or kids who like to dabble in paint, Painting By Number™ kits by Royal & Langnickel are an excellent winter project kids can take pride in! Painting with these kits is as easy as 1, 2, 3! Aside from creating lovely pictures, these sets are a great way for kids to increase their confidence and experiment with various techniques. These inexpensive sets contain no extra “fluff.” The painting areas are small and there is a lot of mixing of paints involved, so keep that in mind with children on the lower end of the age range. Paint pots in the small and large kits are numbered on the packaging only; keep it handy for reference! Winter Wonderland is a small canvas and shows children building a snowman. Larger portraits include Dancing Snow, a picture of a beautiful reindeer as snow is falling, and Snow Wolf pictures a wolf in a snowy landscape.

igsaw puzzles have always been part of our winters. It was an activity we did that brought us all together. And what an achievement we felt when the assembly was finished! It’s a great stress reliever, improves visual and spatial skills, and provides valuable family time.

Cobble Hill Puzzle Company has many different puzzle sizes. Winter Seasons Puzzle (soft blues and bright greens full of birds, bunnies, and berries) and Miracle in Bethlehem (nativity scene) are both 1,000-piece puzzles. Winter Wonderland (deer, birds, bunnies, and squirrels are surrounding a lovely decorated tree) and Away in a Manger (nativity scene) are beautiful 500-piece puzzles. Winter Barnyard Family is a 350-piece puzzle with a lovely snowy landscape showing a barnyard family. A smaller 35-piece puzzle is S’more Snowfall. It displays two small snowmen roasting marshmallows.

tained glass coloring books by Dover are great art projects and make beautiful gifts for children to give. After coloring the front and back and removing them from the book, they are translucent when hung in windows. Each page is also perforated. Snowflake Designs and Christmas Ornaments coloring books are the larger books with 16 designs in each book. For younger kids, smaller books are available with 8 designs in each book. Heavenly Snowflakes and Snowflakes are two winter-themed smaller books.

ames are a fun pastime in the winter months. The Winter Game is a new game by Devir Games. In this two-player game there are two phases, the freezing stage and unfreezing stage. The goal is to take control of the frozen part of the lake before everything unfreezes. Play begins by placing the first of eighteen cards on the table. Players take turns placing a card in a contiguous fashion to create the frozen lake. Counters can be placed on the lake if a player has four snowflakes in a sequence. When all eighteen cards are played, the unfreezing stage begins. Players undo the lake by taking back their cards or chips. The player left with the most chips of their color at the end of the game wins. Play time takes around 10 minutes and is for ages 8 and up.

Bananagrams Winter Wonderland by Bananagrams® is a winter-themed Scrabble-like game. You compete against up to 7 other players, but all your tiles are always under your control. Start with your tiles, turn them over, and begin making connecting and intersecting words. All letters are the same point value, and you can rearrange your words at any time. When any player has played all his letters, he takes a new tile from the Bunch, as do all the other players. If a player cannot play a letter, he can put the tile back and draw three other tiles. Play continues until there are fewer tiles in the Bunch than there are players. The first player to play all his tiles is the winner of that round. Rounds typically take around ten minutes, but can be as little as five, so games can consist of as many rounds as you decide. For ages 7 and up.

Spot It®! Winter Wonderland by Asmodee is a winter-themed game including snowmen, pine trees, winter sports, and more. Cards have eight images on them that you try to match with another card. One of those eight images will match on any two cards. As you lay your cards down, you want to be the first to find the matching images. This game is fast and fun and does not take up much storage space. For ages 6 and up.

ids are endlessly fascinated by snow globes; now they can make their own magical creations! Make Your Own Light Up Snow Globes by Mindware® kit includes three battery-operated bases featuring uniquely colored LED lights. Your amateur sculptors can then use the included brilliantly colored clay to mold their figures, oven-bake them, and assemble the globe with their figures and one of two micro-glitter colors. The globes feature a no-leak, double-seal system so your personal keepsake or gift will retain its magnificence!

Make Your Own Snow Globes is another fun kit by Mindware®. All supplies are included to make 2 globes. You begin with polymer clay in a rainbow of 10 colors. There are lots of tips for blending colors and making layers. Follow the directions to get the right size. Your children can make whatever little sculpture their hearts desire: a critter, a cupcake, a snowman, etc., using the sculpting tool and their hands. Bake the object and let it cool, then use glue dots to stick it to the bottom piece. Add glitter and water to the dome, insert the plastic ring, and screw the 2 parts together. Voila!

un activity books by Highlights for Children can be easy to take on the go or do at home. In the Hidden Pictures® Silly Sticker Stories, children find the objects in the hidden picture then fill in the fun Mad Libs-type story with the accompanying stickers. This creates a silly story with a variety of outcomes! Puzzlemania®: Winter Puzzles is a themed puzzle book filled with mazes, word searches, crosswords, what’s wrong, hidden pictures, and more. Books are bound in such a way that they lay flat when open, making it easier to do the puzzle pages. Answers are in the back of each book.

ot a fan of the cold? Leave the cold outside and bring the joy of the snow indoors with OOZE Labs® Instant Snow Station by Thames & Kosmos. Using the large, colorful plastic base station, dozens of fun tools, and super-expanding instant snow powder, you can make, play with, and experiment with an avalanche of amazing instant snow. Simply combine the non-toxic snow powder with water and watch it expand to hundreds of times its original size, creating a light and fluffy material resembling snow. No mittens required!

Set up your snow station—the headquarters for all your instant snow experiments—complete with the tools you’ll need for a snow-filled time, including beakers, test tube, petri dish, shovel, snow sifter, and snow globe dome. Then conduct more than ten science experiments with instant snow. There’s even a special snow sifter to create a magical snowfall! Learn about super-absorbent polymers and their scientific properties as you create your own winter wonderland.

Get ready to watch the fastest snow on Earth! Just add water and watch in jaw-dropping delight at how fast it grows! Toys by Nature™ Miracle Snow can grow in any temperature in any climate! Make it in a bowl, in a hat, or in your hand! Miracle Snow expands as it absorbs water and forms life-like snow and lasts for weeks without rehydrating. Miracle Snow makes over 9 cups of snow with only 3 cups of water! You can fluff it with a spoon to make it expand even more! It can be used at parties, weddings, festivals, on parade floats and much more! Miracle Snow can be reused and lasts 4 to 6 weeks!

Making snowflakes is so much fun! Decorating with snowflakes is a great way to spruce up any room. Make Your Own Paper Snowflakes by Peggy Edwards is a creative book that includes reusable templates for 32 delightful designs. Instructions and tips for folding and cutting are included, as well as interesting facts and quotes about snow. There are four different skill levels of designs, which range from basic to intricate. All you need is paper, scissors, and the designs in this book and you’re ready to create a snowstorm of paper snowflakes.

Add the beauty of the winter season to your home or parties with the Snowflake Garland Kit by Creative Kids. You get 2 snow paper snowflake sheets and string to complete an 8.5-foot snowflake garland! Punch out your sheets and attach the string to form a hanging decoration. Use the included pipette to add a drop of water to each cutout. Watch as the seemingly ordinary paper turns into a beautiful fluffy white texture! You will get to watch snow “erupt” right before your eyes. Enhance your mantle, winter wedding, front door or any other surface that needs a touch of winter. Create a wonderful winter atmosphere at home or elsewhere with an easy craft that’s fun to assemble. The process is easy and the results are magical! They also have a Snow Paper Starter Pack that comes with 3 sheets of snow paper to complete your winter wonderland vision.

Whether you’re on a hot beach or bundled up in the cold, take your castles to the next level with the Sand & Snow Castle Kit – Pro Tower Kit by Create a Castle. Together, this kit helps families build their creations with less stress, frustration, and with more success! The Sand & Snow Castle Basic Kit includes the Create A Castle 10-inch turret split system cylinder, a stackable 6-inch split system cylinder for additional height, a corbel to add stabilization and a beautiful effect in between the towers, battlement brick form, window cutter, and a mesh backpack for simple transportation and cleanup!

now by Cynthia Rylant is a beautiful word picture book that describes winter in an almost poetic way. As you read you can even feel all the feelings the author describes. Each page is beautifully illustrated with pictures that will make you want to make snow angels with friends before cuddling up with a cup of cocoa. A perfect winter bedtime story.

Trace a forecast, the snowfall, its aftermath, and its melting away through the eyes of a farmer, a postman, a policeman, children, and rabbits. This delightful Caldecott Book White Snow Bright Snow by Alvin Tresselt will be a favorite. The original illustrations from the 1947 book are ageless, providing splashes of color amid grayscale.

The BIG SNOW by Berta and Elmer Hader. Despite their elaborate preparations for winter, the animals and birds are delighted by a large banquet for them after a large snow. Winner of the 1949 Caldecott Medal.

now Treasure by Marie McSwigan takes place in 1940 when the Nazis have just taken over Peter Lundstrom’s village. Amidst all of the chaos and uncertainty, young Peter is tasked with smuggling gold through Nazi territory without getting caught! This daring maneuver is filled with twists and turns as Peter and his allies try to successfully fool their enemies and make it out alive. While fictional, this is a very captivating story of courage and perseverance that readers will gravitate towards and enjoy. Follow along with Peter’s journey as he risks his life and takes on adventure in this exciting story.

Treasures of the Snow DVD by Patricia St. John is a real treasure! My family thoroughly enjoyed this book as a read-aloud. The town bully causes Annette’s brother to become crippled after they need to cross a dangerous mountain pass to get to a doctor. Annette does all she can to get revenge and make the bully’s life miserable. However, when the children begin to experience repentance and forgiveness, their lives truly change.

Tracks in the Snow by Lucy Jane Bledsoe is a story of two girls who must rely on their wits to stay alive when they become trapped in the snow. When Erin goes looking for her babysitter, who has disappeared, she persuades Tiffany, her new science partner, to do a project on animal tracks, figuring the project will give her an excuse to search the woods for Amy. While the two girls are in the woods, a sudden spring blizzard strikes–and they know no one will start to look for them for the next three days. A page-turning adventure of wilderness survival.

Buried in the Snow by Franz Hoffman is a brilliant story of courage, patience, love, and undying faith. Jacques’ father takes the cows and goats up into the Jura Mountains every spring to graze in the fields so he can make cheese to support his family. While there, he lives a solitary lifestyle in their little chalet high on the mountainside. He always comes back well before the fierce winters hit, but it is now late fall, and there is no sign of Jacques’ father. Fearing the worst, Jacques and his grandfather begin the voyage up the mountain to check on his father. The adventure begins as unforeseen events take place and lives are endangered by extreme weather conditions.

Let’s not forget the Laura Ingalls Wilder classic The Long Winter when the first winter blizzard shows itself in early October and the family realizes that a long winter is ahead of them. When too much harsh winter weather cuts the town off from its supply of food and coal, drastic measures must be taken. Learn how the town copes with these predicaments and how Almanzo Wilder risks his own life to help save the townspeople. This book is available in either black and white, full color collector’s edition, or audio CD version. You can get the whole boxed set, too, complete with 9 books.