Does winter have you trapped inside? Are you not sure what to do, or running out of ideas to keep your children busy? Are you constantly hearing “I’m bored”?

We’ve got you covered! We compiled a list of fun, easy and exciting boredom busters that are sure to keep your little ones busy—and the best part, they are STEAM-focused to keep them learning.

Whether you are doing one a week, one a day, one inside, or one outside, we bet you won’t hear “I’m bored” anymore.

Outdoor

Paint the snow. Using spray bottles or squeeze bottles, mix water and food coloring. Once you have enough colors, head outside to paint the snow using your new paint-filled bottles.

Make a snow volcano. Build a snow mound, open the top, and place a jar inside with a few drops of baking soda and food coloring. Add vinegar, stand back, and watch the volcano erupt.

Sled, and then sled again, faster. Change how and where you are sled, and analyze the results to determine how you can sled the fastest way possible.

Freeze a bubble. Once temperatures hit freezing, take some bubbles, and blow them outside. They will freeze, so if you’ve never seen a frozen bubble, this is a must!

Make ice cream. Who doesn’t love ice cream? You can make your own ice cream using clean snow! First, gather your ingredients (8 cups of fresh and clean snow, ½ cup milk, ½ cup sweetened condensed milk, ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract, and optional sprinkles). You will also need two bowls and a spoon. Then, in one bowl, mix your milk, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla. In another bowl, gather your snow. Add the milk mixture to your snow and stir. Serve immediately and enjoy!

Build a fort or an igloo. Figure out how to build the fort or igloo and see how big you can build it.

Build a snowman, a snow family, or a snow village. Use different supplies and see which snowman is the best.

Indoor

Make marshmallow snowflakes or snowmen. Using toothpicks and marshmallows of varying sizes, make a snowflake or a snowman.

Paint with snow. Gather a few cups of snow. In each cup of snow, combine food coloring with the snow. Once combined, using a paint brush, paint with the colored snow.

Bring snow painting inside. Instead of painting with the snow or painting on the snow outdoors, bring a bucket or a bowl of snow inside. Once inside, get out the paint and paint the snow.

Make winter Play-Doh. Gather your ingredients (salt, warm water, flour, food coloring, and optional glitter). Mix 2 cups of salt, 2 cups of warm water and 5 cups of flour. You can add blue food coloring or leave it white if desired, and maybe add some glitter too!

Grow ice crystals. You will need: pipe cleaners, pencils, borax, tablespoon, bowl, drinking glass, pot, plastic wrap, ice cubes, and water. Fill your bowl halfway with ice cubes and add water until the bowl is ¾ full. Place the drinking glass inside the bowl of ice water, leaving the glass empty. Twist your pipe cleaner around the pencil and place the pencil over the rim of the drinking glass, with the pipe cleaner inside of the drinking glass. You can shape the pipe cleaner into any shape you wish (heart, snowflake, etc.). Boil enough water to fill drinking glass, and add one tablespoon of borax. Make sure it is dissolved. Add two more tablespoons of borax, one at a time. Pour the borax solution into the drinking glass, then cover the top of the drinking glass with plastic wrap; leaving it undisturbed for at least five hours. Add ice to the bowl of ice water as needed and watch as your ice crystals begin to form on your pipe cleaner.

Paint salt snowflakes. Paint snowflakes with glue. While the glue is still wet, add fine salt and shake off the excess. Once dry, paint the salt to reveal a shimmering, salty snowflake.

Make ice ornaments. Using cups, bowls, etc. add about an inch of water. Add objects into the water (glitter, branches, berries, anything environmentally friendly). Add a string and freeze. If it is cold enough outside, you can let your cups or bowls outside to freeze. If not, you can place them in your freezer. Once frozen, pop your new ornaments out of the cups or bowls and find a place to hang them outside.

Make bird feeders. Birds are so easy to watch in the winter, and they especially love bird feeders during these months. Any homemade bird feeder, whether wooden or a simple toilet paper roll coated in peanut butter and rolled in birdseed, will make the birds happy.

Bring snow inside. Fill a bowl or sink with snow and let your children play. Build a snowman and use markers to add a face.

Make fake snow. There are many different ways to make fake snow. Baking soda and shaving cream, baking soda and water, baking soda and conditioner, cornstarch and lotion, shaving cream and cornstarch, etc. Add equal parts of any formula until you reach a consistency that allows you to form a ball.

Make winter slime. There are so many different recipes for making slime. The easiest, though, is to mix one cup of glue and one tablespoon of baking soda, thoroughly. Add your food coloring and 1 ½ tablespoons of contact lens solution. Add glitter, confetti snowflakes, etc. to winterize it.