Too Cold to Play Outside? Indoor Fun
When an arctic cold snap settles over our city and the wind chill bites, it’s time for plan B. Here are 24 indoor ideas (crafts, kitchen-safe science, games, reading and fort-building), plus free and low-cost indoor places in Lethbridge for the coldest days.
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When is it too cold?
Most winter days in Lethbridge are great for playing outside, especially when a chinook warms things up. But every winter brings a few days of bitter arctic air, and on those days it’s smart to keep outdoor time short.
Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) issues extreme cold warnings when it expects significant cold temperatures or wind chills. Wind chill is how cold the wind makes it feel on your skin, and ECCC’s wind chill chart shows how fast skin can freeze:
| Wind chill | What ECCC says about exposed skin |
|---|---|
| −10 to −27 | Risk of frostbite and hypothermia if you’re outside for a long time without proper protection |
| −28 to −39 | Can freeze in 10 to 30 minutes |
| −40 to −47 | Can freeze in 5 to 10 minutes |
| −48 to −54 | Can freeze in 2 to 5 minutes |
| −55 or colder | Can freeze in less than 2 minutes |
Watch for frostbite. ECCC says to check your face and fingers and toes for numbness or whiteness. The Canadian Paediatric Society says skin that turns white, shiny and numb may be frostbitten: go inside, warm it slowly with warm (not hot) water, and don’t rub it. When you do go out, dress in layers, cover your skin and come in to change out of wet clothes and boots as soon as you can, as Health Canada advises. Our what to wear page shows how to dress for every kind of cold.
Check the wind chill on our forecast before you head out. The Canadian Paediatric Society says to cut back children’s time outside at −15°C or colder, and to think about staying in when the temperature or the wind chill is −27°C or colder. A strong wind makes the same temperature feel much colder.
Crafts
1. A cloud mobile
NASA’s Space Place shows how to cut out four kinds of clouds (cumulonimbus, cirrus, cumulus and nimbostratus) from white cardboard and hang them at the right heights. A grown-up should handle the skewers and scissors.
2. A thaumatrope
Ingenium, which runs Canada’s national science and technology museums, has a card toy that has been tricking our eyes since the 1800s. Draw a bird on one side and a feeder on the other, spin it on a string and watch them join up.
3. A flipbook
Another Ingenium favourite. Draw a snowflake falling, a little at a time, on the corners of a notepad, then flip it fast to make a cartoon.
4. Six-sided paper snowflakes
Real snow crystals have six sides, as our weather science page explains. Fold your paper so your snowflake has six sides too. Kid-safe scissors, please.
5. Cards that cheer someone up
Make cards for seniors or a neighbour. Our Kids Helping Out page explains how to do it kindly and safely.
6. A weather journal
Decorate a notebook and draw the sky out the window every day this week. Is the cold snap ending? Our chinook watch shows what to look for.
Kitchen-safe science
All of these use things you probably have at home. Ask a grown-up before you use the kitchen, and clean up together afterward.
7. Moon phases with cookies
The US National Park Service and NASA’s Space Place both use this one. Twist open eight sandwich cookies, scrape the cream with a craft stick into Moon shapes (full, half, crescent, gibbous and new), and arrange them in a circle in the right order. Then eat your homework!
8. The broken pencil
Put a pencil in a clear glass of water and look from the side. Ingenium explains that water bends light, so the pencil looks broken. That bending is called refraction.
9. A homemade kazoo
Ingenium says instruments make sound through vibrations, which send waves through the air. Build a kazoo, hum into it and feel it buzz.
10. Block the sound
Another Ingenium experiment: what happens when you make it harder for sound waves to reach your ears? Try a timer under a towel, a pillow and a winter hat. Which muffles it most?
11. How much water is in snow?
Fill a clear cup with fresh snow, mark the top with tape, and let it melt on the counter. How much water is left? Try it again with packed snow. Our weather science page shows how to build a real snow ruler.
12. Frost detective
On a frosty morning, look at the window frost with a magnifying glass. Draw the patterns you see. Are they the same on every window?
Games
13. Weather charades
Act out a blizzard, a hailstorm, a chinook or a sunny spray park day. No talking!
14. Indoor scavenger hunt
Find something that tells the temperature, something that keeps you warm, something with six sides and something that floats. Save our outdoor seasonal hunts for the next warm day.
15. Secret Morse messages
Tap out messages to each other in Morse code. Learn the letters with our Radio Adventures page.
16. The knot race
Who can tie a square knot, a bowline and a clove hitch the fastest? Practise first on our knots page.
17. Weather Detective
Answer questions about today’s weather using real readings from our station on Weather Detective. Check again after lunch: has anything changed?
18. Hot and cold
One person hides a small toy. Everyone else searches while the hider calls out “warmer”, “colder”, “chinook!” (very warm) or “arctic blast!” (very cold).
Reading
20. Flashlight reading
Pick a book from our award-winning Books for Curious Kids list and read it by flashlight in your fort.
21. Write your own book
Fold paper in half and staple it. Title: “The Day the Chinook Came.” Who’s in it? What happened to the snowman?
Building forts
22. The classic blanket fort
Chairs, a couch, blankets and clothespins. Add pillows and a flashlight, never a candle.
23. A cardboard spaceship
A big box, some markers and a bit of imagination. Read The Darkest Dark by Chris Hadfield inside it.
24. A living-room camp-out
Set up the tent indoors and practise your camp skills for summer. Our camping with kids page has a packing list to check.
Fort safety: build forts well away from space heaters, fireplaces and lamps, and don’t take a lamp inside. Lethbridge Fire and Emergency Services warns that heating equipment can cause fires when it’s used incorrectly. It says to keep portable heaters at least one metre from anything that can burn, and our space heaters, safely section has more. Don’t stack anything heavy on top, and keep forts low for little ones.
Indoor places to go in our city
Sometimes the best cure for cabin fever is getting out of the house, just not outdoors. These public places are warm, welcoming and great for kids.
Lethbridge Public Library
Free. Two branches, Main and Crossings, plus a Bookmobile. Besides books, you can borrow from the Toy Library and the Library of Things, and the library runs events for children and families. A card is free if you live in Lethbridge: see how to get one. Hours and events.
Helen Schuler Nature Centre
By donation. Open year-round in the river valley. Its permanent River Valley Exhibit follows the Oldman River from its source into our valley. Over past winter holidays it has offered drop-in building and play stations. Check hours, which are shorter in winter.
Galt Museum & Archives
Admission applies (children 6 and under free). Open year-round in the old Galt Hospital, with family programs such as a monthly Toddler Time. Check hours and admission.
Indoor public skating
Admission applies. The City runs public skating in its indoor arenas, so you can skate even in a cold snap. Public skating times.
The library, Nature Centre and Galt are all stops in our Junior Explorer Passport. For more programs, see kids’ programs, what’s on and our upcoming kids’ events page.
Printable boredom-buster list
Print it, stick it on the fridge and tick off each one this winter.
- ☐ Cloud mobile ☐ Thaumatrope ☐ Flipbook
- ☐ Six-sided snowflakes ☐ A card for someone ☐ Weather journal
- ☐ Cookie Moon phases ☐ Broken pencil ☐ Kazoo
- ☐ Block the sound ☐ Water in snow ☐ Frost detective
- ☐ Weather charades ☐ Indoor scavenger hunt ☐ Morse messages
- ☐ Knot race ☐ Weather Detective ☐ Hot and cold
- ☐ Library trip ☐ Flashlight reading ☐ Write my own book
- ☐ Blanket fort ☐ Cardboard spaceship ☐ Living-room camp-out
- My favourite: ______________________
Sources
- Government of Canada (ECCC), Extreme cold and cold warnings (issued “when significant cold temperatures or wind chills are expected to occur”; modified 2025-12-16): canada.ca
- Government of Canada (ECCC), Wind chill and the Wind Chill Index (risk levels and freezing times; check your face and extremities for numbness or whiteness): canada.ca
- Canadian Paediatric Society, Caring for Kids, Frostbite (updated February 2023: less time outside at −15°C or colder; consider staying indoors at a temperature or wind chill of −27°C or lower; signs; warm, not hot, water; don’t rub): caringforkids.cps.ca
- Health Canada, Safety tips for winter activities (2025: dress warmly in layers; change out of wet clothes and boots): canada.ca (PDF)
- NASA Space Place, Make a cloud mobile (materials, four cloud types): spaceplace.nasa.gov
- NASA Space Place, Do activities list (cookie Moon phases): spaceplace.nasa.gov
- US National Park Service, Moon phases with cookies (eight cookies; scrape the filling into phases; arrange in a circle): nps.gov
- Ingenium (Canada’s museums of science and innovation), Ten science activities you can do at home (thaumatrope; flipbook; kazoo; broken pencil illusion and refraction; insulating sound): ingeniumcanada.org
- Lethbridge Public Library, About us (Main and Crossings; Bookmobile; Toy Library; Library of Things; events for children and families): lethlib.ca
- Helen Schuler Nature Centre, home page (entry by donation) and Outdoor experience (open year round): nature.lethbridge.ca
- Helen Schuler Nature Centre, River Valley Exhibit (permanent; follows the Oldman River from its source into the Lethbridge valley): nature.lethbridge.ca
- Helen Schuler Nature Centre, Celebrate nature play this holiday season (December 19, 2025: drop-in building and exploration stations; winter exhibition hours): nature.lethbridge.ca
- Galt Museum & Archives, Visit (paid admission; 6 and under free; the Galt Hospital opened in 1910; Toddler Time): galtmuseum.com
- City of Lethbridge, Public skating by date: leisure.lethbridge.ca
- City of Lethbridge, Safety education and fire prevention (heating equipment can cause fires when used incorrectly; portable heaters at least one metre from anything that can burn): lethbridge.ca