There is a growing body of evidence that suggests time spent outdoors in the wintertime can boost your well-being during a season when most Canadians really need it! Staying inside hiding from the cold means you aren’t taking advantage of the incredible mental health benefits of getting outside and experiencing all the glory of a Canadian winter. Walking, skiing, sledding, ice skating, fishing, snowshoeing – these are all great ways to enjoy winter and gain some natural Vitamin D.
According to researchers, spending just five minutes immersed in “snow space” can boost mental health. Ecological theory suggests that contact with nature offers important mental, emotional, and social benefits. Learning to enjoy outdoor activities in the winter adds another tool to your mental health toolbox. A new year is the perfect time to incorporate a new way of thinking about being outside in the winter.
Here’s 50 great ideas on how to enjoy winter. How many can you check off?
- Go ice skating.
- Download your free iNaturalist app at iNaturalist.ca and conduct winter citizen science.
- Go snow shoeing.
- Go cross-country skiing.
- Go downhill skiing.
- Go winter camping.
- Build a winter bonfire and make s’mores.
- Take a hike: with your family, with your dog! Just go for a walk.
- Attend an outdoor winter festival.
- Go tobogganing.
- Build a fort and have a snowball fight with your kids (or your spouse/partner).
- Buy a snow block maker and build stuff.
- Take a blanket and a cup of hot cocoa and sit outside on your front porch swing.
- Create a snow maze by shoveling paths in the snow.
- Feed the birds or go birdwatching. They’re easy to spot in the winter.
- Make your own birdfeeders out of pinecones, peanut butter, and birdseed.
- Go on a winter picnic. Take blankets, sandwiches and hot soup in a thermos.
- Go on a photo expedition to take pictures of winter landscapes.
- Make snow paint and paint your winter landscape outside.
- Make snow angels.
- Build a snowman, snowwoman, snow families, snow animals!
- Go looking for animal tracks in the forest.
- Create blocks of ice using a bucket and try your luck at ice sculpting.
- Take a polar bear dip – it makes for a great photo opp.
- Collect pine cones and make decorative wreaths.
- Watch a winter sunset.
- Sketch some trees.
- Catch snowflakes in your mouth.
- Winter winds blow cold but they can still lift a kite! Trying kite flying!
- Explore somewhere new outside.
- Count the stars in a winter night sky.
- Conduct science experiments with snow.
- Look at snowflakes with a magnifying glass.
- Play street hockey.
- Go cross-country skiing with a camera and take winter photos in the forest.
- Bundle up warm and sit outside listening to a snowfall.
- Download a sky-watching app and view the constellations at night.
- Enjoy an outdoor hot tub.
- Go ice-fishing.
- Go snowmobiling.
- Go winter geocaching.
- Make an ice rink in your back yard.
- Blow bubbles outside and watch them freeze.
- Spray water on your garden and create unique frozen ice art.
- Go to a maple bush in late winter.
- Attend a winter festival of lights..
- Play a game of snow soccer.
- Treat yourself to a horse-drawn carriage ride.
- Make a snow race track for remote-controlled cars.
- Play a game of snow bocce.
