Dance Away Those Winter Blues: Activities to Build Family Bonds this Season

If you’re spending extra time with your family and friends during winter break – or any time this season - consider how you can play while also connecting intentionally to your emotions... all together!  

Our Change Clinic therapists suggested these Play Therapy-inspired activities that can be adapted for a range of ages, making your family time stronger and more memorable.

The Association for Play Therapy acknowledges that people bond through play — it works best as a tool for emotional development when a parent, family member, or caretaker is actively involved alongside children. That’s you!  

ACTIVITY 1: DANCE IT OUT (ages 0-5) 

Dancing together is fun at any time of year. Make these activities winter themed by playing or singing your favorite snowy, seasonal tunes.  

Age 0-1: Dance party! Play your child’s favorite music and simply dance together. Add a stuffy or soft ball to wave or pass around.  

Age 2-3: Add in animal walks! As you dance, call out different instructions like, “Roll like a snowman!” “Crawl like a polar bear!” or “Waddle like a penguin!”  

Age 4-5: Freeze dance! Blast your favorite music and when it stops, everyone freezes. You can even play outside in the snow or on a walk!  

AGE IT UP: PLAYLIST OF EMOTIONS (ages middle/high school) 

When you’re listening to music or having a dance party as a family, consider spending time together creating a Playlist of Emotions. Everyone can take a different emotion—happiness, nostalgia, sadness, love—and make a playlist that reflects it. This is a powerful form of play that uses music as a metaphor to enhance emotional expression and increase self-awareness.

When you listen to each playlist, you can tell a story or talk about when you’ve felt that emotion. Maybe even do a dance that interprets the feeling! (e.g., slow sways for songs about love; jumping and stomping for songs about anger; skipping or swing dancing for happy songs) 

ACTIVITY 2: EMOTION CHARADES (ages middle/high school) 

You might already play charades when you're together as a family during the winter break. Emotion Charades is a playful way to add a new twist—while practicing empathy and integrating the body into emotional expression.  

All you have to do is play charades as usual, but instead of using the typical categories (people, places, things) you will use emotions (glee, frustration, confusion, excitement, celebration). Check out this Feelings Wheel to get started.  

Playing Emotion Charades is a great way to explore the range of human emotions and develop the ability to read social cues, which is an important part of social success in life (and good practice no matter your age!).  

With these Play Therapy activities, you can see that even simple forms of play can help us connect with our family members of all ages. Small shifts to typical activities can turn something regular into something meaningful that invites us all to practice emotional exercise, build empathy for each other, and make memories, no matter how old we are or what we’re feeling inside.