Join the Challenge: Sign up for the Outdoor Learning Winter Challenge here!
Participate and Go Outside: This is the most important step! You and your learners spend as much time outside as much as possible between Feb 2nd-13th, whether it’s once, or every day. If you’re looking for ideas, start at the resource section below. We have a fun tracker coming soon! Don't forget to share your outdoor learning moments with us by using our photo submission form where you can upload stories and photos of your time outside throughout the challenge.
Inspire: Share with others on social media with the hashtag #TMOWinterChallenge! We’ll be giving away prizes every single day of the Challenge! Follow us for more on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. And if you don’t use social media, you can email your adventures to info@takemeoutside.ca.
Prizes & Discounts: There is a special discount for all Winter Challenge Participants to both the Outdoor Learning School & Store and Take Me Outside Store (check your confirmation email for details and codes). We will also have amazing prizes to give away each day of the challenge.
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Join us for an engaging 45 min virtual field trip with Polar Bears International! We'll learn about what Polar Bear activity looks like during the winter months, along with what other arctic animals are up to, from international leaders in polar bear conservation.
This virtual field trip will make curriculum connections to habitats, biodiversity, animal adaptations, and more! Resources will be shared before and after the session.
Link to join will be shared with participants in the Winter Challenge Welcome Email! Sign up to gain access to this free Virtual Field Trip.
Joignez-vous à nous pour une sortie éducative virtuelle captivante de 45 minutes avec Polar Bears International ! Nous découvrirons à quoi ressemble l’activité des ours polaires pendant les mois d’hiver, ainsi que ce que font les autres animaux de l’Arctique, grâce à des leaders internationaux en conservation de l’ours polaire.
Cette sortie éducative virtuelle établira des liens avec le programme scolaire, notamment en ce qui concerne les habitats, la biodiversité, les adaptations des animaux et bien plus encore ! Des ressources seront partagées avant et après la séance.
Le lien pour participer sera envoyé aux personnes inscrites dans le courriel de bienvenue du Défi hivernal. Inscrivez-vous pour avoir accès à cette sortie éducative virtuelle gratuite.
Join experienced Indigenous Educators and Curriculum Designers Launa, Sherrelle and Jenna who will share about favourite resources and offer hands-on activities for supporting youth in learning from the Land. Non-Indigenous educator Jade will reflect on how incorporating these teachings and resources have helped her grow and decolonize her teaching practice and how you can do this in an appropriate way too!
What to Wear for Winter (video)
Lynx shares a brief description of what kind of clothing and layering should be considered for taking students outside.
What’s in Your Backpack? (video)
In this short outdoor learning video, Lynx shows teachers what she packs in her backpack when taking students outside during the winter.
Canadian Wildlife Federation: Below Zero
Winter is a vital part of our Canadian heritage, our traditions, and in some respects, our livelihood. While we may not always appreciate mounds of snow and freezing temperatures consistent with a Canadian winter, the fact is winter plays an important role in helping maintain ecological balance in the ecosystems on which both humans and wildlife depend.
Game of Groans: Winter is Coming! (webinar recording)
Dave Quinn is a BC-certified teacher, certified wilderness guide, and wildlife biologist who has led expeditions across the globe. He believes outdoor learning year-round offers a host of social, mental, and academic outcomes for students of all ages, and is happy to provide ideas, tips, and tools to help others find success throughout the year.
Get Outside: Learning Outdoors in Winter (webinar recording)
Pamela Gibson from Learning for a Sustainable Future shows the plethora of interesting, motivating curriculum connections winter offers – and it’s easier than you think! Her passion is making curriculum come alive through experiential learning, and helping students feel a sense of belonging and love for the earth, connected to nature and community.
K- Grade 3:
Use Georgian Bay Biosphere’s - Animal Tracks Lesson Plan paired with some of our favourite winter stories for a lesson that inspires inquiry, exploration, and studying winter animal behaviours!
Over and Under the Snow teaches about animal adaptations/shelters for younger learners!
The Snow Knows introduces readers of all ages to animals both domestic (a tabby cat by the wood stove) and wild (a slinking lynx; a choir of coyotes), celebrating wilderness and outdoor play.
Tracks in the Snow is the perfect book to pair with exploring the animals and tracks in your outdoor space!
Learn more about Hibernating Animals with this lesson plan
Telus World of Science - Animals in the Winter resource will support students learning how the animals in their neighborhood survive the cold winter!
LSF: Winter is Coming! - This resource teaches students about the seasonal adaptations of local wildlife through a diverse set of activities that incorporate games, displays, and habitat investigations.
Resources and activities for exploring how humans and animals are "Getting Ready for Winter”
Explore Winter Animal Denning with this fun lesson plan and project
Here are some suggested books to go along with this resource!
Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messner Teacher Activity Guide
Grade 4-8:
Project Feeder Watch is a fun program that encourages classroom observation and data collection. With many free and accessible lessons to integrate and spark curiosity about the birds outside your classroom window.
Science/Social Studies/Climate Change Education: In Arctic Survivor (See below for the French Version!), students role-play polar bears and the habitat components of food, water, shelter, and space to understand how polar bear populations are affected by changes in their habitat. In the second part of the game, some possible impacts of climate change on the Arctic habitat of polar bears are explored.
English: Winter Writing Prompts provides an opportunity to head outside with your learners to inspire creative writing! Share prompts with students and head outside on a walk, encouraging students to tune into their senses.
Test and compare different types of natural sources for insulation with this lesson plan from Science North
Project Learning Tree has this great resource that includes a suggestion of activities and ideas for exploring Winter Ecology with learners, such as Tree Adaptations from the “Signs of Fall” activity from PLT’s Explore Your Environment: K-8 Activity Guide
Learn about different migration patterns and behaviours with this Exploring Migration Resource
Extend your learning with this Animal Migration Activity
Wildsight Education has some great ideas for Winter Games to get your class outdoors and thinking about different winter animal adaptations!
The National Park Service has this great Winter Food Cache Game to learn more about animals and how they prepare and store food sources for the winter months.
Grades 9-12:
This fun activity from Alberta Parks engages learners in exploring plant and animal adaptations in the winter.
Explore how arctic animals stay warm with this fun lesson and experiment!
Extension idea to compare insulation properties between natural and artificial materials to test for quality! This could then be taken further into a research project or inquiry-based unit on designing and building greener and more efficient homes. This could then be tested in different winter climates.
Learn about the science behind avalanches and landslides with this great STEM Lesson Plan.
Check out these 4 Fun Winter Science Activities for High School Students that include lesson plans and handouts!
Activities include measuring the impact of temperature on different materials and testing the different ways cold weather impacts our bodies.
Explore human interventions to prepare for winter and the impacts they have on our ecosystems with this lesson plan and project.
Explore the impacts Climate Change is having on Animal Migration Patterns with these lesson plans from Journey North.
You can also use Journey North to track animal migration.
An idea for further learning is to research how this is impacting traditional hunting for Indigenous Hunters and communities. Check out this resource from Indigenous Climate Hub.
Resources for All:
K- Grade 3
Physical Education: Check out this guide from Scouts Canada on how to teach children about Winter Sports and Activities - Winter Olympic Games Activity Guide.
Science and Physical Education: Simple and creative suggestions on how to introduce winter sports seen at the Olympics to your learners, without the equipment, and from the comfort of your playground, with these Backyard Winter Olympic Ideas.
Active for Life also has a great resource with similar intentions!
English: Check out this great list of resources from the Markham Public Library on Children’s Books About Winter Olympics
English and STEM: Another great list of children’s books that include STEM and learning about the Winter Olympics. Try taking these books outside with you!
Grades 4-8
Physical Education: Interested in planning a Winter Sports Day with your learners or your entire school - check out these lesson plans and resources on how to do just that!
Multi Subject: A great resource with printables on how to tie in the Winter Olympics across numerous subject areas!
Checkout the section on Science Tie-Ins for Winter Sports, including ideas for exploring the physics behind skiing/skating, engineering of bobsleds and skiis, and studying the impact of sport on the human body!
Science: Explore the science behind hockey with this resource
Science: Learn more about the physics and sport of curling with this fun Ice Cube Curling Activity and Lesson Plan
Science and Math: STEM and the Olympic Games
Grades 9-12
Physical Education and Leadership: Encourage older learners to plan and run a Winter Sports Day at your school or for younger learners! This guide (shared in the above grade level) has great suggestions for how to create leadership opportunities for older learners and have fun!
English and Leadership: Student Leadership Journal is a reflective guide that can be paired with the Winter Olympic Events to have students reflect and grow leadership skills with the games as a tool.
Biology and Math: Explore sports science and the biology of athletes with this Winter Olympic Experiments and Observation Lesson Plans.
STEM: Have learners study, engineer, and test helmet designs through this Protect the Brain Unit Plan!
Some other great resources to check out include this video lesson and this interactive article that includes a history of helmet designs
Please note the lesson does mention it is intended for middle years, but we think this lesson, adapted slightly, would make a great project and lesson for older learners.
2023 Winter Challenge Activity Guides
A different engaging activity for each day of the Challenge – sure to give you an idea or two! We hope this inspires you to try something new, get creative, and head outside. But most importantly… have fun! If you’re looking for even more ideas, check out what we did during each day of the 2022 Winter Challenge here.
Offering over 160 resources in a plethora of topics, this database is a great place to start for ideas and activities. Search by keywords or scan the page, and you’ll surely leave inspired!
This program of Learning for a Sustainable Future offers a searchable database of over 1200 resources, and is available in French too! They also publish regular nature guides which follow the seasons and offers numerous starting points for learners of all ages in a variety of subjects.
10 fun and easy outdoor winter activities for kids! Keep your learners outdoors and entertained this winter break with these engaging and accessible activities, curated by Evergreen’s team of Outdoor Educators.
Active for Life: Physical Literacy Development
Active for Life is a Canadian not-for-profit social initiative created to help give children the right start in life through the development of physical literacy. Three lists to start off from their extensive library: Outdoor winter activities for kids when there’s no snow; 29 fun games kids can play in the snow; Creative activities across Canada to beat the winter blues.
Lessons in Grass: Winter Activities
Go out even in winter… We have an activity for every single day!
8 80 Cities Winter Placemaking Guide
The snowy season is here; why dread it, when we can embrace it! Winter placemaking is the active reimagining and repurposing of parks and public spaces during our coldest season to make winter an inviting and social time of the year for everyone.
The #NatureForAll Love Fest focuses on bringing together, sharing, and celebrating personal stories throughout February from around the world about love for Nature and how that feeling inspires us to conserve it.
Birds are everywhere, all the time, doing fascinating things. Join us, February 14–17, 2025, when the world comes together for the love of birds. In as little as 15 minutes notice the birds around you. Identify them, count them, and submit them to help scientists better understand and protect birds around the world.
Out Grown: Winter Walks with Wox
Can you aim to spend 10 minutes outdoors each day all month long? There’s SNOW reason to stay indoors! Join Out Grown this February for our Winter Walk with Wox! It’s free, it’s fun, and the benefits of time outside are yours to keep. We’ve got lots of fun activity ideas to inspire you, a tracker for your progress, and you can join our community pages to stay motivated daily!
The Arctic Winter Games are a biennial multi-sport and cultural event hosted by contingents in the Arctic region, specifically focusing on circumpolar communities from areas like Canada, Alaska, Kalaallit Nunaat, and Northern Scandinavia. More than just a sporting competition, the Arctic Winter Games inspires athletes, artists, and communities to come together to celebrate the Circumpolar North.
A population often faced with harsh winters decided to put on a snow festival to warm their hearts. The tradition of celebrating from the end of January until mid-February has been around for a long time! In Quebec City, the world’s snow capital, the first major winter carnival made its debut in 1894.
2024 Winter Challenge Padlet - Click here to head to our collaborative Padlet – share, get inspired, and head outside!
Be sure to scroll through each of the grade options to add your activity where it best fits.
