by Amy DeBoer, Riparian Habitat Restoration Intern
Canadian winters can be cold and dark, but that just means we get to be more creative in how we enjoy the outdoors! Here is a list of 10 activities to inspire you and your family to enjoy all the winter season has to offer.
1. Decorate the Windows
A Canadian winter tends to be less colourful than our other seasons, so why not add some ourselves! Using washable paint or markers, you can create temporary window designs. This craft can also reduce birds colliding with your windows.
- Go Snowshoeing
Canada has many winter trails best explored with snowshoes, so strap some on, explore how they work, and let’s see what’s out there!
3. Make a Snow Cake
Do something nice for your local wildlife and “bake” them a snow cake! In winter, there tends to be less food available for our beautiful creatures, and this activity helps to feed them. You also may be able to see more animals this winter.
4. Create Winter Wind Chimes
Go exploring outside to find your materials, then add to the music of winter with homemade wind chimes!
- Build Bat Boxes
Bats need our help, and one thing we can do is build and install bat boxes. These boxes provide safe roosting places for bats to sleep and raise their young. The best time to build them is late winter and early spring, while the bats are hibernating, so they are ready when the bats search for summer homes.
- Explore Yeti Tracks
While walking through the snow, you leave prints behind. Look around outside and see what kind of tracks you can see in the snow. Do you see any animal prints? Be creative and create the tracks of the mythical Yeti!
- Make Snow Ice Cream
Even though it’s cold outside, ice cream can be an anytime treat! This recipe is highly customizable and creates a fun, fluffy textured ice cream.
- Design a Snow Maze
It’s time to get outside and challenge yourself and your family and friends with a snow maze! See what designs you can make and how fast you can make it through the maze by walking, running, crawling, or blindfolded as someone gives you directions (with adult supervision)! This activity can also be fun for pets.
9. Build Snow Lanterns
Why not light up the long nights this winter with snow lanterns! They can decorate your yard or line your walkway, adding unique art to your yard.
10. Go on a Polar Bear Picnic
Picnics are not just for the warmer months! With a little extra planning, you can have a cozy picnic any time of year.
Missed the past four years of 10 Days of Winter activities? Access 40 more ways to enjoy winter with your family and friends by clicking on each year:
For more than 20 years, Watersheds Canada has been working with landowners, communities, a vast network of lake and river associations, municipalities, schools, and organizations to keep Canada’s freshwater healthy, beautiful, and available – today and for generations to come. Through shoreland plantings, fish habitat restorations, municipal policy work, children and youth education programs, and more, Watersheds Canada is equipping communities to protect their lakes, rivers, and shorelands. You can support this critical work by making a tax-receiptable donation today: watersheds.ca/donate