Winter activities

An origami water bomb. These can be hung as ornaments or strung together into a garland. Instructions below.

Across cultures, the winter months are a time for celebrating togetherness, often through food; adorning our homes, to remind us of the light and life that’s on its way; and restoring ourselves, to recover from the year behind us and prepare for the year ahead. Here are a few activities to help you celebrate, adorn, and restore in the coming winter.

Sugar cookies ready for decorating. Photo provided by Everybody Deserves a Smile.

Everybody Deserves a Smile sugar cookies

The Everybody Deserves a Smile (EDAS) program provides thousands of care packages to unhoused people during the holiday season. It’s become an EDAS tradition to include these sugar cookies in the packages. Chantal Stefan, founder of EDAS, has shared her mother’s recipe below. Read more about EDAS here.

Recipe

Makes approximately 70 cookies.

Ingredients

For the cookies

5 cups flour

2 cups white sugar

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups butter, soft

4 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla

For the icing

2 cups icing sugar

2 tablespoons milk (or liquid of choice)

Food colouring (optional)

Sprinkles (optional)

Method

Preheat oven to 375º.

Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add soft butter to dry mix and work into a crumbly dough. 

Beat eggs and vanilla in a separate bowl and then add to mixture and combine.

Roll out dough and cut with favourite holiday shapes.

Place on cookie sheet and bake in middle of oven for 7–8 minutes, until just lightly browned. Allow cookies to cool.

For icing, whisk together icing sugar, milk, and food colouring, and decorate cookies with icing and sprinkles of your choice!

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Origami water bomb

This traditional origami model can be hung as an ornament or made in multiples and strung into a garland.

Video demonstration of the origami water bomb. Written instructions are below.

Step 1

With a square piece of paper right side up, fold in half like a book in both directions. Open folds and turn over.

Step 2

With wrong side up, fold in half diagonally in both directions. Open folds and turn over.

Step 3

With right side up, collapse one of the book folds made in Step 1 inward to create a triangle.

Step 4

Fold the outer corners of the triangle up to meet the top corner. Fold upper layer of flaps only.

Step 5

Fold the corners to the centre.

Step 6

Fold the top points down to the centre to create two small flaps.

Step 7

Fold the two small flaps into the pockets created in Step 5. Fold the flaps over first, to create the creases, then tuck them all the way into the pockets. This will create a cleaner finish.

Step 8

Turn over and repeat Steps 4–7 on the other side.

Step 9

One end of the piece will have an opening. Blow into the opening and gently shape the water bomb.

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Winter books

Picture books

The Tea Party in the Woods by Akiko Miyakoshi

A Day So Gray by Marie Lamba

Red Sled by Lita Judge

Cold by Tim McCanna

The Shortest Day by Susan Cooper

Moon Song by Michaela Goade

When Winter Comes by Aimée M. Bissonette

Winter Lullaby by Dianne White

Non-fiction

Wait, Rest, Pause:

Dormancy in Nature by Marcie Flinchum Atkins

Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messner

Wonderful Winter by Bruce Goldstone

The Story of Snow: The Science of Winter’s Wonder by Jon Nelson and Mark Cassino

Chapter books

The Sea in Winter by Christine Day

The Polar Bear Explorers’ Club by Alex Bell

The Dogs of Winter by Bobbie Pyron

Voyage of the Frostheart by Jamie Littler

Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George