The frost glistening on the garden, the excitement of seeing your breath in the morning air, little ones bundled up in scarves and gloves… Winter brings a world of wonder to Early Years settings!
It’s a season filled with opportunities for exploration, imagination, and discovery. And while Christmas celebrations often take centre stage during this period, there’s so much more to this magical time of year. By looking beyond Christmas and to other winter themes, nursery practitioners can create inclusive, curiosity-filled experiences that celebrate the beauty of winter itself.
Why Look Beyond Christmas in Early Years?
Christmas is a joyful time in many settings, but it isn’t the only story to tell in winter. Focusing solely on festive celebrations can sometimes leave children and families from different backgrounds feeling excluded or disconnected.
Taking a broader approach to winter learning ensures that every child can join in the fun, no matter their culture or beliefs. It also keeps curiosity alive well into January and February, long after the tinsel comes down.
By exploring the seasonal winter themes as a whole, practitioners can help children
- Notice changes in their environment.
- Develop empathy and understanding for others’ traditions.
- Build resilience and wonder through outdoor exploration.
This inclusive approach aligns beautifully with the EYFS principles, valuing diversity, nurturing curiosity, and supporting a child’s understanding of the world.
Best Winter Theme Activities For Early Years
There are so many interesting and unique things you can do with early years children during the winter months. In fact, focusing solely on Christmas can be quite restrictive. Expand your horizons and get the most out of winter by trying out some of these winter-themed activities:
Outdoor Winter Activities For Early Years
The natural world is one of the best learning resources there is, and winter is full of sensory experiences just waiting to be explored.
Encourage children to observe, touch, and talk about what they see outdoors, from frost-covered leaves to birds searching for food. Some easy, low-prep winter activities include:
- Frost hunts: take clipboards and mark off frozen leaves, puddles, and spider webs.
- Weather diaries: children record what they see, hear, or feel through drawings or photos.
- Nature collections: gather pinecones, twigs, or feathers for sorting or creative art.
- Helping wildlife: create bird feeders or a “bug hotel” from recycled materials.
These experiences build language skills, physical development, and an early understanding of science, all while promoting care for the environment.
Indoor Winter Activities For Early Years
Indoor environments can still capture the magic of winter, offering safe, warm spaces for storytelling, imaginative play, and physical development. Thoughtful setups allow children to explore winter themes even when outdoor play is limited. Some winter-themed activities include:
- Winter storytelling: Use winter storytelling baskets inspired by books such as The Gruffalo’s Child, Owl Babies, or One Snowy Night. Include soft toys, natural objects, and sensory props so children can retell stories or invent their own versions.
- Physical development: Set up dressing-up races using scarves, hats, and gloves to help children practise fastening skills, coordination, and balance. Add pretend snowballs made from soft fabric for safe indoor throwing or target games.
- Role play: Create a winter shop, cosy cabin, or arctic explorer station. Provide clipboards, maps, and play money to promote imaginative play, mark-making, and social communication.
- Sensory Spaces: Build a calm, winter-themed corner with soft lights, reflective materials, and cool-coloured fabrics. Children can relax, explore textures, or engage in mindful activities.
These indoor experiences give children opportunities to build confidence, develop motor skills, and experiment with language in meaningful, playful contexts.
Winter Themed Crafts and DIY For Early Years
Creative winter projects offer children a chance to explore colour, texture, and materials in playful ways that support early expressive development. These activities encourage problem-solving, language growth, and fine motor control while sparking seasonal excitement. Here’s some Ideas to try:
- Expressive arts and design: Explore ice painting by freezing coloured water into blocks and letting children make marks as the ice melts. Create snowflake collages using cotton pads, shaped paper, and glitter, or set up frozen treasure trays with natural materials trapped in ice for children to chip, pour, or melt free.
- Sensory crafting: Provide trays of artificial snow, pine needles, and winter spices for children to scoop, pinch, and mould. These resources help them build vocabulary as they describe what they feel and smell.
- Recycled winter creations: Encourage children to turn cardboard tubes into penguins, snowmen, or owls. This supports imaginative thinking while modelling sustainable use of materials.
These hands-on crafts help children experiment with tools, mix media, and express their ideas, which strengthens their confidence and creative decision-making. Of course, Christmas can also be the theme for your crafting too. One activity can be to make Christmas baubles with children.
Winter Themes for Early Years Education
Winter provides a natural framework for weaving seasonal concepts into everyday learning, helping children make sense of the world and build foundational knowledge across key areas of development. Some educational winter activities include:
- Mathematics: Count winter animals, sort objects by size or colour, and compare mittens or wellies to explore measurement and patterns. Provide ice cubes or snowballs for simple tallying or grouping games.
- Understanding the world: Lead melting and freezing experiments so children can observe changes in state, talk about temperature, and begin to form scientific ideas. Explore how different animals adapt to winter and discuss clothing choices for cold weather. Linking learning to a real seasonal context strengthens children’s curiosity and helps them recognise patterns in the world around them.
- Literacy and phonics: Use winter-themed picture cards or story prompts to support early writing and sound recognition. Invite children to label pictures of winter objects or create simple zigzag books about seasonal changes.
- Personal, social, and emotional development: Talk about how winter helps us value warmth, kindness, and care. Simple activities like making bird feeders encourage empathy and responsibility for living things.
Every one of these activities can be documented in eylog, showing parents the learning that happens through everyday play. Even a simple walk in the frost can turn into a rich learning experience.
With eylog, you can capture children’s winter discoveries and share them instantly with families through eyparent. It’s a lovely way to bring parents into those magical moments of outdoor learning.
Celebrating Cultural Winter Festivals
Beyond Christmas, winter is rich with cultural festivals and traditions that offer wonderful opportunities for winter-themed exploration and inclusion.
You might celebrate:
St. Lucia’s Day
❤️Date: Saturday 13th December 2025
A Scandinavian festival celebrating light and kindness during the darkest part of the year. Nurseries might enjoy singing, sharing treats like buns or biscuits, and talking about caring for others.
Winter Solstice or Yule
🌲Date: Sunday 21st December 2025
The shortest day and longest night of the year, marking the return of the sun. Perfect for nature walks, talking about changing seasons, or exploring light and dark through creative play.
Hanukkah
🕯 Dates: Evening of Sunday 14th December – evening of Monday 22nd December 2025
Hanukkah lasts for eight nights, celebrating the Jewish Festival of Lights. It’s a lovely opportunity to explore light and shadow play, candles, and stories about hope and perseverance.
Lunar New Year
🐲Date: Tuesday 17th February 2026
2026 is the Year of the Horse. Lunar New Year is celebrated across many Asian cultures and can inspire activities like dragon dances, red lantern crafts, or tasting noodles with chopsticks to explore cultural traditions.
Involving families can make these celebrations even more meaningful. Invite parents to share stories, recipes, or decorations from their own traditions on eyengage
This not only broadens children’s understanding of the world but also helps every family feel valued and seen.
eyengage can be a great way to share photos or stories from these cultural celebrations securely within your setting’s community.
Creating Cosy, Hygge-Inspired Spaces
When it’s cold and dark outside, creating warm and comforting indoor spaces can have a powerful impact on children’s wellbeing. The Danish concept of hygge – meaning cosiness and contentment – translates beautifully into winter-themed Early Years environments.
Simple touches can make all the difference:
- Soft lighting, fairy lights, and lamps instead of bright overheads.
- Cosy reading corners with cushions, blankets, and calm music.
- Natural materials like pinecones, wooden toys, and woollen textures.
- Warm drinks and snack times that bring everyone together.
A hygge-inspired environment supports emotional regulation and gives children a sense of security and belonging during the darker months.
And it’s not just about children, staff wellbeing matters too. Encourage your team to take moments of calm and connection.
Bringing It All Together
Winter offers endless opportunities to nurture curiosity, creativity, and connection, long after Christmas is over.
By focusing on inclusive, season-wide experiences, settings can help children appreciate nature, celebrate diversity, and find comfort in cosy, nurturing spaces. Whether it’s exploring frozen puddles, celebrating the Lunar New Year, or simply sharing a story under twinkling lights, winter is full of wonder.
And with the right tools to simplify admin and share those special moments, your team can focus on what really matters: the children.
Want to make more time for winter learning and less time on paperwork?
Discover how eyworks can simplify your admin and help your team shine this season.