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10 Things to Do with Your Kids During Winter in the Sewickley Area

Got bored kids? Here are some ideas to help keep your kids happy over winter break and beyond.

Here are 10 fun ways to keep kids from toddlers to teens entertained and off screens during the holiday break and into the winter.

  • Art: You can create an art kit for your kids with just a shoebox filled with colored pencils, crayons, pens, scissors, tape, a glue stick and a small sketchpad available at Walmart or Target. Tweens and teens will find inspiration to start drawing, doodling and journaling from books such as Carla Sonheim’s Drawing Lab for Mixed Media Artists: 52 Creative Exercises to Make Drawing Fun, The Art of Silliness: A Creativity Book for Everyone and Drawing and Painting Imaginary Animals: A Mixed-Media Workshop with Carla Sonheim. Other examples are Dawn DeVries Sokol’s books Doodle Diary: Art Journalizing for Girls, Art Doodle Love: A Journal of Self-Discovery and Doodle Sketchbook: Art Journaling for Boys. Also worth checking out is Journal Bliss: Creative Prompts to Unleash Your Inner Eccentric by Violette. Try Penguin Bookshop in Sewickley for titles or visit Amazon.com.
  • Indoor fort-building with paper snowball fights: Natalie Kryger, a Snoqualmie, WA, mom of four boys under age 15, encourages parents not to overbook kids with activities over the break. “Boredom is often the mother of invention. Make a fort in the living room with blankets and have an indoor snowball fight with wadded up wrapping paper from Christmas.”
  • Pizza and movie party: Order pizza and have the kids settle in with a favorite movie. 
  • Go outside and play: Winter is a great time to get outside and play, especially if you have snow. Making a snow fort, a snowman, snowballs or go sledding. To ice skate, try the the North Park ice skating rink. Or if you want to pretend you're skating outside, there's the Robert Morris University Island Sports Center in Neville Township, which offers public skating.
  • Play with paper: The traditional Japanese art of origami offers hours of fun and enhances your child’s spatial skills. Tom Angleberger’s Star Wars-themed origami books including The Secret of the Fortune Wookiee, The Strange Case of Origami Yoda and Darth Paper Strikes Back offer both reading and origami fun. Try Penguin Bookshop in Sewickley for titles or visit Amazon.com.
  • Puppet show: Attach a clothesline or rope across a doorway. Throw a sheet over it for a curtain and use a box below on the floor for the stage. Give kids paper bags and crayons for easy DIY puppets. Break out the socks and gloves, yarn, foam, puff balls, glue gun and googly eyes from Michael's or Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores for fancier versions. Miyako Kanamori's Sock and Glove: Creating Charming Softy Friends from Cast-Off Socks and Gloves is a great resource, also available from Amazon.
  • Break out the board games: Younger kids will love playing games such as Apples to Apples with you, and older kids will enjoy classic board games like Scrabble and Monopoly. If you don't have any board games, you might find them at Goodwill.
  • Bake: Every year during the holiday break, my mother bakes cookies with my children, teaching them how to make the cookies her Lithuanian mother made for her as a child. You can bake at home with your kids, have grandparents deal with the mess at their house, or check out special events at the Market District at Settlers Ridge.

TELL US: What do you plan on doing with your kids during winter break? Share in the comments below.

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