6 Active Indoor Games for the Winter Months

As the months become colder and rain/snowfall becomes more frequent, you might be spending more recesses inside. No doubt the kids are missing that time outdoors where they could run, jump, and burn off pent-up energy. We’ve put together a list of active indoor games for you to try to get kids moving again during these cold winter months.

• Indoor Obstacle Course. This can be as simple as marking the ground with masking tape. Make a balance beam, hopscotch outline, or rectangle they have to leap across, and then let them run the circuit as long as they’d like.
• Scavenger Hunt. You can make this simple too by creating clues that don’t focus on just one answer–have the kids find their favorite book, draw something with a red colored pencil, or count how many toe-to-heel steps it takes to cross the room. It can even be a race to see which child/team completes the scavenger hunt first.
• Action Dice. Create one or several dice that have different actions on each side. You can give each child a turn rolling the dice, and whatever activity shows on top, such as jump or spin or pat your head/rub your tummy, the entire class does it.
• Free Building Time. Provide Styrofoam or marshmallows paired with toothpicks (or uncooked spaghetti) for kids to make structures. Challenge them to create a pyramid, their school, or the tallest building they can without it toppling.
• Charades. An easy game that everyone enjoys, you can come up with things to act out beforehand or let older kids come up with the actions themselves.
• Freeze Dance. Put on some music, get everyone to start dancing, and then pause the music without warning. Everyone has to freeze in whatever position they’re in when the music stops. This is sure to bring out plenty of laughs!

Regardless of which activities you bring to the classroom, the most important thing is to give kids the time and space to move around. You can also read one of our previous newsletter articles about why it’s still important to let kids play outside during the winter months, when the weather permits.