What comes to mind when you think about winter lessons in middle school? You might automatically start thinking about the various winter holidays celebrated – Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, New Year’s, etc.
But what if you had to create winter classroom activities without holiday themes?
It’s easier than you think!
This blog post will provide you with winter classroom activities and lessons you can teach in the winter months that are inclusive, engaging, interdisciplinary and do not rely on holiday themes.
Engaging Winter Classroom Activities – Without Holiday Themes
These winter classroom activities without holiday themes are perfect for middle school students, classrooms that strive to be inclusive, and teachers looking for lessons and activities that provide a variety of content.
Water Systems, Biodiversity, and Geography
If your class is learning about states of matter or water systems, take the classroom outside and conduct experiments on the states of matter, such as freezing water.
Winter classroom activities can also include STEM or STEAM activities. Engage students in hands-on STEM activities, such as designing and building snowflake structures using toothpicks or creating a winter-themed coding project. Follow it up with a snow-themed digital escape room.
Create a scavenger hunt so students can explore biodiversity, plants, and animals in the winter. They can identify types of trees and animal tracks and discuss hibernation and migration. This can also tie into a discussion about Canadian geography:
- What kind of challenges does winter present to physical environments?
- What happens to natural vegetation in the winter months?
- Do the properties of air change in the winter months?
- Does winter have any effect on invasive species?
- How has winter changed around the world because of climate change?
Students can also explore different regions around the world and their unique winter climates during winter classroom activities. How do other countries experience winter? What are the differences in weather patterns? What impacts does winter have on the environment and people’s lives?
Combine science and math and have students create a climate graph comparing two different winter climates.
Have you tried this free Solar Oven Project with students? If not, your winter classroom activities might be a good time to introduce it and discuss why it may not work in the winter. This could lead to a discussion about the hemispheres, and while the project would not work in winter in Canada, during the same months across the world, it would work because it is summer.
For a fun challenge, students can explore the science of hot chocolate with this Winter Digital Escape Room. Create an afternoon where students come up with their own hot chocolate recipes and research how hot chocolate works.
Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
No winter classroom activities would be complete without some critical thinking and problem-solving.
Host a debate on winter-related topics such as the environmental impact of snow removal or the benefit of daylight saving time. Use this Daylight Saving Time Non-Fiction Article to explore the topic and reinforce learning.
Combine science and art in your winter classroom activities by having students design a cost-effective way to insulate a home or school. Can they create different levels of insulation based on different winter climates? Explore various heat technologies with students.
Depending on the grade you’re teaching, you might want to start exploring career choices with your students. Are there any types of work that rely on the winter months to stay in business? Or are there any jobs that may be challenging in the winter months? This Career Exploration and Research Project might help your students explore different areas of work and how they are affected by a winter climate.
Writing, Literature Study, and Podcast Creation
Encourage students to write stories, poems, or descriptive paragraphs inspired by winter. Prompts could include describing their favourite winter activity, writing a winter adventure story, or imagining a day in the life of a snowflake. Use the RAFT format in this Winter Creative Writing Assignment to help them find a topic.
Have students continue their poetry learning by writing poems about winter. They could combine this with mathematical concepts like symmetry, patterns, or shapes.
If your students love podcasts, why not have them create their own? Your winter classroom activities can involve students creating and presenting a weather report, analyzing real-time data, and predicting future weather patterns. Use this Podcast Creation Assignment to help students learn how to create their own podcasts.
Students could also explore books with winter themes and create a book unboxing video about them. This Book Unboxing Assignment will allow students to combine their love of social media and YouTube culture, all while promoting literature in the classroom!
You could even start a winter book club focused on novels or non-fiction books set in winter, followed by group discussions and projects. To start, you can use this lesson to introduce a classic Canadian short story, The Hockey Sweater, and then discuss some winter books with your students.
Picture books are great to use to teach literary devices, elements and reading strategies.
Here are some winter book suggestions to add to your winter classroom activities:
Picture Books
- Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messner – Explores the world under the snow, showing animals in their winter habitats.
- When the Moon Comes by Paul Harbridge – A story about a group of friends who wait for the perfect moment to skate on a frozen beaver pond.
- Snow by Uri Shulevitz – A lyrical book about a city’s transformation as it is blanketed in snow.
- The Mitten by Jan Brett – A story about a lost mitten that becomes a cozy refuge for woodland animals.
- Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin – The true story of Wilson Bentley, a farmer who pioneered the study and photography of snowflakes.
Middle Grade Books
- The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis – The classic story that takes place in a magical, wintery world.
- Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu – Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen, this modern-day fairy tale is set in a snowy world.
- The Winter Room by Gary Paulsen – A story about a family’s life on a northern Minnesota farm with a focus on winter and storytelling.
Young Adult Books
- Let It Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle – A collection of short, interconnected stories taking place during a snowstorm.
- Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones – A romantic fantasy story that takes place in a wintery realm, blending music and myth.
- Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater – A paranormal romance set in a wintery landscape about the relationship between a girl and a werewolf.
Students can use the Novel Study Choice Board to dive deeper into their chosen stories or this Book Talk Assignment.
Explore the Connection Between Winter and Indigenous Peoples
Exploring the connection between Indigenous Peoples and winter can be a rich educational experience for middle school students, especially when setting up your winter classroom activities. This can be done through researching Indigenous cultural practices, traditions, and winter activities.
Invite an Indigenous elder or storyteller to share traditional information about the significance of winter and lessons passed down through generations.
Students could also learn about the history and significance of snowshoeing in Indigenous cultures. You could also follow up on this with a snowshoeing trip or demonstration. See if your school board or district has a class set of snowshoes that can be loaned out to schools.
If you teach Canadian history, it is important to let students know that the settlers relied on the knowledge of the Indigenous Peoples to help them through their first winter.
Students could complete research projects on various Indigenous groups and their winter traditions and present their findings through oral presentations.
Winter Art Projects, Guest Speakers, Mysteries, and Winter Sports
Have students create art inspired by winter scenes, such as drawing, painting, or sculpting using different media. They can explore light, shadow, and textures. Pinterest is a great place to look for art ideas. Students could also create a visual story or comic strip about winter activities or winter-related content.
You could also invite local experts to speak to your class about winter topics. This could include bringing in a meteorologist to talk about how they predict the weather in the winter months or the different types of winter weather, or you could bring in wildlife experts to show different types of prints students may see in the snow in the winter.
Your students might be interested in learning about the Yeti during their winter classroom activities. In this Yeti Non-Fiction Article, students will learn about this mysterious creature that lives in the Himalayan mountains. This resource contains one non-fiction article and three post-reading activities to assist with reading comprehension and cross-curricular learning.
Lastly, during your winter classroom activities, you could learn more about winter sports with your students, especially if it’s an Olympic year. If not, you could explore the variety of winter sports and the athletes who compete in those sports. Follow up this learning with the Winter Sports Digital Escape Room.
Winter activities in middle school don’t have to be elaborate or complicated. It’s important to create an inclusive and engaging learning environment during the winter months so that everyone in your classroom can enjoy the lessons and activities.
Find Variety in these Winter Classroom Activities
This Middle School Winter Activities resource contains 12 different winter-themed literacy activities perfect for the winter months.
Lesson Overview:
- Canadian Winter Celebrations Article
- Winter Social Media Post
- Winter Opinion Questions
- Fishbowl Class Discussion & Opinion Writing Assignment
- Sustainable Winter Fashion Trends Article & Podcast Episode
- Winter Creative Writing Assignment
- Winter Word Detective, Word Search & Crossword Puzzle
- Winter Word Call Game
Here’s what one teacher has said about these winter classroom activities:
“Incredible literacy resource that matches with the most updated language curriculum in Ontario for junior grades. Very grateful for this purchase from this TPT seller that took the time to create.” – Catherine C.
Celebrate the joys of winter with your classroom through a variety of winter classroom activities, not just ones focused on the holidays. Not only will your students be engaged throughout the various winter classroom activities listed above, but they’ll also be able to explore different subject areas and topics outside of the usual holiday-themed realm.
More winter classroom activities:
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