Use this list of 7 winter classroom ideas and activities to make this time of year exciting for your students.

Winter Classroom Ideas

Use these 7 winter classroom ideas with your students to add a little fun to your teaching during these dreary months. Kids love these fun activities and will be so excited to try each one!

During these cold months, teachers need fresh winter classroom ideas to survive. Winter is beautiful and magical and peaceful… for everyone except an elementary school teacher! Let’s be honest, January and February are just plain dreary months to get through. The excitement of the holidays is over, the students are getting stir crazy, the teacher is tired (but really, that’s just all year!). But hey, you know what? You can totally transform the dreary winter into classroom magic and fun with these fun winter classroom ideas and activities! For more ideas on beating the teacher stress that really builds up this time of year, read this blog post about the key to stress-free reading intervention.

Here are a few of my favorite fun winter classroom ideas and activities to bring some magic back into the classroom:

Use this winter classroom idea to transform your classroom into a winter wonderland.

Winter Classroom Ideas: #1 Decorate the classroom into a winter wonderland!

Make your winter classroom magical and cozy, surprising students with this idea.

Hang white streamers from the the windows as “icicles”
Place white lights around the windows and shelves
Hang paper snowflakes from the ceiling
Lay white tool, fleece, or a fluffy white blanket on the floor by your reading area for “snow”

One of my favorite winter classroom activities is to cuddle up with a good book.

Winter Classroom Ideas: #2 Cozy Reading

This is my favorite winter classroom activity! Students will love harnessing the cozy side of winter while building a love of reading.

Who doesn’t love to cuddle up and get cozy with a good book? Make a cozy day of it and let students come in their PJ’s, bring a pillow, blanket, and stuffed animal, and have a read-a-thon throughout the day. Display a fireplace on your projector or Smartboard if you have one for added winter coziness!
Fill the day with various read alouds (picture books and chapter books) and give them plenty of time to read by themselves. Here’s a list of my favorite book recommendations for both read alouds and independent reading.
If some of your students struggle with independent reading, check out this Ultimate List of Reading Intervention Activities for ideas on activities to help them, or check out this list of 6 Tips for How to Help Struggling Readers in Reading Intervention.

Teach students the wonder of snow with this winter classroom activity.

Winter Classroom Ideas: #3 Catch and Make Snowflakes

Take your classroom outdoors with this winter idea and integrate history and science with these Snowflake Bentley activities!

I love teaching students the beauty of snowflakes, and making a discovery unit out of it! Read them the book “Snowflake Bentley” (Amazon affiliate link below) and use this fun Snowflake Bentley Comprehension Unit to go with it.
Take black construction paper outside while it is snowing and let them catch snowflakes to study them, just like Snowflake Bentley did.
Discuss how all snowflakes are unique and beautiful, and have them make their own paper snowflakes (guides for how to make them are included in the above Snowflake Bentley Unit, as well as a class snowflake book).

Here are some great winter classroom ideas for animal research units.

Winter Classroom Ideas: #4 Research Arctic Animals

Reading, science, and winter fun come together with this classroom idea! Bring winter into your research and reading units.

Harness kids’ natural fascination with animals by letting them research Arctic animals they are interested in.
If you need research projects and informational text that are early elementary level and differentiated for all the different levels of readers you have, try this Arctic Animal Research Unit that will make authentic research possible for young readers!

Use this winter classroom idea to amp up engagement.

Winter Classroom Ideas: #5 Use Snowballs in Learning

This fresh and interactive classroom idea is perfect for winter! Get students up and moving with this activity.

What little kid doesn’t love throwing snowballs? And what teacher doesn’t cringe at the idea of things being thrown in the classroom? Cringe no more! Use crumpled up paper as snowballs for a fun, hands on activity to spice up any lesson.
Have students write a sight word, spelling word, sentence, math problem, or any type of question on a piece of paper, and then crumple up the paper.
Have students stand on a rug (clear physical boundaries are important so students don’t go running all over the room).
Give students 10 seconds to GENTLY toss their “snowballs”, pick another one up and toss it, and repeat.
Give them a signal to stop throwing and pick up the snowball nearest to them.
Students open their snowball and read their paper and/or answer the question. You may have them return to their desk or whiteboard to complete any math problems.
Then let them crumple it up, and start the snowball toss again so they get a new paper.

This is a simple winter classroom idea to add a little extra excitement to routines.

Winter Classroom Ideas: #6 “Build the Snowman” Behavior Reward System

Make a winter version of your favorite classroom management idea to change things up.

I always use a simple reward system similar to hangman, but instead of drawing people hanging (😳), I use pictures that relate to the season. So for winter, when students behave well, they earn a part to the picture (first the bottom snowball, then the body, head, face, hat, etc.). When they build a complete snowman, they earn a winter reward.
Ideas for rewards: bring in hot cocoa, if it has snowed go outside and make a snowman together, let them “play in the snow” by cleaning their desks with shaving cream.
Here’s another super fun management hack for keeping student desks clean you can use all year round!

Get fancy and turn your classroom into an igloo with this fun winter idea.

Winter Classroom Ideas: #7 Have an Arctic “Ice” Classroom Transformation

For the ultimate winter classroom idea, use these activities to engage your students in a winter ice theme day!

Go above and beyond, and transform your classroom into an icy igloo for a day.
Hang pieces of white paper on on your wall in an “ice brick” igloo pattern
Let students wear hats and scarves to school
Go ice fishing by using a toy fishing set like this one (Amazon affiliate link) and taping phonics patterns or sight words to the fish for students to read.

- Play Don’t Break the Ice (anyone else grow up on that game? 🙋), but write or tape sight words or phonics patterns on the ice cubes for students to read as they hammer. Amazon affiliate link for the game here!

STEM experiments for the quickest way to melt ice cubes
STEM experiments for igloo building igloos with Jumbo marshmallows and toothpicks

Above all, don’t give up the hope in these cold, dreary winter months. You can still have excitement and fun in your classroom with these fun classroom winter ideas and activities!

PS: Don’t forget to download my FREE Reading Intervention Cheat Sheet for TONS of reading tips and activities to help your struggling readers!

Use this reading intervention list of activities and tips to help your struggling readers.

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