❄️ Winter Activities in Early Years: Learning Through Cold, Curiosity and Play ❄️

Our first week back after the Christmas holidays brought us straight into the heart of winter — and the weather certainly played its part. With sub-zero temperatures and even a light dusting of snow, it felt like the perfect moment to explore the season together.

The cold certainly didn’t faze the children. Wrapped up snugly in coats, hats, scarves and mittens, they headed outdoors with excitement, ready to explore all things wintery. And what followed was a week full of curiosity, conversation, creativity and joyful learning ❄️😊

❄️ Exploring Snow and the Arctic World

➡️ ❄️ Winter Activities in Early Years: Exploring Snow and the Arctic World

We began the week with a snowy sensory tray in the garden, inviting children to explore a small-world Arctic scene. Penguins and polar bears sparked plenty of interest and conversation — where do they live? Why do they like the cold? What do they eat? Can they swim?

As children touched, scooped and explored the “snow,” they described how it felt and compared it to their own experiences. These shared discussions gently extended their Understanding of the World, supporting early geographical knowledge and helping to build cultural capital by introducing environments far beyond their everyday lives.

🤍 Snowy Sensory Play for Our Littlest Ones

Our youngest children had their own winter-inspired experience: an edible snowy tray made from oats and cornflour. Using hands first, and then spoons, they explored filling containers of different sizes — bigger, smaller, full, empty.

Some children were particularly curious about how it tasted too 😊Through this open-ended sensory play, children were laying early foundations for mathematical understanding, developing hand–eye coordination and strengthening fine motor skills — all at their own pace.

⛄ From Snowmen to Small Worlds

Later in the week, the children created white playdough, using it to make snowmen with sticks, black and orange paper. The results were wonderfully imaginative, each creation reflecting individual ideas and problem-solving.

As often happens in child-led learning, the experience evolved further. Our older children decided to extend their play by using the playdough and sticks to build houses for small-world animals, showing deep engagement, creativity and collaboration. This kind of progression is a beautiful example of how planned experiences can remain flexible and responsive to children’s thinking.

☕ A Hot Chocolate Sensory Station

One of the most popular experiences of the week was our Hot Chocolate Making Station ☕Using water, hot chocolate powder, shaving foam, pompoms, rice and textured papers, children created their own imaginative versions of hot chocolate.

This experience offered a rich variety of textures and sparked plenty of discussion. Children shared their own experiences — how hot chocolate feels, what toppings they like, and when they drink it at home.

Alongside being a fantastic sensory experience, this learning opportunity strongly supported:

• Communication and Language, through conversation and shared storytelling

• Mathematics, as children described quantities, shapes and measures while making their “drinks”

⛸️ Ending the Week on a High: Indoor Ice Skating

We finished the week with a truly exciting experience — an indoor ice skating rink ⛸️Simple to set up, yet endlessly fun, this activity kept both children (and staff!) happily engaged for most of Friday afternoon.

As children slid, balanced and laughed together, they were developing gross motor skills, coordination and spatial awareness, while also strengthening social skills such as turn-taking, encouragement and shared joy.

❄️ Winter Learning at Its Best

This week’s winter activities in early years allowed children to explore seasonal changes through sensory play, conversation and imaginative learning.

This week was a wonderful reminder that meaningful learning doesn’t need to be complicated. With thoughtful planning, open-ended resources and responsive adults, children can explore big ideas — weather, environments, materials and experiences — through play that feels natural, joyful and engaging.

Winter may be cold, but our days were full of warmth, curiosity and connection ❄️💙