Snowball Fight!

Skills: throwing, motor planning, core strength, balance, hand/eye coordination

With all this snow, I have been thinking about fun ways to bring the outdoors to an indoor recess activity. Snowball throwing would be such a fun way to bring active learning to the classroom. You can make your own snowballs out of yarn or buy soft, fluffy white balls. 

 (picture credit: https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=snowball+fight&chips=q:snowball+fight,g_5:elf&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjBjP2wxsvYAhXIk-AKHevCCF4Q4lYIMSgA&biw=1047&bih=481&dpr=1.3#imgrc=uAGcdy-CfVl3rM:)

How the game works:

 

Decide what academic skill you want to address: math, color recognition, shape recognition, name recognition….the list goes on and on!

Write the answers, names, colors, shapes, etc. each on their own separate paper plate.

Attach the paper plates on 1 wall in the classroom. Make sure to place them at various heights and spread them out! They should take up a large space of the wall.

Place a tape line on the floor about 3 feet away from the “wall of answers”.

Place all of your “snowballs” on the floor in a pile behind the line or in a bucket.

Have students stand in a line behind the “throwing line”.

Ask the first student in line to answer the question. Once the question has been answered, have the student squat to pick up the “snowball”. The student will then throw the snowball attempting to hit the right answer.

This student then moves to the end of the line and the next student takes their turn.

Variations of this activity:

You could have 2 lines and play in teams to see who can hit the target first.

You could play in a seated circle and toss the snowball to the student who requests a turn.

You could have students kneel to throw, use ½ kneel to throw, or move the target farther back.

This is a fun game to play on cold days or just to get your class moving!

Movement Matters- Whitney Carter PT, DPT