Winter Break Activities for Kids: A 2-Week Plan (Free Printable)

Hand each kid a magnifying glass and walk the block or the yard looking for frost on leaves, car windows and fence tops, then count what is still green. It is the frost hunt from our winter activities list, stretched to a 30 minute walk with a cocoa at the end. A 3 year old looks for 'sparkly'; an 8 year old draws the frost patterns on a notepad.

Ages: 3 to 8.

Prep: 2 minutes.

Mess: none.

Supplies: magnifying glass, a notepad, mittens, cocoa after.

Safety: stay on the sidewalk side of parked cars, and check that frosty steps are not icy before a toddler goes up them.

Indoor swap: frost in a can at the kitchen table (day 11 moved up).

Set up four stations at the table (fold, stamp or draw, write, envelope) and make cards for the people the kids will see this week. The assembly line is in our Christmas activities list; for the break version, make a stack of six and deliver three on the walk tomorrow. Preschoolers do the sticker station; 6 to 8 year olds write one line each.

Ages: 3 to 8.

Prep: 10 minutes.

Mess: medium, glitter if you allow it (don't).

Supplies: blank cards, crayons, stickers, a stamp pad, envelopes.

Safety: kid scissors only, and stamp pads stay with the grown-up for the under 4s.

Rolled socks or soft indoor snowballs, three laundry baskets at different distances, and a point value taped on each. The indoor snowball target game is 20 minutes of running without coats. For the break, keep score on the fridge and play again every morning that someone wakes up loud.

Ages: 2 to 8.

Prep: 5 minutes.

Mess: low, socks everywhere.

Supplies: rolled socks or soft snowballs, 3 baskets, tape, a marker.

Safety: play in the room without the tree, and keep a 2 year old on the near line so nobody throws over their head.

Decorate the cookies for Santa's plate in the morning while the kitchen is still clean, then hide ten gift bows around the living room and send the kids to find them while you clean up. The gift bow hunt takes two minutes to set up and buys fifteen. A kit of pre-baked cookies makes this a 30 minute morning instead of a baking day.

Ages: 3 to 8.

Prep: 10 minutes.

Mess: medium, sprinkles.

Supplies: plain cookies or a kit, icing, sprinkles, 10 gift bows.

Safety: sprinkles and small bows stay away from under 3s; nut-free icing if cousins are visiting.

The morning of Christmas Eve is the longest morning of the year. Print our free Christmas scavenger hunt cards: 12 picture cards to tape around two rooms for 3 to 5 year olds, and 12 rhyming clue cards for readers that chain from the fridge to the stocking. Both versions in one PDF, a found-it sheet for siblings. It fills the hour before the cousins arrive.

Ages: 3 to 8.

Prep: 5 minutes.

Mess: none.

Supplies: the printed cards, tape, stickers.

Safety: a grown-up stays with the hunt; hiding spots away from the stove, stairs and the tree stand.

Christmas Day has no anchor on purpose. The new toys are the activity, and the only job is to keep the morning slow: breakfast whenever, pajamas until noon, a walk around the block at 3 p.m. if anyone gets loud. Write 'nothing' on the sheet and mean it. The one thing worth doing is a photo in the same spot as last year.

Ages: all.

Prep: none.

Mess: the living room, and that is fine.

Supplies: none.

Safety: button batteries and small parts from new toys get sorted away from the toddler before the boxes are opened.

If there is snow, build the snow brick fort with a storage bin as the mold, or sled the nearest gentle hill. If there is no snow, the yard obstacle course with the new Christmas toys as stations works just as well. Either way, the goal is 45 minutes outside and a nap after. Cocoa is the finish line.

Ages: 3 to 8.

Prep: 5 minutes.

Mess: wet coats.

Supplies: a storage bin or sled, mittens, cocoa.

Safety: forts stay one brick high for under 5s so a collapse is a laugh, not an injury; sledding hills end away from roads and trees.

Build the blanket fort book basket with the new Christmas books: a fort over the couch, a basket of every new book, a flashlight each, and nobody is allowed in without a book. It is the quietest morning of the break and the one that uses the gifts. Leave the fort up until January 3.

Ages: 2 to 8.

Prep: 10 minutes.

Mess: low, cushions.

Supplies: sheets or blankets, chairs or fort clips, a basket, flashlights.

Safety: no heavy things on top of the fort, and the flashlights use AA batteries, not button cells.

Every box from Christmas gets cut into bricks (a grown-up and a box cutter) and taped into a cardboard box igloo big enough for two kids. Preschoolers tape and stack; 6 to 8 year olds plan the door and the window. This is the one real project of the break, and it can take the whole morning and come back tomorrow.

Ages: 3 to 8.

Prep: 10 minutes to cut.

Mess: medium, cardboard scraps.

Supplies: gift boxes, packing tape, markers, a box cutter for the grown-up.

Safety: the grown-up does all the cutting; staples and the box cutter go back in the drawer before the kids start taping.

Put a window feeder up the night before, then spend the morning counting birds from inside with cocoa, and go out for animal track detectives in the snow or mud after. A 3 year old counts 'red bird, brown bird'; an 8 year old keeps a tally and looks up the species. The backyard bird count runs all winter once the feeder is up.

Ages: 3 to 8.

Prep: 5 minutes.

Mess: none.

Supplies: a window feeder, birdseed, a tally sheet, a magnifying glass.

Safety: hands washed after filling the feeder; tracks are looked at, not followed into the woods.

Kitchen science morning. The ice melt race (same size cubes, four spots in the house, which melts first) and frost in a can (a tin can of ice and salt grows frost on the outside in 15 minutes) run at the same time. Freeze a small toy in each cube the night before and the race becomes a rescue for the preschoolers.

Ages: 4 to 8 (3 with help).

Prep: 10 minutes plus freezing overnight.

Mess: low, water.

Supplies: ice cube trays, a tin can, salt, small toys, towels.

Safety: the salt-and-ice can gets cold enough to hurt skin; kids touch the frost with a spoon, not a finger, and under 3s skip the small frozen toys.

The hourly countdown bags are the whole day: six paper bags, one per hour from 3 to 8 p.m., each with one small activity inside (a balloon, glow sticks, a bingo card, popcorn, a dance song, a story). Pack them in the morning with the kids, which is the morning anchor, then open one an hour until the Noon Year's Eve countdown at 8. The full hour-by-hour plan is in that post.

Ages: 3 to 8.

Prep: 20 minutes.

Mess: medium, confetti if you allow it.

Supplies: 6 paper bags, balloons, glow sticks, popcorn, a bingo card, a marker.

Safety: uninflated balloons and balloon pieces are a choking hazard under 8, so a grown-up inflates and throws away the pops; glow sticks are not for mouths.

Nobody is up early. When they are, the anchor is a table with a new puzzle on it and the thank-you notes for helpers: one card each to the person who gave the best gift, drawn by the preschoolers and written by the 6 to 8 year olds. Add the 'all about my year' drawing page from the New Year's post if the puzzle runs out. Afternoon is a movie.

Ages: 3 to 8.

Prep: 5 minutes.

Mess: low.

Supplies: a puzzle, blank cards, crayons, stamps for the envelopes.

Safety: 48 to 100 piece puzzles for this age; the toddler gets the chunky one.

The last real day. Boots on, and walk until you find frozen puddles to stomp, then icicles to look at, then a hill to run down. The frozen puddle stomp needs nothing but boots and a morning that is cold enough. If it is above freezing, it becomes a puddle jump walk, which 2 year olds like even more. Cocoa, lunch, nap, and the break is almost done.

Ages: 2 to 8.

Prep: 2 minutes.

Mess: wet boots.

Supplies: boots, waterproof mittens, a change of socks, cocoa.

Safety: stomp puddles on grass or sidewalk, never pond or creek ice; a grown-up tests any big frozen puddle first.