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Winter Block Center Play Ideas in Preschool

By Karen Cox | Affiliate Disclosure

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These winter block play ideas will transform your block center into a wintery, Arctic world, and spark the kids’ imaginations.

Sometimes you just need to change up your Block Center for something new and different. Here are some ideas for simple items to add seasonal interest to the Blocks Center.

Winter Block Center Play in Preschool

Polar Animals (Arctic Animals)

Use a collection of plastic polar animals toys for kids to play with in the block center. They can use these with the blocks along with the other block play manipulatives listed below. These can be purchased from toy stores or educational catalogs.

polar-animals

White Pom-Pons

Add white pom-pons for snowballs in a basket or bin for children to decorate their polar worlds. In the photo, I used cotton balls because it’s what I could find at the time, but craft pom-pons will be more durable. These can be purchased from craft and hobby stores.

winter-blocks-cotton

Clear Cups

Clear cups are inexpensive and fun to add to the block center. I told my class these are like ice blocks. Kids can use these to decorate their winter block creations and they can sit the animals on top or inside the cups.

winter-blocks-cups

White Felt

Sheets of white felt can be purchased inexpensively at craft stores. The white felt is perfect for a blanket of snow on the ground in their arctic world creations.

winter-blocks-felt

Styrofoam Blocks

Note: A reader noted that styrofoam blocks are a choking hazard. Supervision of your child(ren) is expected when doing any activities on this site. As an alternative, you could wrap wooden blocks in white paper.

These styrofoam blocks are the big hit in our block center! I saved these from a package I got in the mail at Christmas time. Kids can pretend they are blocks of ice. Of course, they do break a little, but they’ll last long enough for the kids to enjoy them (and they were free)!

winter-blocks-styrofoam

Do you have any Winter Block Play ideas to share? Please tell us what you use in the comments below!

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23 Comments

About Karen Cox

Karen is the founder of PreKinders.com. She also works as a full-time Pre-K teacher in Georgia. Read more...

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Carmela Bosko says

    January 19, 2016 at 9:13 pm

    Karen, this is great! So creative and clear in how the activity can be done. I will provide it to my students in Child Development.
    Thank you so much for your generosity in sharing your talents!

    Carmela Bosko

    Reply
    • Catherine Stringer says

      December 24, 2018 at 12:35 pm

      Giant bubble wrap and foil sheets or aluminum baking pans are also fun to add to the winter block area – the children pretend they are ice.

      Reply
  2. Donna says

    January 19, 2016 at 9:28 pm

    Such great ideas!! I never would have thought of these myself. I really like the idea of the foam pieces, and they are free. Telling the kids that the clear cups are the ice blocks is so clever!! – Just great!!!!

    Reply
  3. Jennnie says

    January 19, 2016 at 9:39 pm

    Great ideas.Love the cups and the cotton wool.
    Just a word of warning though. The polystyrene foam is a choking hazard. Also a problem if it is ingested because it can not be seen on X-rays.
    I suggest you use an alternative.

    Reply
    • Karen Cox says

      January 20, 2016 at 6:00 pm

      Teachers could wrap their wooden blocks with white paper as an alternative.

      Reply
  4. Tonette says

    January 19, 2016 at 9:49 pm

    It’s great idea..thnx a lot Ms.Karen

    Reply
  5. Emily says

    January 19, 2016 at 11:53 pm

    This is fabulous. So simple, yet so much fun! I’m going to implement this a.s.a.p.!

    Reply
  6. Sibusisiwe says

    January 19, 2016 at 11:55 pm

    I think it’s a very good idea and l’m so going to start doing that at my pre school. Thanks Kaaren.

    Reply
  7. CARMINA D MORALES says

    January 20, 2016 at 1:33 am

    Thank you for the wonderful ideas. I’m sure my little ones will have fun, and will enjoy the learning time

    Reply
  8. Pleasantte says

    January 20, 2016 at 8:38 am

    Thanks for sharing this creative idea to bring more interest to the block area!!

    Reply
  9. Bev Anderson says

    January 20, 2016 at 1:45 pm

    Great idea ! I have the wooden blocks already and will use it soon . Thanks !

    Reply
  10. Marcia Y. Grinnard-Davis says

    January 20, 2016 at 6:26 pm

    Great ideas. I am new to PreK education. I have been teaching for over 30 years and your ideas are really easy and fun. Thank you!

    Reply
  11. Surinder Kaur says

    January 20, 2016 at 7:45 pm

    Great ideas. I am an early childhood teacher. We are always using a polystyrene foam in the class. Kids like to hit the Golf Tees in the polystyrene foam for construction. In future we will be careful. your ideas are really easy, creative and fun. Thank you!

    Reply
  12. Blair Burnette says

    January 20, 2016 at 11:29 pm

    What fun! Thanks for many great ideas.

    Reply
  13. Pearl Ihaza says

    January 22, 2016 at 7:21 am

    What a beautiful idea you just gave me!!!!!

    Reply
  14. Becks says

    January 27, 2016 at 4:37 am

    I love this activity! We did the same but used a large plastic mirror for the base to create a frozen lake illusion – the kids loved it!

    Reply
  15. Rocelia (Bo) Patterson says

    January 27, 2016 at 9:32 am

    Just wanted to share our arctic play. We tied it in with the train table since several of the children are still remembering Polar Express. I used the clear plastic cups covered with cotton balls for ice mountains and the igloo is made with a clear cup and a “tunnel” from a cardboard paper towel tube. The bottom is felt sheets as well as the blue water. The large white snowballs are pom poms. I would love to share a photo but couldn’t find a place to do so.

    Reply
    • Karen Cox says

      January 27, 2016 at 10:33 pm

      Thanks for sharing, Bo! I love the idea. Thanks for emailing the picture. I’ve added your pic here. Arctic Block Play from Bo Patterson

      Reply
  16. Tammy Duffy says

    January 27, 2016 at 1:04 pm

    I had so many extra wood blocks that I decided to let the students pick out 1 block to paint white. After drying I put them in blocks to use as icebergs. Kids are having great fun with it!

    Reply
    • Karen Cox says

      January 27, 2016 at 8:00 pm

      Great idea, Tammy!

      Reply
  17. Helga Mays says

    January 2, 2017 at 6:31 am

    I like to use mirrors with cotton batting with my penguins and polar animals. It looks like ice. sometimes I use tinsel or foil too. I put little snowflakes mixed in if I put in sensory but you could add it like the poms poms as loose parts.

    Reply
  18. Jeri Pendergest says

    January 3, 2018 at 9:24 pm

    Thanks for sharing your creativity!

    Reply
  19. Mel Nelson says

    January 7, 2018 at 12:28 pm

    A teacher I know took a flat piece of styrofoam board and cut a jagged hole out to look like an ice fishing hole. Then she added laminated cut out fish with paper clips on their noses and a fishing pole with a magnet end… whalla Place over water table and have kiddos go ice fishing!

    Reply

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Glad you're here! You'll find hands-on learning activities, themes, and printables for Pre-K, Preschool, and Kindergarten kids. I'm Karen Cox, a Pre-K teacher in Georgia. I have taught 4-5 year olds for 20+ years! Read More…

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Welcome!
Would you like to join my FREE weekly update newsletter? Join 85,000+ subscribers!
We collect, use, and process your data according to our Privacy Policy.
Don't worry - we never sell or share email addresses!