Best Indoor Winter Activities for Families

At Completing the Puzzle, we’re based in Texas, which means that winter is usually a mystery. It could be warm and sunny all winter, or we could have an ice storm in February.

To stay prepared for days indoors, we’ve got plenty of puzzles ready to go. We may be biased, but we think that working on a jigsaw puzzle is one of the best indoor winter activities for families. 

Wherever you live right now, you should prepare some fun indoor winter activities in case cold weather strikes and no one wants to leave the house. Keep reading for our best recommendations for activities that families can do together!

Why Working On a Jigsaw Puzzle is the Best Indoor Winter Activity For Families

Hey, we said we were biased, so you shouldn’t be surprised that puzzling takes the number one spot on our list of indoor winter activities. There are tons of reasons why putting together a family jigsaw puzzle is the best, including:

• It’s screen-free
• It engages the mind instead of numbing it 
• There’s plenty of time for great conversations
• The whole family feels a huge collective sense of accomplishment when the puzzle is completed
• It takes up hours of time while you’re stuck indoors
• Puzzles are great for all ages

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You can gamify your family jigsaw puzzle time by seeing how fast you can put the whole puzzle together. On the flip side, you can leave the puzzle out and let family members work on it at their own pace whenever they feel like it. When it comes to puzzling, there’s tons of flexibility to find what works for you and your family.

If you haven’t done a puzzle as a whole family in a while, we encourage you to try it! It’s easy to get into the pattern of turning on a movie every night. A family jigsaw puzzle is a great way to break away from the TV screen and have great conversations with the people that mean the most to you.

Other Great Screen-Free Family Indoor Winter Activities

If you’re in for a long winter inside, we encourage you to try these screen-free indoor activities with your family too:

1. Arts and Crafts: you can scale up your projects based on the age of your kids. For young kids, a simple coloring activity is enough to pass the time, while older kids may enjoy working with a harder medium clay.
2. Indoor exercise: don’t forget to stretch your legs! To make indoor exercise more fun, add some challenges. Turn your game room or basement into an indoor obstacle course that your kids will love.
3. Baking contest. Everyone loves baking competition shows, so why not host your own competition? You can even record it and pretend you’re on tv. Not only will your kids have a blast, but they’ll learn how to bake at the same time. 
4. Act out a story. Pick your kid’s favorite fairytale or novel, like Robin Hood. Assign parts and challenge them to turn the story into a skit. They can even get creative and craft homemade costumes. 
5. Conduct a science experiment. If school is canceled because of snow, you can still do something educational at home with a DIY science experiment. There are tons of experiments you can do with regular household items. For example, you can make slime with glue, borax, water, and food coloring. 

This season is a chance to try fun indoor winter activities and make the most of your time together while the temps are low. We encourage you to think outside of the box and enjoy all the extra family time that winter provides, even if you live somewhere warm like Texas!

Gift Your Family a Puzzle Subscription

If your family loves puzzling, keep them stocked up with a subscription from Completing the Puzzle. Every month, we’ll send you a surprise puzzle based on your preferences and wishlist. Once you complete it, you send it back to us, and we’ll send you the next one. 

If you’re a jigsaw puzzle-loving family, a Completing the Puzzle membership is the perfect way to keep indoor winter activities exciting. Use ENDLESS15 to take 15% off your first month when you sign up with a rental membership today.