If winter has you daydreaming about your next warm-weather adventure, you’re not alone! This time of year can be hard to get outside with kids. So, why not use this season of staying warm and close to home to clean, prep, and maintain your gear for your upcoming adventures. Today, Oklahoma dad of 2, Jared Ryan, is here sharing his family’s list of winter chores for kids that help them prepare for their next hiking, biking, or camping adventure. A little gear maintenance, organization, restocking, and preparing will go a long way in getting your family out the door quicker when the weather warms up!
Chores in the off-season
If you are anything like me, the short days of winter often leave you searching for ways to bide your time until your next family adventure. So, what are some ways to actively and productively pass those days?
For me, I really love my “winter chores” to get me through the days where adventuring is not practical or possible. Admittedly our winters are pretty mild, but to be honest some winter days I just want to chill at home and just enjoy my family time. So why not just include my kids in on my chores!?
The benefit of doing chores together
Whether your children regularly participate in chores or not, it’s never too late (or soon) to get them started in helping out around the house. and getting them involved in cleaning or organizing. Did you know research indicates that children who do chores have higher self-esteem, are more responsible, and are better able to deal with frustration and delayed gratification, all of which contribute to greater success in school?
Studies show that involving children in household tasks at an early age can have a positive impact later in life. So, do your kids (and yourself) a favor and choose a winter chore that will help get them involved in taking care of your home and family (which helps you out, too).
Winter chores for kids
My winter to-dos are just regular, mostly simple, tasks that I do each year in preparation for the next season’s adventuring, along with the chores you may already associate with winter itself. Your list will most certainly differ from mine, but hopefully, I can spark some ideas you can include your kiddos in on the prep work for your family’s activities.
Our outdoor hobbies and interest revolve largely around hiking, mountain biking, trail building, fishing, and camping. So, it is no wonder that our winter chores are mostly centered on the maintenance and upkeep of the gear and tools we use for these activities.
1. Sharpening and maintaining our trail tools
We have land and are in the process of making (and maintaining) our own trails through the woods and property. We use our trail tools A LOT. Therefore, we put a lot of care into them year-round. We give them a good looking over to see what needs to be repaired. My kids and I thoroughly inspect the handles for cracks and the blade edges for nicks and chips. This is when we also make sure they’re nice and sharp.
We also look to see what needs to be replaced. Some tools have to be replaced each season, namely our collapsible handsaws as we tend to break the blades pretty often.
2. Splitting firewood
Splitting firewood is another outdoor chore that (depending on age) you can get your kids’ help with. This is probably my kids’ favorite chore and mine as it seems to be a great way to expend their built-up energy. Ideally, we’d fell our tree in the spring or summer to allow the wood to season. When the wood is dry and seasoned, this will make it much easier to split. I have not reached the point of allowing my kids to swing the heavy splitting axe, but they are definitely capable of splitting with a wedge and hammer. Kids can also help with stacking firewood and helping start/make a fire.
3. Servicing and re-spooling fishing reels, organizing tackle
We do a lot of fishing, so it’s important to keep our fishing gear well-maintained. Servicing and respooling our fishing reels is a simple and often forgotten chore. Fishing line becomes brittle over time as it rubs up against sunken timber and rocks and as it sits wet in the sun. I normally like to change ours out on our bass reels every winter. My kids usually don’t mind reeling the line in while I hold the spool on a pencil. It’s pretty fun to see how fast they can reel and pretend they’ve hooked a huge fish!
Winter is also a good time to go through your tackle box to clean it up and organize it. When fishing with kids, things tend to move around a lot and can turn into a mess quickly. We like to take inventory of what we have, what we need to replace, and then make a trip to our local fishing gear shop to restock so we’re ready as soon as it gets a bit warmer.
4. Mountain bike maintenance
I know I said splitting wood may be my kids’ favorite chore, but it might actually be the bike maintenance. We keep our bikes in pretty good shape throughout the year, but winter provides us a little more time to do some deep cleaning.
In the riding seasons, we normally keep the bikes clean and lubed. During the winter we go ahead and do a full-service tune-up on our bikes. After a full breakdown of the bikes, we then inspect, clean, and service the entire bike inside and out. Replacing any worn out and broken parts, while reapplying new grease wherever grease is needed. A complete overhaul on a bike may not be in everyone’s wheelhouse, but if you plan to ride consistently I would say give it a go. Just do not be afraid of starting over a few times.
5. Organizing our gear wall
In our garage, we have a gear wall filled with mountain biking gear, hydration packs, climbing ropes and harnesses, and pretty much anything else that we use and can be hung on a wall. Over the summer, things get lackadaisically hung in the wrong spots, or dirty, or wet. Even though the wall is conveniently marked for “Bikes”, “Hikes”, and “Biners”. The winter is a good time to get this area organized and in tip-top shape. That way we know exactly where everything we need for adventure is, which gets us outside and playing quicker and with way less stress.
6. Restocking our camping totes
We keep three large black totes stocked with all our regular camping essentials. This makes it easy for us to load up and head out without worrying about whether or not we’ve packed everything. Of course, this is contingent on the totes actually being properly stocked.
While we really enjoy winter camping, we still use this season to take an inventory of what we have and what we need to replace. Bringing the kids in on this allows them to give their input on some of what we carry along.
7. Winter yard work
During the winter months, yard work and landscaping is usually the last thing on most people’s minds. But, the winter months are actually a really good time to take care of your yard. I like to let the kids help with raking any leaves or debris that we missed in the fall and cleaning out our gardens, flower beds, and window boxes to keep fungus or mold from growing and get them ready for spring planting. Winter is also a good time to prune your trees, shrubs, and rose bushes. You’ll want this done before they start to bud in the spring. With some proper supervision, kids can help with this process.
Getting kids involved in winter chores
My kids have grown to love our winter chores, even if they only stick around for half of them. I can definitely tell that they are learning new skills and that’s obviously my main intention. Even though our lists of winter chores are probably far different than yours, I hope I was able to get some thoughts rolling on what chores you can do now to get you (and your gear) prepped and ready for the next season of adventure. So, the next time your family is a little bored and looking for a fun way to keep those warm-weather adventures on your mind, do a chore!
About the author
Jared Ryan is a husband to a talented and beautiful wife, Kristen also a father of two fun-loving and adventurous kiddos. He enjoys leading family adventures to both near and far destinations. Whether it is hiking, camping, climbing, bike riding, or playing in the backyard, he loves it all. He instills in his family the importance of nature and all the benefits it can bring to one’s life. Jared is a GIS analyst by trade, so he is naturally drawn to creating maps and all things trail-related, whether it is creating new trails, recording family hikes, or teaching his kids land navigation, he loves to tie in his own work with family adventures.
You can find Jared online in the following locations:
Instagram: @bikeshikesbiners
RWMC posts: Jared Ryan