Many of us are hoping winter will be over soon. Some of my friends in warmer climates are posting pictures of their early flowers blooming, and I have to admit that I’m a little jealous. Where I live, we just had snow AGAIN. But no matter where you live, it’s still the end of February, so we have hope that winter will end soon. And this closing of winter is a great time to squeeze in some end-of-winter fun with your kids!
Everyday life can get dull for our kids, and really, for us parents as well. When we can find a way to celebrate or make any day special, even in little ways, it breaks up the boredom. We can brighten the day for ourselves and for our children by bringing in just a little fun.
So as we finish out this winter season, let’s look for ways to celebrate and squeeze in some end-of-winter fun.
Get in one last winter activity
See if you can schedule one more time to enjoy your family’s favorite winter activity. Go skiing one more time. Or find a good hill and go sledding one more time. Maybe the best activity for your little ones would be to build a snowman. So if you still have some snow, take the opportunity to build one more snowman this winter. No matter what you choose to do, make sure your kids know that you’re squeezing in as much winter fun as you can before it’s over.
Get your kids to help with projects
At the end of the winter, we’re often thinking about preparing our yards for spring or deep cleaning our homes. As you plan out these projects, think about ways your kids can help.
Outdoors
In the yard, even young children can help dig holes, pull weeds, or move mulch. My kids have been moving and placing mulch since they were tiny. No, their itty-bitty sand pails of mulch weren’t that helpful, but they learned to be helpful through this little effort. Now my big kids know just what to do with big buckets and wheelbarrows of mulch.
For big kids and little kids, yard work can be more fun with a specific goal. For example, we can say that we’re going to move 10 wheelbarrows of mulch while they move 10 buckets of mulch. Or you can even make it a race to see who will finish first. You can add fun to yard work by offering a treat when it’s finished.
So as you plan your yard work, think through little jobs that your kids can help with. And again, you can make a big deal about how we’re working together to clean up from winter and get ready for spring. Even work can be fun if we make it fun.
Indoors
In your home, the same principle applies. Little children are usually more willing to help than older children, so look for ways that they can help. Find a way to make it a game or a race. And choose jobs that they can do without it being a big hassle for you. For example, little kids are great at cleaning baseboards. It’s not a complicated job, and even if they clean only a few inches of baseboard, it’s still something. As your kids get older, they can take on more cleaning responsibilities and be a bigger help when you do your spring cleaning projects.
Use up the hot cocoa
I have a big canister of hot cocoa, and I’m going to encourage my kids to enjoy it a little more over the next couple of weeks. Once spring comes, none of us are really going to want hot cocoa, so I’m going to come up with some fun ways to finish what we have. Maybe we’ll have a movie afternoon and enjoy hot cocoa with it. Some of these mornings, I need to remember to turn on the kettle and offer it when they wake up. And I should add some fun marshmallows to my grocery list. It’s a simple way to squeeze in some end-of-winter fun.
My Signing Time
Check out the signs for winter and for fun in our Signing Time Dictionary, and then put them together to sign “winter fun” for your kids.
You can also enjoy some My Signing Time shows about winter to squeeze in some end-of-winter fun. We have Going Outside – Winter in the Rachel & Me series. And there’s also My Favorite Season in our Classic Signing Time series. Or you can join Rachel & the TreeSchoolers as they explore the seasons in Extraordinary Earth.
You can find these shows in your My Signing Time subscription. Don’t have a subscription? You can try one out with a 14-day free trial right here!