The great poet William Blake once instructed us, “In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.” It may sound counter-intuitive, but when harvest season's over, the only thing left to do is wrap up warm and enjoy the fruits of your labour. And it’s a lesson we’re celebrating with this list of our favourite winter indoor activities.
Stay snug with these warming winter indoor activities
Yoga
When the wind howls and the snow drifts in, you can still stay active and warm with yoga. It’s especially satisfying in rooms with heated floors, but a spacious living room is equally functional.
Beginners can try a few poses using simple free apps like Yoga Studio. Experienced yogis might consider adapting their poses to suit the season. For example, build heat at the start of your practice with sun salutations and drink a warm tea afterwards to keep the circulation going.
Seasonal crafts
In more compact city apartments, you might prefer a tabletop activity – and nothing brings friends and family together like traditional crafts. Creating holiday decorations is a great shared activity that also adds ambience to the home. If you fancy something adventurous, try traditional décor with international flair, like French wreaths or Spanish poinsettias.
Indoor activities for kids, however, could focus on more in-vogue crafts. With a few packs of colourful modelling clay, children could create decorations for the tree, seasonal characters like snowmen and reindeer, or even a complete Nativity scene.
Baking
Winter is the party season, the perfect time to whip up culinary delights. Classic Christmas cake or stollen are great choices if you want to infuse your home with festive scents.
Planning indoor activities for kids? Keep it simple by baking Christmas cookies. A few shaped cookie cutters and plenty of icing will ensure the little ones have lots to do. By adding a hole before baking and slipping on some ribbon afterwards, you can even hang them on the Christmas tree as an extra bonus activity in the evening.
Board games
Board games are back in fashion. Teaching children timeless classics like draughts or chess is wonderful in an atmospheric period home. But for more lively and modern winter indoor activities, there’s still a vast number of games to choose from.
Collaborative games have grown in popularity, perhaps because they unite families over the festive season. For kids aged around ten or older, Forbidden Island is a great example. Players team up to seek treasures from an island before it sinks beneath the sea. Younger children might enjoy working together to get the owls safely home in Hoot Owl Hoot or unmasked a pie-stealing fox in Outfoxed.
Home cinema
Winter is the best time of year to invest in a home entertainment system. Not only can you settle down in your snug media room or luxurious lounge to watch a movie, you can also host a range of other winter indoor activities if you invest wisely. Introduce a full smart living concept and you’ll be able to match the mood lighting to the Christmas movie you’re watching, or even set Christmas songs running in the lounge for when the credits roll.
If you’re planning ahead for a get together, you may also want to explore new décor ideas to set the mood and enhance your winter indoor activities.