Winter Outdoor

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Winter Outdoor
By Steele Marcoux Published: Nov 4, 2020
HKS Principal and Director of Hospitality Interiors Mary Alice Palmer
Steele Marcoux Editor in Chief, VERANDA
Steele Marcoux is the Editor in Chief at VERANDA, covering design trends, architecture, and travel for the brand.
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These simple upgrades will make that porch or patio just as alluring in the cold as it was all summer.
Baby, it's cold outside—and it's about to get quite a bit colder. But that's no reason to ignore your porch, patio, or backyard, especially this year.
We all know spending more time outside is good for our well-being , which is why sales of everything from outdoor seating and lighting to fire pits and patio heaters have been trending up since March. Several of the country's best designers and architects have even set up outdoor offices to support creativity and productivity while working from home.
Outdoor spaces have also provided safer settings for small gatherings with friends and family during the coronavirus pandemic, with a handful of top tastemakers making plans to host Thanksgiving outside this year .
So, with winter on the horizon, it's time to shift our outdoor spaces—and our mindsets—for a season of cooler temperatures. "For a comfortable winter outdoors, we have to make art of winter, and for that, we just need to look to ski resorts for inspiration," says Mary Alice Palmer, director of hospitality interiors at HKS . "When people go skiing, they're prepared to enjoy the outdoors in the cold."
As the principal designer responsible for many of HKS's most recognized hotel designs, including The Ritz-Carlton in Portland and Bishop's Lodge in Santa Fe, Palmer has recently been helping hotel and restaurant clients develop design solutions to preserving the alfresco experience that worked well for many this summer. Here, she shares her eight secrets to enjoying an outdoor living space all winter long.
Embracing winter outside is all about creating warmth, and that starts with fire. This is something our prehistoric ancestors found out when they discovered fire and began coming together around it at the end of the day. Wood-burning fire pits are the most magical, in Palmer's opinion, but anything with clean-burning fuel will do the trick.
The ambiance that lanterns, string lights, and even great outdoor heaters can provide when dealing with cold weather is unparalleled. The right lighting almost instantly changes the mood and helps draw people out and embrace the outdoors. This is a critical investment that will transform your outdoor space.
For those not up on their Scandinavian lingo, hygge ( pronounced hue-ga ) is a word used to describe a blissful state of coziness (you can learn more in The Book of Hygge ). In Denmark, it is a way of life, and it translates well when it comes to styling the perfect cold-weather scheme for outdoor living spaces as we head into the cold months. Palmer pictures friends gathered around a table with flickering candlelight enjoying laughter and conversation on a dreary Copenhagen day.
And while hygge is not a particularly new trend, we can learn from how Scandinavian communities embrace the inevitable cold months during their winter season. If there was ever a time when we need a little magic and joy, this year is it.
There are so many great synthetics on the market these days, many with cozy textures that mimic the feel and warmth of boucle, chenille, velvet, or wool. Even artificial fur!
Now's a great time to start that blanket collection. Boiled wool blankets are great because they hold heat well. Drape them over the backs of outdoor chairs to cozy up existing cushions or to be used by guests as an extra layer during a fire pit party. Bonus: You can wash and store them easily.
For open porches, the most straightforward way to do this is to invest in window treatments like curtains or roller shades. And if you have enough space, you could even put up a canvas yurt or teepee-style tent in your backyard.
Palmer has always had more success luring people outside in the winter when there was some sort of activity, like roasting marshmallows or stoking a fire. This is not just something you want to consider when planning a gathering but also when designing the space. For example, you'll want to think about whether or not you want a grill and what type, or something like a pizza oven. Palmer is planning an outdoor pizza party where each guest will top their own individual pizza grilled on her Big Green Egg. Even serving something like fondue helps people forget about being cold.
Palmer firmly believes that it's completely possible to embrace the winter months with a mindset around dressing appropriately for it. Americans should invest in winter garb like they never have before. With the right winter clothing, we'll be able to sit outside for hours.
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As the weather starts getting blustery and chill, parents everywhere are scrambling to find outdoor winter activities for their kids. Everyone can think of the obvious ones like sledding, ice skating, and building a snowman. Yet somehow, even before Christmas, your kids are going to be complaining that they’ve “already done that.”
I still say the best outdoor winter activities are the ones your kids come up with themselves. Their little brains and bodies subconsciously know EXACTLY what kind of stimulation they need for their development, and a little boredom and regular outdoor time is sure to help them get in touch with that.
If you’d like something a little more educational, however, or if you’d like to really wow them, I’ve got a few outdoor winter activities you can try. In some cases, I bet you’ve never seen activities like this before, since I or someone I know made them up!
Watch out though- you might decide you want to try these even more than your kids do!
Have your kids found the “marble run” video trend on YouTube yet? ( Here’s an example for the uninitiated .) They’re honestly so fun and wholesome, and super easy to replicate. Send your kids outside with a bag of marbles and let their imaginations run wild. Just be prepared for them to ask to borrow your phone so they too can go viral!
It’s possible this is just thanks to my French-Canadian roots, but there’s nothing I loved more than a child than making maple candy. Also known as maple taffy or ‘sugar on snow,’ this is a staple of sugar shacks all around New England and Quebec.
Simply grab a pan or trough and fill it with fresh, hard-packed snow. Then, boil some pure maple syrup (not the high-fructose corn syrup pancake stuff). Finally, pour the super hot syrup in lines or swirls onto the snow and use a popsicle stick to wrap it up into a ball. Enjoy!
Grab some spare kitchen tools (or get a few disposable bowls if you don’t want Johnny messing with your prized Tupperware) and let your kids have fun mixing snow, mud, ice, berries, evergreen needles- whatever they can find! Pretend to enjoy “eating” their concoctions when they inevitably offer you some.
Do you remember the movie Cheaper by the Dozen ? I always loved the scene where they played “apple shmere,” or baseball minus the bat and ball and substituting an apple and tennis racket.
Send your kids out into the yard with some snow goggles, tennis rackets, and snowballs and wait for the delighted squeals!
Either use hand packed walls or use an igloo mold like this for individual “bricks.” To take this activity to the next level, you could include some conversation or reading about how igloos are an actual Inuit survival skill, or conduct an igloo decorating contest!
Take your kids on a nature hike (or send them out into the backyard) after a fresh snowfall. Then, have them find animal tracks. If you want to make this more educational, you can have them look up the tracks in a special reference guide like this to learn what made them 
Grab some cut up fruit, peanut butter, and birdseed, and make ornaments. You can also gather some berries (like cranberries) and popped, unflavored popcorn and make garlands. If you have any concerns, kids can do research about healthy wild animal food. Even birds and squirrels deserve a happy holiday!
Even though it would be cool, you don’t need an actual bobsled or luge. A normal kid’s sled (or even the amazon cardboard box it arrives in) will do. Build up snow into giant piles if you don’t have naturally occurring hills, and let your kids run wild making twists, turns, and dips all over the yard.
This can be a lot of fun for learning about temperature and even food safety. You can either have them use an existing box and pack snow around the outside, or fully create one with a snow structure, shelves and all. Throw a thermometer in there to keep track of the inner temperature and voila! Now you have some extra space to store a frozen pizza or two (as long as you keep a close eye on that temperature).
There are some great guides online ( I like this one from education.com ). Grab all necessary materials and have fun cooking even when it’s cold out!
This one might be hard to convince your kids of at first, but maybe sweeten the deal (literally) with a bribe of cocoa at the end. You also could nudge them over to your elderly neighbor’s house. They’ll either learn the value of helping others, or they might get a butterscotch candy as thanks.
Make a snow maze or write something in the snow. This can be an especially good outdoor winter activity if you have 2+ children and a multiple story house. Have someone in an upper window looking over the back yard calling out with a walkie talkie where the groundling child should march next.
Have your child grab some peri-, squirt-, or spray bottles and fill them with water & food coloring. I personally am not a fan of how washed out and messy these paintings look a few days after the fact however. I suggest waiting for a day just before a predicted fresh snowfall or an upcoming heat wave to melt the art away.
In a pie plate , have your kids place colorful berries, leaves, sticks, or pine boughs in whatever arrangement pleases them. Take a piece of string and lay it half in and half outside the pie plate. Then, gently fill the dish with water and let it sit outside overnight. Come morning, you’ll have a frozen sun catcher to hang!
Include hula hoops, things to crawl under, logs or other balance beam things, sled pulls, downhill elements, etc. Give someone a stop watch and let them run themselves ragged trying to beat each other’s times all afternoon.
Let one child at a time create a path with his or her foot and hand prints, then encourage the rest to match those prints exactly. Have the leader vary their stride, how far left or right they step, or even walk like another animal and use hand or crawl prints!
Can you get an easier game? Using a rock or pine cone as the marker, have kids create a set of 6 bocce snowballs and see who can roll theirs closest to the marker.
Have your kids begged you for a slackline yet? It seemed like one of the hot new toys in my neck of the woods last holiday season, but I know plenty of mothers who could only see upcoming emergency room trips and broken bones.
Here’s a quick newsflash for all you worry-worts (like me) out there: falling on snowbanks is much softer than normal ground! Winter is the perfect time to break out a slackline (or you can get a slackline that comes with a kid’s training line such as this one ).
Have someone hide something in the snow. Then, the rest of the kids run around playing ‘hot and cold’ til someone digs and finds it.
See if your kids can use the imprints of their bodies to make a snow snake, a snow spider, or a snow circle. 
You can use different foods like fruits, peanut butter, even bacon grease in addition to bird seed. See what kind of birds show up over the next week! (Pro tip: place your feeders near thick, brushy area or around a tree to make birds feel safe. Also, if possible, shovel the area underneath the feeders so birds can see the grass below.)
All you need for this outdoor winter activity is a cold day, a bowl or dish full of soapy water, and a straw (but don’t use the metal ones!). Let your kids blow bubbles in the cold weather and see if you can get any to freeze in place.
If you have a deck, porch, or treehouse in addition to a large pile of snow, you’re in luck! Your kids can easily fill an entire morning showing off their leaps and flips into a nice, cushy pile of snow. I will note that among the outdoor winter activities, this one really is best after a fresh snowfall. No one wants to jump off the porch and land in a hard, crusty, or icy heap.
Was there recently a monster storm in your neighborhood, and now you have feet of snow your kids don’t know what to do with? Have your kids make the most ridiculous snow sculptures they can think of! Depending on whether your kids lean towards quantity of buildings or one giant snow castle, you might think of keeping a card table on hand to help with structural integrity.
Am I the only one that secretly still loves doing this? Of course, you should teach your kids to use their judgement and learn all appropriate snow-eating rules first. (I.e., don’t eat yellow snow, only freshly fallen snow, no snow from straight off the street, whatever.)
Have your kids pretend to be on Top Chef, become snow food critics, or shape the snow into other foods before chowing down. Enjoy!
If you are looking for something a little more indoorsy (or straight up educational) to do during the winter, be sure to check out a new unit study on The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats that’s sure to please all the little snowy adventurers in your life.
Hillary is a former teacher who went rogue and became a freelance writer. When not offering support and advice to homeschooling families, she tends to her own garden, family, and cat. You can connect with her on her website, homegrownhillary.com .

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Think winter means you have to be indoors all the time?
I’ve put together this list of 100 outdoor activities that you can do all winter long to keep getting the benefits of getting outside .
Depending on where you live, some of these will be more feasible than others. But don’t let any inclement weather stop you.
1. Go skiing.
2. Try a polar bear swim .
3. If you live somewhere rainy, jump around in mud puddles.
4. Learn to snowboard.
5. Gather some friends and go ice skating.
6. Cross country ski.
7. Go sledding.
8. Take a walk in the rain or snow.
9. Get a pair of shoe shoes and go exploring.
10. Work out outside.
11. Go stand up paddle boarding (just don’t fall in).
12. Fly a kite.
13. Have a snowball fight.
14. Lace up your sneakers and go for a run.
15. Travel somewhere warm and swim in the ocean.
16. Do some sprints in a nearby park.
17. Play tennis.
18. Go for a hike.
19. Practice your handstands in a grassy (or snowy) field.
20. Take your dog for a long walk.
21. Get a (warm) wetsuit and learn to surf.
22. Jump rope outside.
23. Find an outdoor pull up bar and practice your pull ups.
24. Play in the snow.
25. Play hockey outdoors.
26. Bundle up and ride your bike.
27. Go horseback riding.
28. Try helicopter skiing.
29. Take up skate skiing.
30. Rent a snowmobile.
31. Make a snow angel.
32. Go hang gliding.
33. Do walking lunges on an outdoor track.
34. Run stairs .
35. Throw the ball for your dog.
36. Do a ‘ worst day of the year ‘ bike ride.
37. Play tag.
38. Build a snow man.
39. If you live somewhere snowy, shovel your driveway.
40. Blow bubbles with your kids (in the winter, they turn into ice bubbles ).
41. Go fishing.
42. Make ice sculptures.
43. Hold a winter olympics tournament in your backyard or a nearby park.
44. Build a snow fort.
45. Jump on a trampoline.
46. Prepare your garden for spring.
47. Take your kids (or your nieces and nephews) to the playground.
48. Take a nature walk .
49. Mountain climb.
50. Get adventurous and do some winter backpacking.
51. Gather some friends and throw a football.
52. Play capture the flag .
53. Walk on the beach.
54. Take your pooch to a dog park.
55. Train for a half marathon (or a full one, if you’re up to it)
56. Get a hot chocolate and go for a stroll around your town.
57. Play bocce ball.
58. Throw a frisbee with your kid or a friend.
59. Shoot some hoops at an outdoor court.
60. Play tetherball.
61. Dust off your old skateboard and learn some new moves.
62. Swing a kettlebell in your backyard.
63. Do a tabata workout outside.
64. Find an outdoor wall and do some wall balls.
65. Pretend you’re back in gym class and practice your grapevine skills.
66. Walk up hills.
67. Play horseshoes.
68. Climb a tree .
69. Get a hula hoop and take it outdoors.
70. Mountain bike.
71. Raise some money for a good cause by signing up for a walkathon.
72. Train for a Tough Muddler event.
73. Do jumping jacks in the rain or snow.
74. Go bar hopping (by foot).
75. Run up hills.
76. Play hopscotch.
77. Try ice fishing.
78. Play HORSE or PIG.
79. Kick around a soccer ball.
80. Play outdoor squash.
81. Shadow box outside .
82. Use a playground as your gym.
83. Do some burpees outside.
84. Practice your double jumps outside.
85. Join an ultimate frisbee team.
86. Branch out from snow men and make snow sculptures.
87. Make a snow cone and eat it outside.
88. Go bungee jumping .
89. Throw a baseball.
90. Practice your box jumps in your driveway.
91. Do cartwheels in the grass or snow.
92. Have a puddle splashing contest.
93. Walk around and take pictures outside.
94. Clean up your yard.
95. Wash your car.
96. Juggle in the park.
97. Do yoga on top of a hill, a beach, or on a rooftop.
98. Bundle up and have an outdoor picnic.
99 . Get a group together for a game of handball.
100. Play outside.
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