1. Frosty temperatures outside offer a perfect excuse to gather around the cozy fireplace (or a pretend fireplace) and tell stories. Everyone can take turns adding to a story somebody starts, or choose a favorite tale and make up new characters. When you’ve finished you’ll have an original story that can be illustrated for days to come in blank journal notebooks.

2. Does entertaining kids this winter have you puzzled? Try making some of your own! With Make a Puzzle and Create Your Own Wood Puzzle, blank puzzle pieces can be decorated to create a one-of-a-kind game for all to enjoy.

3. Board games are more fun when everyone is guaranteed a wacky prize! Choose a few favorite games like Monopoly Junior or Candy Land and find a funny way to reward every player. Maybe all players get to wear funny hats or choose from a bag of silly prizes. Perhaps everyone gets to “win” a sweet treat after the game by remembering to play nicely.

4. After the mid-day meal fun awaits with that paper lunch bag! Recycle clean lunch sacks or use new ones and collage items like wiggly eyes, pipe cleaners and more to create creative puppets. Produce a fall or holiday-themed puppet show or sing-along with the kids’ creations.

5. It might be tempting to go into hibernation this winter, but it’s easy to get kids up and moving even while indoors. Introduce yoga with yoga cards or pretend to move like animals with animal action cards. Animal walks are a fun way to incorporate gross motor movement while playing pretend.

6. Take advantage of the beautiful fall foliage while it lasts. Kids can collect leaves and flowers outside and create a fall memory bookmark to use all year long. A flower press will create perfectly pressed flora that can be put between sheets of clear cover and cut into personalized bookmarks.

7. Turn leaf collection from the yard into artwork when kids use crayons and construction paper to make leaf rubbings. Saved rubbings can also make beautiful decorations, placemats or wrapping paper for fall and winter events.

8. A pine cone hunt will leave little foragers with fun, 3-D canvases on which to create. Paint plain pine cones with craft paint like BioColor® and decorate them with glitter, wiggly eyes, sticky foam shapes, ribbons or other collage items. Have a pine cone parade and display the imaginative creatures.

9. Halloween might be over, but costume fun can happen anytime! Kids can decorate their very own plastic masks, card-stock masks or create their make own using paper plates. Have a masquerade ball for an afternoon of dramatic play.

10. If kids get tired waiting for the real thing this winter, make your own Insta Snow™ indoors. Do experiments with it and try coloring it with Colorations® Liquid Watercolor. Talk about the science surrounding InstaSnow™ as kids wait for a genuine winter wonderland.