Winter is coming, and with it, the excitement of hot cocoa and everything snow. With back-to-back breaks, celebrations, and in some places, snow days, it can be hard to find a balance between learning and fun in classrooms of every grade level. Not to mention the added challenge of finding time to prep your lessons, classroom, and yourself for the winter. Simplify your life and lessons with these educational winter activities that can be used in many formats.
10 Engaging, Educational Winter Activities for Rigor and Fun
Explore these winter educational activities for your classroom to get ideas and resources you can use today.
Winter Math by Lanfaloe
Grades: PreK-1 | Subject: Math
Give your math lessons a frosty makeover with this winter-themed math packet. Have your preschoolers, kindergarteners, or 1st grade students count snowmen, add and subtract with the help of winter objects, and practice skip counting with snowballs.
Winter Speech Therapy, Photos, WH Question Visuals, Language, Increase MLU by Language Speech and Literacy
Grades: PreK-2 | Subjects: Special Education, Speech Therapy
This easy-to-use, no-print speech therapy activity helps students practice expanding sentences. Including 20 winter-themed, colored scenes, this resource works for teaching pronouns, verbs, “wh” questions, basic concepts, and simple sentences. Compatible with any digital device, this winter activity is great for non-readers, teletherapy, mixed groups, and students with augmentative or alternative communication needs.
Hibernation Winter Animals Mini Book {Hibernate} by Planning Garden
Grades: PreK-2 | Subject: Science
Add this fun winter activity to your science lesson plans and teach your preschool, kindergarten, 1st grade, or 2nd grade class about animals’ winter behavior. This educational winter craft can be used as a digital matching and coloring activity or a physical mini booklet to help your elementary students learn the scientific definitions of “hibernation,” “adaptation,” and “migration.”
Vamos a escribir en invierno – Winter Writing Center – Spanish & English by Hilda Escamilla
Grades: K-5 | Subjects: Spanish, Writing
Have your elementary students celebrate the winter season by drawing and writing out a story in Spanish or English. With different character and background templates to color and choose from, your students will have plenty of inspiration to get them going.
2nd Grade Common Core: Winter Themed Math & ELA Pack 100% Aligned by 247 Teacher
Grades: 1-3 | Subjects: Math, English Language Arts
Build your elementary students’ math and language skills with this comprehensive math and ELA packet full of fun yet rigorous winter activities. Closely aligned to Common Core State Standards, these activities can be assigned to students all at once or separately over the winter months.
Poetry Writing Unit Worksheets Poem Acrostic Haiku Cinquain Winter Sports Theme by Promoting Success
Grades: 4-6 | Subjects: Writing, Poetry
Get your 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students excited for winter fun by having them write poetry about all the winter sports they can do. Your students will explore and become champions at writing seven kinds of poems through this resource: acrostic, haiku, cinquain, shape, diamante, I wish, and limerick.
Winter Science and STEM Challenge | Freezing And Melting Points Ice Experiment by Kimberly Scott Science
Grades: 4-6 | Subject: Science
Teach your students about one of winter’s defining elements: ice. This hands-on science project will help your students understand the states of matter. As they explore how water freezes into ice, how ice melts into water, and how salt affects the temperatures at which this happens, this winter science experiment will engage and guide your students through the scientific method.
Winter Evaluating Expressions with One Variable and Exponents Math Color by Code by Misty Miller
Grades: 6-7 | Subjects: Math, Algebra
Add some color to your algebra assignments with this fun mathematics winter activity for 5th, 6th, and 7th grade students. Students will solve problems involving one variable and some exponents and use the answers to color by the numbers. The result is a drawing of a snowboarder, perfect for the winter season.
Solving Systems of Equations by Tammie Akins Dickens
Grades: 8-10 | Subjects: Math, Algebra
Math may feel like a riddle at times, but in this case, it actually is. As students solve these algebraic equations, they will match their answers to a letter on the key and then fill in the characters at the bottom according to the problem number. The result answers the burning question: How do you scare a snowman? The answer to this winter activity is sure to fill your classroom with giggles, laughs, and groans.
Winter Vocabulary Digital Presentation by Rike Neville
Grades: 10-12 | Subjects: Vocabulary, ESL / ELL / EFL
Help your students better understand the terminology surrounding winter with this digital presentation of 30 essential winter vocabulary words.
With these fun winter activities, your students will be able to celebrate winter and continue learning in the classroom. Need more ideas for winter activities to do with your class? Find more resources on TPT.
This blog post, originally published in 2021, has been updated for 2023.
