On Friday, February 7, we concluded the 2025 WinterKids Winter Games, a four-week outdoor learning challenge that engaged over 10,000 students and teachers across Maine!
What an incredible four weeks of outdoor fun, learning, and teamwork! A huge round of applause to every participating Winter Games school for embracing the winter, stepping outside, and making the most of the season!
Three Schools received top scores as part of our Competitive Track, through a rubric-style scoring method based on daily challenges. We are thrilled to congratulate our top three Competitive Track schools:
🥇 Gold Medal: Rangeley Lakes Regional School (Franklin County) – taking home the top prize of $5,000!
🥈 Silver Medal: Lamoine Consolidated School (Hancock County) – earning $3,000!
🥉 Bronze Medal: Community Regional Charter School (Somerset County) – winning $1,500!
But that’s not all—every participating school is a winner in our book! A grand total of $18,250 in cash grants was awarded across all competing schools, recognizing their dedication to outdoor education and the spirit of the Games.
2025 final Competitive Track Scores:
From tracking temperatures to measuring precipitation, from harnessing the wind to studying the skies, students across Maine became true weather scientists this year! Their enthusiasm for Moving, Learning, and Exploring outdoors made this year’s WEATHER-themed Winter Games an unforgettable experience.
To every student, teacher, and community that took part—thank you! You’ve shown what it means to embrace winter, work together, and make the most of the great outdoors. Until next year… keep exploring!
Highlights from Week 4
The final week of the WinterKids Winter Games brought plenty of excitement, creativity, and a whole lot of learning! With a focus on clouds, students explored the sky while continuing to build teamwork, school spirit, and outdoor winter enthusiasm. Let’s take a look at the highlights from Week 4.
Winning Moment of the Week Submission:
Winning the Moment of the Week is the singular way to get ahead of the competition in the Winter Games. Each week, Competitive Track schools can submit a photo or video (following the guidelines in their PLAYBooks) to win one bonus point. This week, schools were asked to submit a highlight video.
Congratulations to Lamoine Consolidated School in Hancock County for winning with this fun video!
100% School Participation – A Community Effort!
It’s always inspiring to see entire school communities come together for outdoor learning. Schools like Community Regional Charter School, Cranberry Isle School, Harrison Elementary, Lamoine Consolidated School, Rangeley Lakes Regional School, and Woodland Consolidated School hit an impressive 100% participation rate. That means every student, every teacher, and even some community members got involved in the fun! The excitement of the Winter Games spreads far beyond the classroom, bringing everyone together in an incredible show of teamwork.
Creativity in Cloud Learning
Week 4’s theme of CLOUDS turned students into sky-watchers, with students learning to identify types of clouds and taking notes in the Observer Notebooks. At Woodland Consolidated School, students transformed their daily cloud observations into an outdoor classroom discussion on weather patterns, tying science directly into their surroundings. Over at Cranberry Isle School, students took cloud sketching to the next level, using chalk on blacktop to illustrate the different cloud types they had seen throughout the week.
Staff & Community Support Boosted Winter Spirit
The enthusiasm wasn’t just from students—it was contagious across entire school communities! At Harrison Elementary, the guidance counselor made a daily habit of sharing the morning cloud forecast over the loudspeaker, sparking conversations about the changing weather patterns. Meanwhile, Woodland Consolidated School’s kitchen staff baked a special “Cloud Cake” to celebrate the final week, making sure that even snack time was infused with Winter Games excitement!
Bringing in the Experts – A Hands-On Experience
Throughout the Winter Games, schools are encouraged to invite outside experts to share their knowledge. This week, Rangeley Lakes Regional School made their closing ceremonies extra special by welcoming kite skiers and avalanche experts to teach students about the science behind mountain weather and winter sports. These hands-on lessons made learning about clouds and wind patterns unforgettable!
Closing Ceremonies – A Celebration to Remember!
The end of the Winter Games deserves a grand finale, and schools truly delivered. From sledding races and snow sculptures to hot cocoa celebrations, the closing ceremonies were a fantastic way to reflect on everything learned and experienced over the past four weeks.
Friendship Friday: Being Friendly to Our Planet 🌍
This week’s Friendship Friday activity encouraged students to spread the word about ways to care for the planet! Each student picked one impactful action—something they learned this week, a sustainability tip from their family, or an idea they discovered online—and designed a poster to inspire others. These posters became part of the Closing Ceremonies display, covering hallway walls with powerful messages about how small actions can add up to a big difference for the Earth’s climate.
From turning off lights to conserving water and reducing waste, the halls were filled with reminders that every person, no matter their age, can make a positive impact on our world.
As the 2025 Winter Games wrap up, it’s clear that students, teachers, and communities have created memories that will last a lifetime. Learn more about the WinterKids Winter Games, and sign up for email updates, at winterkids.org/winter-games.
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