Winter Animal Activities

Bird Feeding

• Put a bird feeder in your yard and wait for the wildlife to come to you. This is an ideal way to do some bird watching, especially if it's too cold to leave the house for a long time. Keep the bird feeder well-stocked and make sure you can see it easily from the windows in your home. You can make notes of the characteristics of the visiting birds, try to identify the species and keep a bird diary of birds that come back regularly.

Tracking

• Tracking animals can be a fun activity for the whole family, especially in the snow. Go for a walk in some surrounding countryside and keep watch for animal tracks. You can try to guess which animal they belong to or take photos of the tracks and identify them at home later.

Zoo

• Many zoos stay open during the winter and some even offer special winter rates and activities. Contact your local zoo to find out if anything special is happening there during the winter. In Ohio, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo offers a reduced rate on the admission fee and hosts a Polar Bear Day, inviting visitors to come and see the animals that thrive during the winter months.

Indoor Activities

• Winter animal activities don't have to take place outdoors. The change in the season can be the perfect opportunity for children to think about how different seasons can have an impact on various animals. Winter is an especially timely season to learn about hibernation and the creatures that hibernate during the winter, ranging from snakes, frogs and bees to bats, hedgehogs and bears. To help the whole family learn about hibernation, parents could start a discussion about what it would be like to sleep during the whole winter. Once everyone understands what hibernation means, cut out pictures of different animals and decide whether each one hibernates.