The holidays are often a very fun but busy time of year for families. There are parties, shopping to finish, and decorations to put up. And when it snows, there are snowmen to build, snowball fights to have, and sledding competitions to win! But what do we do during those cold winter days when there is no snow to play in? Let’s bring the winter games inside! Here are some ideas of how to stay active as a family with winter games when it’s too cold outside!

1. Indoor hockey

Items needed:

• Use a broom, pool noodle, fly swatter, etc. as your hockey stick
• Use a small ball or rolled up socks as your hockey puck
• Create a goal with water bottles, cans, or even pillows

Using your hockey stick, pass your ball back and forth and shoot it in the goal! You can play against others by using two goals or play by yourself by setting up obstacles with pillows or boxes. Indoor hockey gets people moving and also helps improve leg strength and hand-eye coordination.

Indoor Field Hockey

1. Holiday obstacle course 

Items needed:

• Presents or gifts; christmas lights; wrapping paper rolls; pillows,etc

Create an obstacle course with your left over holiday decorations! You can step over gift boxes. You can hop or crawl under a string of christmas lights. You can create a hopscotch board out of wrapping paper rolls or jump over them. You can also stand on pillows to practice your balance skills. Make it a competition to see who can create the craziest obstacle course or even who can complete it faster.

1. Snowball toss into a snowman

Items needed:

• Boxes with a hole in it or buckets to catch a ball. If you want to make a snowman out of boxes don’t forget to wrap the box in white paper and add the eyes and buttons with construction paper
• “Snowballs” made out of cotton balls, small balls, rolled up socks, or even a roll of toilet paper

Throw your snowballs at your box snowman or targets to practice throwing! You can throw overhand or underhand. Don’t forget that step with the opposite foot as you throw. You can even have a snowball fight with your family with your snowballs! 

Snowball toss into snowman

1. Penguin balance walk

Items needed:

• Tape to mark out a line, balance beam, or pillows in a line

Pretend you’re a penguin that lives in the south pole by waddling on your line. Don’t step off your line otherwise you might fall into the icy cold water!

Penguin Balance Walk

1. Snowflake scavenger hunt

Items needed:

• Paper and scissors to make paper snowflakes (pictures or stickers work just as well. Or any other holiday item you want to hide)

Hide your snowflakes around your house! They can be on the wall, under the table, on top of the bookcase, or any place you think is challenging for your family to find. If you want to work on leg strength, hide the snowflakes lower on the ground so people have to squat to pick up the snowflakes. If you want to work on jumping, provide obstacles to jump over or place the snowflake high on the wall so people have to jump to get it. 

Take a picture of your family having fun playing some of these indoor winter games! Don’t forget to tag Hogg Therapy!

Happy Holidays from the Hogg Therapy team!

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