Winter Play and Wellness for the Whole Family

Bring wonder and joy back into your family's life with these winter-inspired activities to encourage outdoor play and wellness for the whole family. 

The following are some of the wellness-building practices I’ve placed on high priority during this season, to help my family and I get through the winter. 

Download my free Family Winter Coping Guide HERE to learn more nutrition, lifestyle and mindset tips to flow through the winter feeling healthy and happy.

Playing with Children

Spending time with our children can bring wonder and joy back into our life, especially when it’s spent playing outdoors. Play is so great for children, and it also is for adults! Children help bring us back into the present moment because they live in the now. As unschoolers who are generally lovers of nature, winter is definitely our least favourite season. My children adapted much quicker to winter than I did, but they still often reminisce on the days of bare feet and diapers at our tropical rainforest home in the Caribbean.

We’ve had to choose to make the best of every day (even those frigid ones) by being creative and finding ways to spend time outside. It’s easy to go days doing indoor projects, or reading books cozy by the fire, but without fresh air and movement, this creates an imbalance. We are creatures from nature. Here are some fun activities that have inspired my children and I to get outside, and I hope we can inspire your family:

• Make ice ornaments; freeze water and loose parts (like berries, orange slices, pine needles)  in muffin trays or pie plates, pop them out and hang them on trees
• Explore snowflakes; use a magnifying glass (the book Snowflake Bentley has great teachings)
• Shovel paths and mazes and make a mystical winter wonderland
• Winter outdoor food - cook on the fire (bannock, spider dogs, smores, hot cocao, cedar tea, etc)

• Make maple syrup toffee on fresh snow with popsicle sticks 
• Make a quinzee, a snow shelter made from a large pile of loose snow which is shaped then hollowed (originally made by Eastern First Nations of Canada)
• Mini hot tub for toddler (fill a blue bin with warm water and toys, just outside your door for a hot tub winter experience, with a tuque on!)
• Explore how snow is insulating with a “snow blanket” - bury each other in the snow, then learn about the community of creatures living under the snow in winter using it as a blanket
• Make seed balls for birds (spread peanut butter or lard on a pinecone and roll it in bird seeds)
• Set up a wildlife camera (discover surprising animals walking by at night) 
• Go on adventurous treks in the forest (snow hashing) 
• Blow bubbles outside on a very cold day (a different experience than summer)
• Turn hiking into an adventure (ex: pack of wolves prowling - walking in nature needs to be adventurous for kids (A Walking Curriculum is a great book for ideas)
• Find animal tracks and study tracking (or do animal track art)
• Become animals by making animal masks and going into their habitat (or building one)
• Play tic tack toe with twigs and pinecones
• Investigate boot traction with boot treads on a snow hill (what works best?)
• Make snow art with Koolaid or food colouring - use agricultural spray bottles or squeeze bottles (celebrate Holi “Indian Festival of Colors” or make labyrinths and mazes with colour 
• Make coloured ice cubes or dinosaur eggs and create a habitat with figurines
• Set up a snow kitchen with pots and pans 
• Play snow soccer 
• Study evergreen vs. deciduous trees (how are they different, used for what?) 
• Interview a tree (“What’s happening with you in winter?”)
• Explore different types of snow and winter cloud formations
• Build a fort with sticks and logs
• Learn how to start a fire and talk about how we do it with natural artifacts from our environment
• Build a skating rink or slide with water
• Go sledding on a snowy hill or go for a walk pulling each other in sleds pretending to be sled dogs with an important mission
• Make snow sculptures, snowmen, and snow angels 
• Go for a winter trail ride on horseback

Winter Star Gazing

It’s easier to get disconnected from the rhythmic beat of the planet in the winter, but there are some great ways of finding that alignment and taking a short moment to get back into harmony with the Universe during the winter. On a clear night, bundle up, set up a blanket in the soft snow, and look up at the stars. Snow can be just as good as laying on beach sand if we allow ourselves to accept and feel gratitude for all seasons, and the beauty that they bring. When stargazing, our spirit goes to a place past the stars, where we came from, up there. A little piece of us is there in case we feel too damaged here - we can look up there and reconnect. A little piece of our protected spirit, its essence is up there. We remember that our spirit’s true home is there. Winter can bring along some strong emotions, as we go inwards. In times of grief, betrayal, or hurt, we can realign and replenish our spirit by looking up there, at the night sky. Connect to the essence of your spirit so it can’t be broken.

Nature Connection

Spending time in nature plays an important role in our life, especially in our over-stimulating, technological, hyper-polarized current world reality. Nature is a restorative and powerful force – it can help boost our mood, improve immunity, reduce stress, and support the nervous system. Being in nature is a full-spectrum activity: the fresh air, the sounds of wildlife, the tree hugging, the sights, the forest smells, and the exercise all contribute to our mental and physical health.

In times of grief, loss, sadness, loneliness, or overwhelm, which are all part of the human experience, I turn to nature and forests to ground back into self, and remember my oneness with all living beings, all our relations. The forests hold answers to questions we have yet to ask. The forests are waiting for us to come home. That is where we resided for thousands of years, so it makes sense to visit where we came from. Maybe we'll be reminded where we're going?

We cannot escape the ups and downs of life, but we can always find comfort and clarity in the company of nature - the trees, the rivers, the wildlife - all of the spirit beings who surround us. Observing the impermanence of nature is a healing experience. Realization of the circle of life and death in all things is an impotent part of letting go. 

At some points in the winter, depending on where you live, it can get tricky or risky (or those very cold days) to be outside. In early or late winter, you may only be able to get outside in short bursts, but that is better than nothing. And it helps if you are moving to stay warm!

Take Time to Ground

One of the best ways to calm our nervous system or clear our monkey mind is to get grounded. When we are grounded we are in our own body and able to differentiate what is ours and what we have picked up from other people. Everyone knows the best way to get grounded is to get out in nature. But sometimes it isn’t possible to walk barefoot on the Earth or submerge ourselves in crystal clear water, especially in the colder months. While walking or exercising in nature is obviously a great way to stay grounded, we need to remember that we are not separate from the Earth, rather, we are the Earth too. Some ways that we can get grounded in the winter are bundling up, going for a nature walk, and yes, hugging some trees. There is real science behind this. You are a living energy field. Your body is composed of energy-producing particles, each of which is in constant motion. So, like everything and everyone else in the universe, you are vibrating and creating energy. Quite literally this means that the energy that flows through us, flows through all living things including all plants and trees. So, there you have it. When you hug a tree you connect to it through its energetic vibration. The same vibration that runs through you.

If tree-hugging isn’t always possible, another simple way of connecting to nature and grounding on those very cold days is to bring nature to you by adding some plants to your home. Create a little indoor herb garden or buy yourself a plant to put by your bedside, which you can connect with and tend to each day. 

Honour the Return of the Light with this Sacred Practice

Winter Solstice, or Yule, is a sacred Earth-centered celebration that’s been honoured by Pagans and Indigenous peoples around the planet for thousands of years. The modern religious Christian holiday Christmas has Earth-based roots. It’s what the Yule logs, mistletoes, and Christmas trees originally derived from. On December 21st, which is officially the first day of winter (in the Northern Hemisphere) the sun stands still at Tropic of Capricorn (most Southern position). The word Solstice comes from the Latin word sol “sun” and sistere “to stand still”. This is the shortest day of the year, with the fewest hours of sunlight resulting in a late sunrise and early sunset. 

On December 25th, the sun is “born” again when it reverses direction indicating the return of light when the sun begins its return back towards the north. This time of the year holds powerful energy for regeneration, renewal, and self-reflection. It is a good time to connect with others, to remember our oneness, and that separation is an illusion. Our ancestors would prepare for winter months ahead, to ensure they would not freeze or starve. Scientifically, we understand it as our solar cycle, but our ancestors viewed winter as potentially never-ending. The return of the sun brought hope. Winter Solstice instills hope in us, despite the harsh weather and endless darkness. This is a beautiful life metaphor inviting us to accept darkness, hold on to hope, and that rebalancing will come and light will shine again. For our ancestors, when light reigned over darkness, this was a sign of good things to come. 

Here are two lovely Solstice Earth Blessings that my family and I have used for our Solstice ceremonies, and before dancing around the fire: 

•  “The longest night has come once more, the sun has set, and darkness fallen. The trees are bare, the earth asleep, and the skies are cold and black. Yet tonight we rejoice, in this longest night, embracing the darkness that enfolds us. We welcome the night and all that it holds, as the light of the stars shines down. Let us honour the darkness and death as the light and rebirth can only take place after the death of the old.” 
•  “We will dance into the darkness, honouring what is there and utilizing the dance to release what is holding us back; making space for the new light to be born, dancing our intentions and our hearts desire, having the opportunity to have our intentions seen and strengthened by our fellow dancers, the power of visualization and the power of the full moon.”

Move Your body

Movement - it’s in our nature. Like food, water, sun, and air, movement is an essential component of our proper development and wellbeing. It is something that we should be doing all of the time, even during winter. Movement can be medicine for unbalanced bodies that don’t move enough. It holds the power to heal.

Any way you can move your body, particularly in ways that it wants to move, the better. And preferable in the morning, for optimal serotonin output. Bundle up and go for a walk in the snow, take a yoga class, lift weights or swim in a heated pool. Have a dance party in your living room with your kids, or more specifically, ecstatic dance and myofascial unwinding. Conscious movement or somatic therapies are helpful to release stored energy and stagnation, trauma, and pain from the body. We also have a rebounder (small trampoline) in the center of our living room, which I take a five-minute bounce on at various times during the day, to quickly energize myself. I also find my kids on it, burning up some extra energy, clearing stagnation after concentrated work, or simply as a way to move when it may be too cold to go out and play. 

While exercising is a set time of isolated fitness, movement is a lifestyle. Its ideal is to move throughout the day, as opposed to only one concentrated “workout”. Both are good, but I prefer to implement both, by doing a concentrated 20-30 minute workout in the morning, meanwhile, I continue to move at intervals during the day, like bringing my dog for a walk, or dancing with the kids after spending an hour reading on the couch with them. It’s all about balance. 

Movement is important for our physical and mental well-being. Evidence indicates that aerobic exercise can reduce levels of depression in SAD patients, particularly when paired with light therapy. Of course, any physical activity you enjoy will help you beat the winter blues. Whatever you can make into a habit will provide benefit. It’s had an enormously positive impact on my family’s physical and mental health.

Download my free Family Winter Coping Guide HERE to learn more nutrition, lifestyle and mindset tips to flow through the winter feeling healthy and happy.

What are favourite ways for your family to get through winter feeling healthy and happy? Share in the comments below :)