The chilly winter months often find children opting to remain indoors, hunkering down in the comforting warmth of the living room. However, bringing the season’s magic into your backyard can provide the perfect enticement for getting kids outside to play. Transforming your child’s cubby house into a winter wonderland is a beautiful way to spark their creativity and imagination. With a few simple homemade decorations, you can deck out their unique outdoor space so they’ll be eager to bundle up and head out to their winter playground.
This article will provide six fun DIY winter decorating ideas to give your child’s cubby a seasonal makeover. From magical paper snowflakes to faux snow-capped mountains, these simple decorations are easy to craft and bring hours of wintery fun. Your child will love playing pretend amongst their winter cubby decor, whether hosting a Frozen-themed birthday party or snuggling their favourite stuffed penguin. Follow our winter cubby decorating guide to inspire outdoor play all season long.
Paper Snowflakes
What better way to bring a festive winter vibe into your child’s cubby house than with magical paper snowflakes? Crafting paper snowflakes is an easy DIY that kids of all ages can get involved in. Fold the white or light blue paper in half or quarters, and let your child cut their unique patterns into the folded sides. They’ll love creating a winter snowflake wonderland to decorate their cubby space.
Once unfolded, each paper snowflake will be completely one-of-a-kind. There are endless ways to display handmade snowflakes, such as hanging them from the ceiling with string or taping them to windows and walls. You can even make mini snowflakes to tape onto cutout cardboard trees or winter animal shapes. Making paper snowflakes is a fun winter activity for the whole family. Going to the craft store for supplies will excite everyone about decking out the cubby house for hours of snowy, imaginative play.
Frozen Movie Theme
Does your child love the magical Frozen movies? Bring the kingdom of Arendelle right into their cubby house with a Frozen-inspired decor theme. Use shades of blue, white, and silver to recreate the icy look from the films. Drape sparkly sheets or tulle fabric on the walls as faux ice formations and hang paper snowflake cutouts above tables. You can even paint a mural featuring Anna, Elsa, Olaf, and more on one wall.
Bake a blue-iced cake with edible snowflake decorations for an over-the-top Frozen birthday party or dress-up day. Serve snowball cookies or cupcakes with white icing. Provide icy princess dress-ups and props like magic wands and crowns. With the right glittery and snow-covered touches, your child’s cubby will become the perfect spot for endless Frozen roleplay adventures all winter.
Snowman
What’s a winter wonderland without a jolly snowman? Adding a snowman decoration is a must for any cubby house winter makeover. For a simple snowman, please have your child paint and decorate pinecones or small polystyrene craft balls and stack them into a snowman shape—glue on buttons, a nose, and eyes to give it personality. Use white paper cups stacked in size order for a more enormous snowman.
You can get creative with materials for the snowman’s nose, eyes, arms, hat, and scarf. Use sticks for arms, buttons for eyes, and an orange triangle for the nose. Top with a fun hat made from fabric or cardboard. Place your handmade snowman inside the cubby as a cute wintery companion for all your child’s frosty adventures. Having multiple sizes of snowmen made from various craft materials will let your child rearrange them into new characters all season long. The snowman decor options are endless for winter cubby house play.
Winter Animals
What better way to bring wintery charm into your child’s cubby house than with furry arctic friends? Place stuffed penguins, polar bears, deer, arctic foxes and other cold-weather creatures around the cubby for some animal fun. Or get creative and make your 3D winter animals out of cardboard cutouts and art supplies.
Add googly eyes, pom tails, and other crafty embellishments to give your homemade creatures personality. Your child can also make masks shaped like penguins, deer, and other animals to roleplay dress-up adventures. For an over-the-top wintery event, throw an Arctic animal-themed birthday party and have all the guests arrive in their favourite cold climate critter costumes. With the right mix of store-bought and DIY animal pals, your child’s cubby house will instantly transform into a winter animal wonderland.
Faux Mountains
Add a snowy alpine feel to your child’s cubby house with creative fake mountains. Prop up old sheets, painting them white and blue to resemble a snowy peak backdrop. Use white and light blue sheets to represent snowcapped mountaintops and the sky. Cut snow-topped mountain silhouettes from cardboard for a glittering effect and add sparkly details.
Layer the painted sheets and glittery cutouts to mimic the look of a wintry mountain landscape outside your child’s cubby window. You can even paint details like evergreen trees or skiers to make the mountains come alive. Creating these faux alpine vistas transforms the cubby into a cozy winter cabin high in the mountains. Your child will love pretending to scale the icy peaks and sled down snowy hills as you bring the magic of majestic wintry mountains right to their backyard.
Exterior Touches
Don’t forget to add some frosty flourishes to the outside of the cubby house, too! Drape sparkling blue and white sheets or tinsel from the roofline to mimic icicles. Outline the doorway with shiny tinsel garlands. Add mini paper snowflakes and winter animal cutouts to the exterior walls and windows.
Adding these simple wintry touches to the outside will further the magical facade that it’s been transported to a snowy wonderland. Even small details extend your child’s imagination and winter roleplay from the inside out into the whole backyard. With just a bit of glitter, fake snow, and handmade decor, you can quickly transform the cubby’s exterior into a winter carnival of delight.
