World Citizen Wednesdays #10: Winter Fun When You Don’t Have Winter

Welcome to World Citizen Wednesday!

Each week we pose a question to members of the fabulous Multicultural Kid Blogs group and share their answers here.

To find out more about these amazing bloggers, check out the Multicultural Kid Blogs Facebook page. And watch for our group website, coming soon!

This week we ask them:

How do you celebrate winter when you live somewhere without snowy weather? 

Frances of Discovering the World through My Son’s Eyes (South Carolina): When I think of winter fun activities, I think of snow! Unfortunately, we don’t have any here in SC! Though it does get cold, we tend to stay indoors. We do some things indoor like build castles with sheets, play hide-n-seek, etc. but they’re not really “winter fun activities” because we do them year round.

Alyson of World Travel Family (Australia): Luckily, my children were born in London and can just about remember that one time we had enough snow to build a snowman. The trouble is, all the wintry Christmas cards and decorations here in Australia have given them the impression that the UK transforms into a winter wonderland every December. Not so! I have to keep reminding them that we only had a decent covering of snow once in 8 years. I’ve promised them they can build a snowman in the Himalayas next year, that keeps them happy!  You can also read Alyson’s recent post about Christmas in the Tropics.

Jody of Mud Hut Mama (Malawi): My oldest asked me if I thought Santa would share a little bit of his snow with us for Christmas this year and it turns out that the Steve Spangler Science Blog is sending us some of their Insta-Snow. I’m really hoping it arrives before Christmas and I plan to put a note on it from Santa himself. Talk about making Christmas magic! We have been in Pennsylvania for Christmas and I have great photos of my kids bundled up in the snow that they love to look at but they were too young to really remember. I’m sure they will have other white Christmases but I think they understand that it is just too hot here for snow. Watching the Frosty the Snowman video and understanding his need to get to the North Pole to avoid melting helps.

Kim of Mama Mzungu (Kenya): Neither of my kids remember snow. One has never even experienced it. I have to admit I’m a bit of a snow scrooge here. I don’t miss it at all. I find it magical for about 20 minutes and then just something you have to drive through and break your back shoveling. Though I do make is *sound* magical when we come across it in books. It’s this *amazing* white powder that falls from the sky instead of rain when it gets very cold out in other parts of the planet. My children remain unconvinced.

Becky of Kid World Citizen (Houston): We visit Chicago every Christmas, and my kids think that is where it snows:). To the extent that last summer we were packing to go there and my kids asked if we could go sledding. I told them no, it was summer!? And they thought it always was snowy in Chicago bc that’s what they remembered!:)

Valerie of Glittering Muffins (Quebec): Living in Canada, Nico only knows snow in the winter and it’s not winter unless there is snow. No snow means the other seasons depending on how much/what kind of leaves are in the trees.

Varya of Little Artists (China): My daughter’s never seen the snow but she knows there are places where the snow is. She never asked me why it doesn’t snow.

Thanks to all the bloggers who shared their answers here! You can find more traditional winter fun ideas in last week’s edition!

You can also read answers to earlier questions in our previous installments of World Citizen Wednesday, including tips for traveling with kids!

You can find out more about these wonderful bloggers by visiting our Facebook page, subscribing to our Facebook feed, following us on Twitter, or following our group Pinterest board! On Twitter, you can also find us by using the hashtag #multiculturalkids. And watch for our very own website, coming soon!