

Then give them winter manipulatives like marshmallows, cotton balls, or white pom poms to represent snow. They will love tracing along their name as they build on their fine motor skills this January!
Snowman sight words
If your students have mastered learning their names one of the next steps is to teach sight words. These sight word snowmen are a fun way to work on tracing and high frequency words at the same time. Grab the printable snowmen activities to get started learning words by sight this Winter.
Ice Painting: An Indoor Winter Art Activity
Fill an ice cube tray with water and drop a different color food coloring into each cube compartment. Then, freeze until solid. Use your colorful ice cubes to “paint” your own abstract Winter art on paper.
This winter activity for preschoolers is perfect for exploring color recognition and color mixing. Plus, it’s a fun way to introduce states of matter to your early learners too.
Free Winter Activities for Preschoolers
Those were my favorite winter activities for kids to do this January. For all 60 hands on winter printables that were created in 2021, click here! Then, keep scrolling for even more winter freebies.

Free Winter Activities for Kids
I know how helpful our free winter printables were in 2021, so we created even more in 2022.
Click here to download 100 free winter activities for kids to do as they celebrate the New Year and learn all about snow this January.
But wait there’s more! We’ve compiled 66 more Winter freebies to use this Winter. I hope you enjoy the new 2023 free Winter bundle below.
Need more winter or Christmas activities?
I got you! Check out all of my preschool and kindergarten Christmas activities HERE! Enjoy your year.
What exciting winter activities for preschool do you have planned this January? Share your ideas in the comments and don’t forget to grab this free printable winter activity bundle for all kinds of learning fun in the classroom and at home this year.
I wasn’t able to find the free template for the snow globe with the circles where kids can write their names. Can you tell me where I can find this?
Hey Carrie! It’s in my shop. Here’s a link. https://theprimaryparade.com/product/winter-name-craft/
Love your site. Can you tell me where you buy your craft trays? I can’t find them. Thank you
Thanks so much! I got them several years ago at Target but they no longer sell them.
Hi Jessica,
I wasn’t able to find the link to the free Write the room Winter activity.
Thank you!
It’s under the subheading Winter Write the Room.
I was wondering if you have any write the room activities and building activities with numbers 11-20? I love all your write the room activities, but my students need to practice 11-20.
Thanks in advance,
Carrie
Hey there! I do but they’re in different themes. I can add that to my list to add to the Christmas posts for next year.
I would love the freebies