Now that our kids are a little older, we have discovered that winter in Pittsburgh can actually be really fun. So many people complain about the cold and the snow, but we love it. When there are fun things to do outside, it makes winter much more bearable. Here are some of the things our family likes to do outside in the winter.
Ice Skating
We love to go ice skating. North Park and South Park both offer free skating lessons for ages five and up in December and January. It’s also fun to skate at PPG Place downtown.
Sledding
We love sledding and guess what? Pittsburgh is full of awesome sledding hills. You probably have one in your backyard. Most people do. Or just go to any local park and you’ll probably be able to find a good sledding hill.
Skiing/Snowboarding
Boyce Park is located in Monroeville and has a little ski hill. This is perfect for teaching kids how to ski or snowboard. It is super cheap (compared to full ski resorts). There is one lift with a couple runs and a carpet for the bunny hill. Since it’s close and cheap, we often will go there for a Friday evening or a Saturday afternoon.
About an hour and a half away from Pittsburgh, you can find full ski resorts – Seven Springs and Hidden Valley. If there’s been a lot of snow, these ski slopes are great. We’ve done some of the ski school lessons there and have been really happy with them. Seven Springs also has a kid watch area where we can leave our younger kids for a couple hours while we hit the slopes.
Tubing
Boyce Park also offers snow tubing. It is open on Friday afternoon through the weekend. You do need to be a certain height, but it’s tons of fun.
Hiking
We love hiking in the snow. Throw on some snowpants, boots, hats and gloves, and our kids have a blast hiking through the snow. They love to find icicles, throw snowballs, and slide down slippery rocks. Check out my post about our favorite hikes here. They are all fun to hike in the snow.
