9 After Winter Break Activities: Fun, Low-Prep Ideas to Re-Engage Elementary Students

Perfect for: Creative warm-ups • Fast finishers • Mental flexibility
Skills: Critical thinking, problem-solving, creativity

Want an easy way to re-spark creativity after a long break? Winter STEM Improv gives kids randomized design prompts from three categories: object, material, and function. With hundreds of possible combinations, no two design ideas look the same.

This activity takes 10–15 minutes, making it perfect for warm-ups, brain breaks, or easing back into routines without overwhelming kids right away. Add this to your after winter break activities must-do list!

👉 Try Winter STEM Improv

Perfect for: First week back • Winter science centers • Collaborative STEM
Skills: Engineering, force & motion, simple machines (levers)

In Snow Scoop, kids design a tool to cleary a “snowy” path (paper balls, cotton balls, rice, pom-poms) or collect the most snow in a single scoop.

It’s a great way to restart hands-on learning after winter break with a fun, accessible way to explore simple machines, specifically levers, while reinforcing basic physics concepts

Great way to help kids practice teamwork and communication and reset expectations around collaboration!

👉 Check out Snow Scoop STEM Challenge

Perfect for: After winter break • Winter math & science centers
Skills: Geometry, engineering, problem-solving, classification, measurement, data collection, balance

Frosted Forest is a great choice if you want something calm, creative, and academically meaningful after winter break. In this challenge, kids design and build the iciest tree in the forest by constructing branches and attaching triangular icicles. It’s a hands-on way to explore geometry, classification, and spatial reasoning while keeping engagement high.

The challenge is easy to differentiate across grade levels. Younger students can focus on creating and measuring triangles, while older students analyze angles, classify triangles, and calculate area. It’s thoughtful, purposeful STEM that encourages perseverance and collaborative problem-solving, perfect for re-establishing routines and focus during the first week back.

👉 Explore Frosted Forest STEM Challenge

Perfect for: Fun Friday • After winter break • Indoor recess
Skills: Engineering, testing, measurement, collaboration, creativity

If you need a high-engagement after winter break activities to shake off the post-break sluggishness, Snowman STEM Winter Games delivers. Kids rotate through snowman-themed engineering events where they design, build, and test features like hats, noses, scarves, and arms.

This set works beautifully for welcome-back weeks because it blends hands-on STEM with movement, laughter, and friendly competition. It’s low-prep, flexible for any space, and keeps kids engaged whether you’re in the classroom, a gym, or hosting a winter family STEM night.

If your students need to move, this is your winner.

👉 See the Snowman STEM Winter Games

Perfect for: January STEM • Force & motion review • Team challenges • Before or after winter break
Skills: Engineering, force & motion, friction, data collection, measurement

Ease students back into learning with Sled & Slope. In this challenge, kids design and build a sled, then create a ramp that helps it travel the greatest distance. Along the way, they experiment with force, motion, and friction, but it all feels like play.

The materials are simple, and the testing phase naturally encourages teamwork, problem-solving, and iteration.

👉 See the Sled & Slope Winter STEM Challenge

Perfect for: SEL • Team building • Routine resetting
Skills: Communication, listening, speaking, precision

This activity is simple, hilarious, and powerful. One student describes a winter-themed picture while the other tries to draw it without looking. After winter break, when listening skills can feel a little rusty, this is the perfect SEL-friendly reset.

Because it’s low-prep and high-engagement, you can use it as a morning warm-up, a brain break, or a lead-in to a lesson on communication.

👉 Try Winter Speak–Listen–Draw Communication

Perfect for: Writing warm-ups • Re-engaging reluctant writers
Skills: Narrative writing, creativity, vocabulary, voice

When it comes to after winter break activities, getting kids back into writing is among the toughest to do! Paper Bag Stories make it fun again. Add winter-themed characters, settings and events, conflicts or adventures to three bags. Have kids draw from each bag, and write a story that includes all the items.

This works beautifully as:

• a partner storytelling task (no writing necessary)
• a writing center
• a morning journal warm-up
• a quick narrative writing reboot

👉 Check out Winter Paper Bag Stories

Perfect for: Easing back into writing instruction
Skills: Revising, editing, clarity, detail, sentence structure

Once students are warmed up with writing, this is a great way to transition back to instruction without overwhelming them. The Winter Revising Paragraphs set includes four types of scaffolded revision tasks:

• Glow & Grow
• Draft Detective
• Revision Rewind
• Revision Remix

Each one helps students strengthen ideas, improve clarity, and practice the difference between revising and editing.

👉 Explore Winter Revising Paragraphs