I was never a fan of winter. It gets so cold where I am from that you pretty much stay inside six months of the year. This makes it incredibly easy to get cabin fever in a classroom. Inside recess can get a little crazy (especially for subs) so here are some fun, winter themed indoor games that seem to work well.
Frozen Heart Snowball Fight
Materials:
White paper (About one sheet per person) scrap paper is fine just make sure one side is blank)
Red Crayon, marker or colored pencil – draw a heart on a couple pieces of paper
This is a favorite of my Junior Church Class. I based the idea off of the movie Frozen which they also love.
Split the class into two teams and make a boundary line with each team on either side. Throw snowballs onto floor and say go. The students toss them back and forth until you say to stop. This is kind of like a dodge ball game but you can’t get each other out and the “snowballs” are soft and can’t be thrown hard enough to hurt someone. After a few minutes yell freeze, all the students stop and have to open the “snowballs” in their hands (if they are hording more than one they must open them all). If they don’t have one, they pick one up from their side. If there is a heart in their snowball they are out. Collect the “snowballs”, mix them up and start again. Last team standing wins.
Penguin Waddle Race
Materials:
2 Plastic eggs, fist sized balls or bean bags for younger kids
Optional- 4 cheap paper plates
This game needs more preparation but it is an easy, exciting and slow moving game that will get the kids moving without hurting themselves or others.
Break into two relay teams and give the first person an “egg”. Place the egg between their feet (you can also give each kid two paper plates to stand on to act as their “flippers”. The students are mommy and daddy penguins and must move their eggs around the snowy Arctic without dropping them. The students then shuffle around the room without dropping their egg. When they return to their team they bend down carefully and place the egg on the next students feet .
Do You Want to Build a Snowman? Game
Materials:
2 Cube, dice or cube of some kind (paper cube directions here)
Marker – Write the names (or draw pictures for young kids) of the parts of a snowman, ex. Nose, eye, hat, button, mouth, arm. If using a dice you can make a chart that has the number next to the part.
Drawing Board or Large paper (white board or black board is best)
Yes most of my games are based on Frozen, but I think it is the cutest winter movie ever.
I break the class into two teams. I draw the basic 3 circle outline for the snowman on the board. The 1st person in each group starts with a die. On the count of 3 they both roll and draw whatever part they get, then it is the next persons turn in line. They continue until the snowman is complete. If a part is rolled that needs more than 1 (like eye, arm or buttons) then they need to roll those parts 2 times.
Also try having them race to get the parts or just add things as many times as they get them (a snowman with 5 hats and 3 noses). The kids seem to love making their snowmen really silly. You can also play this as a quite, sit down game when two kids draw on their own paper.
Snowflake Freeze
Materials:
Paper snowflakes (one for each kid)
Optional- Music
This is an adaption of one of my favorite indoor brain break games I call “Tissue Drop” but instead of tissues we use paper snowflakes the kids or I make beforehand. It is easy; each kid puts the snow flake on their head and begins to move around the room. I like to play music and have them dance. The snowflake must stay on their head (make sure they don’t try to cheat by getting them stuck in their hair- they will). If the snowflake falls the student has to freeze and wait for another player to help put their snowflake on their head without dropping their own snowflake. It is a good team work game and can be played without a winner. If you want a winner though you can call freeze or stop the music and the kids that don’t have snowflakes are out.
Plastic Bag Skate Race
Materials:
4 plastic shopping bags (or 2 for each kid in the class)
Break into two relay teams and give the first person two bags to be their “skates”. The students then have to slide on their skate down and back (without losing them). It is also fun to just have the kids be figure skaters and have them show you their best moves as they slide around.