10 Ideas for Outdoors Adventures in Winter

By Guest Author

Guest author: Melanie Gath

For many families, the winter months mean getting cozy at home, hanging holiday lights, pulling out a snuggly blanket, baking cookies, and pressing their noses to the window, gazing out. That is a romantic, beautiful image. It’s cold outside – or even “too cold,” one often hears. But too cold for what? Who says that we can’t spend just as much time outside in the fresh air in winter? Sure, we need the right clothes to be outside, and getting enough movement is also very important. But if you do that, then there are so fantastically many possibilities to enjoy nature in winter, too. A lot of time in nature – especially in winter – strengthens us in the battle against catching colds, helps us feel centered, and creates memories of adventures that stay with us forever.

I’ve collected a total of 10 ideas for you here – 5 for snow days and another 5 for cold days without.

1. Snowshoeing with kids

“Our family loves winter, and we’ve discovered that snowshoeing is one of the best ways for us to get out and explore nature and make memories together,” writes Whitney Buchli from @noplacelikenature in a blog post she wrote for all the friends of namuk. Together as a family, they’ve tested snowshoeing and say they consider it one of the simplest and least expensive winter activities. “All you need are snowshoes and warm clothing – then you can just go, anywhere there’s snow,” she writes. They especially appreciate that it’s possible to discover new, pristine and unspoiled places. You can read the whole article here.

Girl runs through the snow with snowshoes

2. Sledding with the whole family

I grew up in one of the flattest parts of Germany. Whenever a little snow would fall, we kids would race to the railway embankment at the end of our street because it was the only place anywhere nearby where we could go sledding. But no matter how short the ride was, we had so much fun. Besides that or the hills that we can all find somewhere around our homes, in Switzerland, at least, there are official sledding runs – sometimes even with a lift to carry us and our sleds back up the hill or mountain. We’ve linked to a few good articles with the best sledding trails in Switzerland, Austria, Germany and US:

Sledding in Switzerland - Switzerland Tourism
The most beautiful sledging runs in Switzerland - SwitzerlandMobility
Tobogganing in Austria - Austria.info
The most spectacular toboggan runs in the Bavarian Alps - Discover Germany
America’s Greatest Sledding - Outside

Many children sit on a sled

3. Hit the slopes

It would be impossible to write this list without mentioning skiing and snowboarding, of course. When I see little snow owls dashing over the slopes, my heart always leaps. How bravely they take on even the steepest slopes and make everything look so easy. As a person who didn’t learn to ski until I was 21, I really envy that ease. There are some skiing regions in Switzerland that are especially well suited for families. There are some skiing regions in Switzerland, Austria, Germany and the US, which we’re happy to link to here for you:

4. Art in the snow

No sooner has a thin layer of snow covered the ground than we want to build our first snowman. But have you ever attempted to make another kind of artwork from snow? My daughter and I tried our hands at a snow dog and a snow owl last year. My little adventure-girl also made a face on a simple snowball with little sticks and gave it a name (if I remember correctly, she named it Norbert). He had the honor of living on the sled behind our house for several weeks. Why do snowmen always stand all alone in the meadow, woods, or park? Let’s get creative and make new artwork out of snow. Needless to say, we would love to see pictures of your little snow owls and their friends.

Children lay an “N” in the snow with sticks

And then there are the two-dimensional artworks we can draw in the snow. We love leaving hearts all over our village. To make them, we put our heels together, spread the front of our feet out to the side, and hop through the snow. Spread the love!

5. Build a snow fort

This is something else that Whitney, Rafael, and their girls have tried out. They built a snow fort together. In the picture, you can see what the little architects came up with. It’s also a great spot to hide behind whenever the next snowball fight starts. You can read about what a special adventure this was for the whole family here.

Two children build a wall of snow in the snowy mountains

5 ideas for cold days without snow

6. Go exploring: winter hike edition

The expression “winter landscape” inspires dreams of white, snow-covered trees and rooftops, and fresh footprints in powder snow. But have you ever taken your little explorers on the search for other tracks and signs of winter? Icicles, frozen puddles, frost on plants, ice crystals on trees, and even a car’s frozen windshield seen close up can look fascinating. It might sound corny, but out in nature, this sentence is simply true: Beauty is in the details. In every season, there are different details worth discovering.

7. Sleeping under the stars

Sleeping in a tent – in these temperatures? It might sound strange to many, but with the right gear, it is guaranteed to be an experience that the entire family will never forget. Sarah is co-founder of The Female Explorer and set out to sleep outside at least one night per month in 2024. The eighth night became a special Family Edition with her friends Steffka and Leo and their children. They went to the Ore Mountains along the Czech-German border. It was a night in late autumn with cool, damp air – especially in the evening, night, and morning hours. The kids were outfitted from head to toe in namuk clothing. In summary, they write, “The little wild things played along the rushing river, cavorted through wild paths in the woods, sprawled out in the damp meadow, enjoyed the best snacks by the campfire, and marvelled at the moon in the evening. Not for one moment did they ever feel cold.” No one got wet, and the clothes survived all their wild ideas. That makes us very happy. You can read all the details in this blog post. I think it’s a wonderful example of this attitude: Where there’s a will to go on adventures, there’s a way!

Child sits in the entrance of a tent and puts on hiking boots

And when it comes to sleeping under the stars, there is an extraordinary option in Lenzerheide, a village in the Swiss Alps. As they write: “Like camping – only with more bling.” They’ve created a so-called pop-up glamping site. It’s a set of transparent bubble suites right in the middle of nature. You feel the freedom and proximity to nature. It’s that incomparable feeling that you know from camping – except that in this case, you’re lying in a cozy bed. You can learn more here.

8. Ice skating

On the one hand, there are indoor rinks, which let little ice owls visit between training times for teams. But of course, it’s much prettier when lakes freeze over so they can be skated on (when the local town confirms it’s safe for skating). It’s just very important that we teach our little adventure kids to never step onto ice that we only think is stable enough. It’s absolutely essential that it is first examined and tested by officials! We’ve collected an overview for your ice owls on blades:

Ice rinks in Switzerland - Switzerland Tourism
Ice skating in Austria - Austria.info
16 best places to go ice skating in Germany - iamexped.de
The best ice skating rinks in the USA - Timeout

A mother and her toddler on the ice rink

9. Build winter caves for wild animals

While we humans can dress ourselves in warm clothes when it’s cold outside, our animal neighbors in nature need to find shelter for the cold season. We can help them with this. The Schweizer Tierschutz – an organization for the protection of animals – has put together a few important tips:

Many wild animals find shelter and spots to hibernate in piles of leaves and branches. “Pots filled with sticks are also very popular with many spiders and insects,” they write on their website.
Insects, spiders, and sometimes even bats happily use piles of firewood as a safe haven. Roots and hollow tree trunks can also help.
Little walls of dry stones and piles of rocks are beloved hiding spots for many small animals, such as lizards.
You can set up a shallow bowl as a little watering trough. For insects, it helps if there’s also a flat stone in the middle so they can reach the water more easily and also can use it for getting out. Another special tip from the animal protection organization: The water should be placed so that you can keep an eye on potential dangers (such as cats) and quickly react if necessary.
Hang up bird nest boxes: These are wonderful DIY projects to build and decorate yourself. There are many tutorials and instructions online. Here’s one for a bluebird nest box.

10. Track stories

This is an outdoor experience that’s a lot of fun all year round. My daughter and I love to look for and discover tracks that our various forest residents leave behind there. Sometimes we can clearly see tufts of hair hanging somewhere on a branch. What’s left behind lets us surmise who was out and about in the woods, and exactly where. With a bit of luck, we also discover actual paw prints on the wet and sometimes muddy ground. But we don’t only collect these discoveries – we also imagine stories about them in our minds and then put them down on paper at home.

So, what do you think? Is there really a good reason to go out less in nature in winter? I don’t think so – on the contrary! Let’s go outside with our little adventurers and discover all of winter’s many wonders, great and small.