Winter Strewing Ideas Perfect For Your Homeschool
Are you interested in beginning strewing? It’s a concept we’ve come to love! Whether you’re just starting out or looking for new ideas, you’re in the right place.
I’m excited to share winter strewing ideas that are perfect for your homeschool. These winter strewing ideas will help you get started strewing to ignite your child’s curiosity and wonder. If you’re a strewing veteran, you’ll love adding these fresh new ideas for the winter season to your favorite strewing activities.
Plus, you won’t want to miss all the easy printables I’ve got to add winter fun to your strewing activities with pattern blocks, geoboards, and more! Keep reading to get the scoop on our favorite winter strewing ideas and more resources for your homeschoolers to keep learning fun this winter season.
What Is Strewing?
Strewing is all about subtly leaving items out to encourage your children to interact with them. The items we strew are carefully chosen and placed around our home in areas where Emily is sure to see them and be curious.
It’s not just about throwing toys and resources around your home like you’re recreating your own toy store in the living room. It’s not the same as the tornado of toys the kids created in the playroom. Strewing isn’t about blowing through items in order to “explore” them. In fact, when you’re strewing, the results should be helpful to not just your homeschooler, but to you as well.
If you’ve been avoiding strewing because you’re concerned that the kids will turn the house upside down, there are a few steps you can take to ensure that’s not the case. Discover Everything You Need To Get Started Strewing in Your Homeschool to learn more about what you might need to get started and how strewing works together with interest-led learning.
Why Strewing Works So Well In Our Homeschool
Over the years, we have found that strewing works very well in our homeschool. Strewing provides an opportunity for Emily to explore and learn on her own about things she’s curious about currently.
Plus, it gives me an opportunity to wake up in the mornings and have my coffee before being bombarded with questions and requests. Learn more about how Homeschool Strewing Made Me A Better Mom by adding fun to our mornings and saving my grumpy not-a-morning-person mood. Emily loves finding the items I have placed out for her in the morning and I like relating them back to her favorite things or the lessons I’ve got planned for us that week.
Some of our favorite things to use for strewing include art supplies, loose parts, and logic games that she can play independently. I’m always surprised by the new creations and interesting ways my homeschooler interacts with the materials and resources.
Winter Strewing Ideas
Strewing can be used to introduce new unit study topics, celebrate upcoming holidays, or immerse your homeschoolers in the current season. One of my favorite simple things to strew every Winter is our Antartica Continent Box. Check out some of our other favorite winter strewing ideas to add new fun to your homeschool lessons this season.
Winter Sensory Bins
Sensory bins are perfect for encouraging reluctant learners to engage with lessons. Plus, they’re a lot of fun! Winter sensory bins can be a fun way to explore winter weather, animals that live in cold climates, and more.
Some of my favorite winter sensory bins involve ice, “snow,” and arctic animals. Try adding Safari Ltd.’s Arctic TOOB to your winter sensory bin or filling it with Floof Indoor Snow for a fun winter themed sensory bin that’s sure to encourage multisensory learning.
Books for Winter Strewing
Books are another easy item to use when strewing. I love to use big colorful books with interesting illustrations or photographs and lots of great facts. Check out some of my favorite winter books for strewing below.
Winter Geoboards
Geoboards are a lot of fun! Plus, they give homeschoolers a chance to explore fractions and geometry while creating their own images with rubber bands. Strewing geoboards is a fun math activity for kids of all ages.
Try strewing my new Winter Geoboard designs with your geoboard and bands for a fun new activity this season. Kids can create snowflakes, evergreen trees, sleds, hot cocoa, and more with two different style options and difficulty levels.
Play Dough with Winter Scenes
I love strewing play dough activities. Play dough helps kids build finger strength for strong fine motor skills and handwriting. Plus, it’s just so much fun! Strewing play dough is so easy, just place play dough and tools (I like plastic cutlery and cookie cutters) in a spot where your homeschoolers will be encouraged to explore it this winter.
Then, add my printable winter scenes to encourage your homeschoolers to create winter images with their play dough. Check out Playdoh Winter Colors Theme for even more strewing fun this winter.
Not a play dough person? Don’t worry, you can use toothpicks and marshmallows with these winter scene printables to encourage STEM building without the mess of play dough.
Winter Pattern Blocks
Pattern blocks are another one of my favorite items to use for strewing. These wooden tile blocks make it easy to teach homeschoolers about polygons, colors, and geometry concepts. Plus, you can use them with just about any homeschool unit study!
I’ve created winter pattern block pages you can use to encourage your homeschoolers to create things like snowflakes and evergreen trees. Plus, you can print them in one of the 4 different color options I’ve made available or grab the black and white versions to make this strewing activity a bit more challenging.
Games with Winter Themes
Strewing games is another favorite here at The Waldock Way. We love playing games together, but sometimes strewing games Emily can engage with independently works out really well for all of us. One player logic games are great for strewing.
Discover The Best Single Player Games for Your Homeschool strewing activities this year. Then, check out some of our favorite games with winter themes to strew.
Snowflake Bentley Unit Study
Unit studies about topics your homeschoolers are curious about or interested in are perfect for strewing too. Check out my Snowflake Bentley Unit Study for a fun and engaging unit study you can strew that’s all about Wilson Bentley and his studies on snowflakes.
You’ll get custom coloring pages, activity pages, and more. Plus, it lines up perfectly with the book Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin. The best part is that this unique unit study is totally free and set up for you to use with homeschoolers of all ages.
Winter Themed Building Block Set
If your homeschoolers love building with LEGO bricks, they’ll love these printable winter patterns for building blocks. Homeschoolers can use these printable images to create their own beautiful winter characters and items like snowmen, ice skates, and penguins. It’s a STEM learning activity for strewing that will keep your homeschoolers engaged all morning long!
More Resources For Winter In Your Homeschool
If you’re interested in more seasonal resources you can add to your homeschool lesson plans this winter, don’t miss some of my favorites below. Morning baskets and free printables aren’t just ideal for strewing with your homeschoolers, they’re fun to engage in together too! Discover winter directed drawing, polar morning baskets, and more at The Waldock Way.
Winter Directed Drawing
Directed Drawing pages are fun to use when strewing in your homeschool. They encourage reluctant artists to begin creating by giving simple step-by-step instructions that make it easy for your homeschoolers to follow along. Check out my printable Winter Directed Drawing pages to encourage your kids to get creative this season.
Winter Themed Morning Baskets
We live in Florida which means our winters are nothing like the magical white snowy landscapes in the movies, but we aren’t going to let that stop us from having fun this year! Our winter themed morning baskets romanticize the beautiful winters we don’t get to experience. Check them out below.
January Homeschool Printables
Discover the life cycle of a snowflake and make your own paper snowflakes this January with my free January Homeschool Printables. Then, color arctic animals with free printable color-by-number worksheets. Finally, learn more about the man who taught the world about snowflakes, Snowflake Bentley, with a mini unit study.
Do you like strewing art materials and printables? Are you a big fan of strewing with blocks, books, or games? Share your favorite winter strewing activities in the comment section. I can’t wait to read about your family’s favorites and try them with Emily too!
