How to use these winter worksheets
Winter afternoons are long, and a short worksheet at the table is a good way to settle after outdoor play. You'll need a pencil, crayons and 10 to 15 minutes per page.
- Tracing first. Say each word together (cabin, fox, snow, bird), point to the picture, then trace the dotted letters starting from the top. Color the picture as a finish.
- Count & Write. Touch each sled, seal, shovel or owl as you count aloud. Write the number in the box. One row only has a single picture, which is a nice confidence boost.
- I Spy Winter. Find every cardinal, cocoa mug, mitten and igloo in the big picture and write how many of each at the bottom.
- Word search. Remind your child that words go across or down only. Find "snow" together, then let them hunt for shovel, skate, cabin, bear, cocoa, snowman and sled.
- Patterns. Read each row out loud ("bear, sled, bear, sled...") and draw what comes next in the empty box.
Tips by age
Age 4: Begin with I spy and patterns, which need no reading. For the word search, point to the row where a word hides. For tracing, focus on starting at the dot.
Age 5: Ask your child to read the tracing words back to you, and to say which picture on the I spy page has the most.
Age 6: Let them do the word search alone and write one of the words in a sentence ("The fox is in the snow."). Ask them to make a pattern of their own with mittens and hats.
Games to play with the pages
- Sock patterns: line up winter socks or mittens in a pattern on the floor for your child to continue.
- Cocoa counting: count marshmallows into a mug, using the Count & Write page as your model.
- Animal hunt: after the word search, look for real birds at a window and see if you spot a cardinal.
- Snow words: write the four tracing words in a tray of salt or on a frosty window with a finger.
For outdoor snow play, winter science and a 5-day winter theme, see our guide to winter activities for preschoolers. On days you're stuck inside, these snow day activities for kids help you plan the whole day.
When your child is ready for more
Once counting to 10 and simple patterns feel easy, the next steps are counting to 20, adding and taking away, and reading short sentences. The full book covers all of these with the same snowy pictures.
Winter Math & Reading Fun has 30 pages for ages 4 to 6. Along with the pages here, it has math pages where children add and take away mittens, counting and number pages to 20, reading and writing pages, cut-out cards, snowy mazes, a dot-to-dot, an odd-one-out page and winter coloring pages. It works well as a page a day through January and February, and you can print favorites again.
Questions parents ask
They are made for children aged 4 to 6, from older preschoolers through pre-K and kindergarten. A 3 year old can join in with the I spy and pattern pages if you sit with them. The tracing and word search pages suit children who know most of their letters.
Yes, completely. The 5 pages are a free sample from our Winter Math & Reading Fun book. Choose color or black and white, US Letter or A4, and the PDF downloads instantly. You don't need to sign up or give an email address, and you can print the pages as many times as you need.
They're ideal. Each page takes 5 to 15 minutes, so you can mix them in between sledding, baking and building forts. Keep a printed set in a folder before the forecast turns, and you'll have a quiet table activity ready the moment everyone comes in cold and tired.
Color helps younger children tell the I spy pictures apart and looks cheerful on the fridge. Black and white uses much less ink, and children can color the pictures themselves when they finish. The activities are the same in both versions.
The full book has 30 pages for January and February: math pages for adding and taking away mittens, counting snowflakes to 20, tracing, reading and writing pages, cut-out cards, a snowy maze, a dot-to-dot, compare and order, an odd-one-out page and winter coloring pages.
