How to keep kids entertained in the colder weather

It often feels much easier to keep the kids entertained when it's warm and sunny, but what can you do with them when it's a little chillier? We put together a little list of ideas to keep the little ones entertained.

1. Make Wintery Bingo Scavenger hunts. To make your hunt, create a grid of things you might see outside on your wintery walk and make sure to include things you're more likely to see when it's cold. Then go out on your wintery walk (but not before wrapping up warm first), and cross off the different things on your grid as you see them. If your kids are old enough to draw or write, you could give them blank grids and have them create their own Bingo Sheets.

2. Collect things from nature and use them for crafts. Some of the things you could collect include leaves, sticks, pine cones, rocks, flowers and more. Our favourite ways to use them is by painting, collaging and taking rubbings. For lots of ideas on using your treasures take a look at this guide by Thimble & Twig.

3. Plant some seeds that start inside. Gardening can start in the warm and cosy indoors; lots of vegetable, flower and herb seeds can be started inside and then later transplanted over to the outdoors. Some of the seeds you can start off inside include peppers, tomatoes, celery and lettuce. Luckily most seed packets will make this information clear, and should state their planting time, days to maturity and light, water and soil needs.

4. Take a hot chocolate for a walk. There's nothing better than warming your hands on a nice hot drink as you stroll through your neighbourhood. If the children are feeling a little reluctant about going outside in the cold, then a lovely hot chocolate can be the perfect persuasion to get the whole family enjoying a wintery walk.

5. Make a bird feeder. Making a bird feeder is the perfect wintery activity, as you can enjoy the crafting from the comfort of the indoors whilst enjoying the benefit of seeing the birds outside when it's done. There are a variety of different bird feeders you can make including muffin bird feeders, suet bird feeders, bottle bird feeders and more.

6. Make walks a little more interesting with geocaching. If you're not familiar with geocaching, it's self-proclaimed to be the world's largest treasure hunt. Geocaches are small caches or containers which are marked as specific coordinates. Some caches contain a pencil and paper, so you can sign the log, or some caches contain small items which you can swap out for something you've brought along. To join in with geocaching, you just need to download the geocaching app, then follow the coordinates to find the caches in your area. Geocaching is not only great for making walks more interesting for the children, but also gives you the opportunity to explore areas you might not know about.