Free winter worksheets for children, with seven printable activities that use real winter words, from snowflakes and mittens to cocoa, penguins and cozy fires. Print a word search in three levels, bingo cards, a word scramble, a “how many words can you make” page, an acrostic poem, a writing prompt and a fold-up winter card, each with an answer key where one is needed.
Winter worksheets to print (PDF)
These four pages show what the winter maker prints: a medium word search with a word list, two bingo cards on a page, an acrostic poem for the letters of SNOWFLAKE, and the fold-up card that says “Hello, Winter!” Click a picture for the PDF.
Prefer one download? Grab the ready-made winter activity pack (PDF), which has every page in one file.
About winter: the holiday at a glance
A little background makes the words on the page mean more. Here are the basic facts that go with these winter worksheets:
| When it starts | Around December 21 in the Northern Hemisphere, at the winter solstice, and around June 21 in the Southern Hemisphere |
|---|---|
| Months | December, January and February in the north, and June, July and August in the south |
| Why it is cold | Earth is tilted about 23.5 degrees, so in winter the sun is lower in the sky and the days are shorter |
| Surprising fact | Earth is closest to the sun in early January, so distance is not the cause of winter |
| Snow | Snowflakes grow from ice crystals and always have six sides |
| Coldest place | Antarctica, where −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F) was recorded at Vostok Station in 1983 |
| Animals | Bears, groundhogs and hedgehogs hibernate, and emperor penguins huddle together through the Antarctic winter |
The story of winter
Winter is the coldest season of the year. It begins at the winter solstice, the shortest day, when the sun is lowest in the sky. The cause is the tilt of the Earth, not its distance from the sun. In December the Northern Hemisphere leans away from the sun, so the days are short and the sunlight is weak, and at the same moment it is summer in the Southern Hemisphere.
Where it is cold enough, water in the clouds freezes into ice crystals that grow into snowflakes, always with six sides. In 1885 a Vermont farmer named Wilson Bentley took the first known photograph of a single snowflake, and he went on to photograph thousands. Plants and animals get ready for the cold in different ways: trees drop their leaves, hedgehogs and groundhogs hibernate and many birds fly south.
Wikipedia’s winter article explains the season, the solstice and winter weather around the world.
What is in the winter activity pack?
Every activity uses the same list of 24 winter words, so children meet each word several times in different ways. The list is the heart of these winter worksheets: the word search hides it, the scramble mixes it up, the bingo calls it out and the writing prompt asks children to use it.
winter word search: three levels
The word search comes in easy, medium and hard grids, with 10, 14 and 18 words from the list.
The longest winter words are snowflake, fireplace and hibernate with 9 letters, and the shortest words are hat and ice with 3.
winter vocabulary: words to talk about
Take a few minutes to talk about the words before children search for them. These eight are a good place to start:
| Word | Letters | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| blizzard | 8 | A severe snowstorm with strong winds and little visibility |
| hibernate | 9 | To spend the winter in a deep, sleep-like rest to save energy |
| icicle | 6 | A hanging spike of ice, formed when dripping water freezes |
| frost | 5 | A thin layer of ice crystals that forms on cold surfaces |
| igloo | 5 | A dome-shaped house built from blocks of packed snow |
| snowflake | 9 | A single crystal of ice that falls from the sky |
| mittens | 7 | Warm hand covers with one space for the thumb and one for the fingers |
| cozy | 4 | Warm, soft and comfortable |
The other 16 words in the list are snow, snowman, scarf, hat, boots, sled, ice, skate, cocoa, cold, penguin, fireplace, blanket, winter, january and sweater.
How people celebrate winter
- Building a snowman or making snow angels
- Sledding, ice skating and skiing
- Drinking hot cocoa and baking cookies indoors
- Reading by the fireplace under a warm blanket
- Feeding the birds and looking for animal tracks in the snow
Winter activities for kids to do with the worksheets
Pair the printed pages with a hands-on idea, and the vocabulary sticks:
- Snowflake cutting: fold paper in six, cut shapes along the folds and compare the snowflakes, then write the SNOWFLAKE acrostic.
- Snowman story: use the writing prompt about a snowman that comes to life and add a drawing in the picture box.
- Ice melt test: put one ice cube in a dish with salt and one in a dish without, and see which melts first.
- Winter bingo: play with cotton-ball snowballs as counters.
- Bird count: hang a feeder, tally the birds that visit in a week and make a bar graph.
A note for families and teachers
Winter is not cold and snowy everywhere. For children in warm places, or in the Southern Hemisphere, talk about the seasons as a global pattern and let them use the words that match their own weather.
How to use these winter worksheets in five minutes
The winter worksheets maker works from the 24-word winter list, so whichever page you print uses the same words. Choose an activity, set the level and press Download PDF or Print, and press New puzzles for a fresh set.
Winter worksheets: frequently asked questions
When does winter start?
In the Northern Hemisphere winter begins around December 21, at the solstice, or on December 1 on the meteorological calendar. In the Southern Hemisphere it begins around June 21.
Why is winter cold?
The Earth’s axis is tilted about 23.5 degrees, so in winter your half of the planet leans away from the sun. Sunlight arrives at a lower angle and the days are shorter, so there is less heat. Distance from the sun is not the cause.
What ages are the winter worksheets for?
Ages 4 to 10. The card, bingo and acrostic suit younger children, and the word search and scramble suit grades 1 to 5.
Winter printables: find the right page
Snowflake acrostic poem
The snowflake acrostic poem asks children to write a word or line for each letter of SNOWFLAKE, a gentle way to practice spelling and describing words.
More holiday worksheets
- Fall worksheets
- Christmas worksheets
- New Year worksheets
- All holiday worksheets for 22 holidays and seasons
- Word search generator for your own words
- Bingo card generator for custom cards