This time of year can be difficult to get outside, and understandably, you may find it harder to avoid screen time with your kids. However, you can break up the day with some always important process art. Here are 6 Montessori winter activities for toddlers.
6 Montessori Winte Activities For Toddlers
- Melted Snowman – What you need: shaving cream, glue, construction paper, buttons (optional), paintbrush.
Cut out a carrot nose, hat, and any other accessories from construction paper. If you have small buttons, use those too.
Mix shaving cream and glue to create 3D “snow”. Talk about how snow melts and to get their imagination really going, ask your child how their snowman melted.
My daughter really enjoyed this activity and ended up using her hands and an extra piece of paper. It kept her busy for a while.
- Painting With A Glove/Mitten – What you need: paper, paint and an old, thin glove or mitten. A super simple art activity with no prep!
Put a glove or mitten on your child and let them use their hand to paint. Talk about how it feels on their hand and let them really explore the different patterns it makes on the paper.
- Snowflake Spray Art – What you need: contact paper, cardstock/thick paper, spray bottle, paint, water, bin, salt (optional).
Cut out a snowflake from contact paper, then press onto your cardstock making sure it’s fully pressed on paper. Water down some paint in a spray bottle – this may take some trial and error to get the right consistency, so test it out yourself first.
Then, have your child spray paint onto their paper, preferably in a bin to catch the splatter. You can also sprinkle salt on the paint to see how it changes the paint as it dries.
Once it’s dry, remove the contact paper and scrape off salt. Include your child so they can see and discuss the results.
This is one of my favorite activities as it combines several different learning objectives, and every child loves spraying a spray bottle (which is an excellent fine motor activity).
- Painting Snow – What you need: snow, paintbrush, watercolor paints. This is weather dependent but a great option if you don’t want to bundle up and go outside. Scoop some snow into a plastic bin and using watercolor paint, let your child go to town painting the snow. Simple and no prep!
- Ice Cube Painting – What you need: ice cube tray, water, food coloring, craft sticks, paper. Mix food coloring and water in ice cube trays.
Get the child involved as much as possible, either by helping mix food coloring or just to discuss the colors. Then place craft sticks in the water for handles and place them in the freezer.
Once frozen, have your child paint with the ice cubes. You can discuss why the ice is melting as they’re painting.
Keep in mind that food coloring does tend to stain. My daughter was mostly into tasting the ice cubes, but that’s okay too.
- Painting With Pine Tree Branches – What you need: branch from any evergreen tree, paint and paper.
Got leftover trimmings from your Christmas tree or wreath? If not, go exploring outside and trim some together. Then dip in paint and press or paint on the paper.
Another simple activity with really cool results.
I hope your toddler enjoys these Montessori winter activities as much as mine!