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Preschool Activities

Snowball Toss Alphabet Game for Toddlers

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I’m always looking for ways to get kids moving and learning especially in winter when we’re stuck inside more.

Let’s practice letter recognition and letter sounds with a pretend snowball fight.

Toddlers and preschoolers will love this snowball toss alphabet game. And, once you’re done playing you can move on to more fun activities for toddlers.

Help your kids learn their ABC's with this fun Snowball Throw Alphabet game for toddlers and preschoolers.

Disclosure: There are Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations. You can read our full disclosure policy on our Disclosure Page for more details.

Materials You’ll Need for the Snowball Toss Game

Snowballs

Card stock(or paper)

Paper cutter (or scissors)

Tape (I used masking tape.)

Marker

Paper plates (or something similar – use plastic bowls, plates, or even pieces of paper)

I found 10 indoor snowballs for $3 at the Target dollar spot. Walmart is selling 20 indoor snowballs for about $10. You can also get indoor snowballs on Amazon. You could even make your own snowballs from balled up socks or crumpled paper.

The indoor snowballs remind me of giant pom poms, but they are weirdly squishy. You know how real snow feels when you make a snowball – that squishy, crunchy feeling? The indoor snowballs replicate that feeling.

Set Up Your Snowball Throw Alphabet Game

I used a paper cutter to cut a piece of white card stock into 1-inch squares. Then, I wrote a letter on each paper square. I drew a line at the bottom of each lowercase letter and some of the uppercase letters just so it was easy to tell which direction the card went.

Your toddler or preschooler will have fun moving and learning their abc's with this simple gross motor Snowball Toss Alphabet Game

I used uppercase and lowercase letters for our matching game. You could play the matching game with the same case to work more on introducing letters.

Select 10 letters to work with. (This helps focus on just some of the letters instead of the entire alphabet. If you have more snowballs, feel free to use more letters.)

Your toddler or preschooler will have fun moving and learning their abc's with this simple gross motor Snowball Toss Alphabet Game

Tape one lowercase letter to each snowball.

Now you’ll need a landing zone for the snowballs. I used small paper plates. You could use containers or even pieces of paper.

Tape one uppercase letter to each landing zone.

Your toddler or preschooler will have fun moving and learning their abc's with this simple gross motor Snowball Toss Alphabet Game

Place the uppercase letters on one side of the room. We lined the paper plates up near the wall.

Make a pile of snowballs on the other side of the room.

Practice the alphabet with this fun indoor snowball game for toddlers

Play this snowball toss alphabet game

Have your child pick up a snowball and find the letter on it. Ask him to say the name of the letter. (You can also have him say the letter sound.)

Now have your child throw the snowball across the room (towards the paper plates). I had my kids throw the snowballs at the wall.

Next, have your child pick up the snowball and find it’s matching letter on a paper plate. Say: “You have the little (lowercase) letter e. Can you find the big (uppercase) letter E?” Have her place the snowball on the correct letter.

Your toddler or preschooler will have fun moving and learning their abc's with this simple gross motor Snowball Toss Alphabet Game

Keep throwing snowballs and matching letters until you run out.

Then, you can reset the game and play it all over again. Use the same letters or practice different ones. (We stayed on the same set for a while. We’ll switch out the letters and play again another day.)

Your toddler or preschooler will have fun moving and learning their abc's with this simple gross motor Snowball Toss Alphabet Game

My toddler (age 2.5) and my preschooler (age 4.5) equally enjoyed this snowball toss alphabet game. They loved getting to throw the snowballs at the wall and then had fun finding the right letter.

Sometimes my toddler read the letters upside down and just made a match with whatever he thought the letter was. I had to have him slow down a bit and help him double check the letters.

Your toddler or preschooler will have fun moving and learning their abc's with this simple gross motor Snowball Toss Alphabet Game.

I love how this game gets kids moving and working on gross motor skills (throwing, bending, running, etc.) while practicing the alphabet.

Your toddler or preschooler will have fun moving and learning their abc's with this simple gross motor Snowball Toss Alphabet Game.

More Winter Themed Activities for Toddlers

Practice your numbers with this fun Snow Numbers Activity that uses real snow.

Use snow as a canvas for some Snow Painting.

Make a fizzy snow dough sensory bin.

Try some penguin painting, an easy art project that’s perfect for toddlers.

Learn your ABCs with this fun gross motor Snowball Throw Alphabet Game for Toddlers

Find All Your Supplies Here

You may already have some of the supplies you need at home. I know I always have a roll of tape and some card stock. But, if you’re looking to buy some of the supplies, here are a few that I recommend.

Are you looking for more kids activities?

Join our fun Facebook community, Creative Family Fun for Busy Families, for daily activities that are great for kids and families. We’ll chat, share, and have fun. It’s a safe and private place to share ideas for family and kids activities.

I’d love for you to join me! Just click the link below, request to join, and answer the questions (they’re easy, I promise). Come join the fun! Join the Creative Family Fun for Busy Families community here.

Number Rocks Counting Game for Toddlers

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Let’s make learning to count a fun game with rainbow number rocks.

Use these number rocks to practice counting and number recognition in a counting game for toddlers. You could use the number rocks to practice math skills with preschoolers and elementary ages, too.

Make a fun set of rainbow number rocks to help your toddler practice counting. Includes DIY instructions and fun counting games to play.

How to Make your Number Rocks

Select some rocks from your child’s rock collection or buy a bag of rocks. I found mine at the dollar store. Paint the rocks. Acrylic paint usually turns out brighter but washable tempera paint works too.

Be careful using small rocks as they can pose a choking hazard. Always supervise. If your child likes to put things in his mouth, choose large rocks.

These rocks are perfect to use and easy to paint!

Depending on your paint and rock colors, you may need two or three coats. I recommend allowing your rocks to dry on wax paper or freezer paper. They have a tendency to stick to newspaper and then the paint peels off.

Once the paint is dry, you can write or paint numbers on the rocks. I did the numbers 1-10 for my toddler. I also did 11-20 for my 5 year old.

Make a fun set of rainbow number rocks to help your toddler practice counting. Includes DIY instructions and fun counting games to play.

Counting Games for Your Number Rocks

We put all of the rocks in numerical order and practiced counting them.

Next, you’ll need to gather some toys to be counted. We used our collection of ducks as well as Little People animals and people. Cars, blocks, DUPLO, stuffed animals, or any type of toy you have at least 10 of will work. It’s okay to mix and match as needed.

Place the number rocks in a bucket or container. Have the toys in a pile nearby.

Ask your child to choose a number from the bucket. What is the number? Have him say the number or repeat the number after you say it.

Place the number rock on the ground. Ask your child to find that many toys.

Say, “That’s the number 7. Can you put 7 ducks next to the number?” Help count the toys as your child places them down.

Set that rock off to the side and return the toys to their pile.

Let your child choose another number rock. Have her say the number and place it on the ground. Count out that many toys.

You could also have your child find the number rock that matches the number of toys he has out.

My toddler had 4 animals out. He wanted to add a goat. Now we had 5 animals. I asked him to find the number 5.

Make a fun set of rainbow number rocks to help your toddler practice counting. Includes DIY instructions and fun counting games to play.

Then, he wanted to find the next number (the 6) and add another animal. He continued counting this way for a while.

Add an animal, find the number rock to match the number of animals.

With the number 8, he wanted to count out a new set of toys. He chose Little People figures.

After they were all lined up, we practiced counting them again.

If you don’t have number rocks, you could use number magnets or write numbers on paper or tape numbers to the side of blocks. The goal is to work on seeing and naming the numbers (number recognition) as well as counting.

Fun Toys to Use With Your Number Rocks

More Counting Games for Toddlers

Apple Counting Rocks – Paint rocks to look like apples and use them for counting practice.

Counting Ducks Toddler Math Game – No number rocks in this game, just ducks and containers.

Garbage Truck Counting Game – If your toddlers love garbage trucks, they will love this fun game.

Construction Truck Alphabet Matching Activity for Toddlers

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Does your toddler love trucks? Build on that interest and practice learning letters with this Construction Truck Alphabet Matching Activity for Toddlers.

With this activity, we’ll work on letter recognition, letter sounds, and differentiating between upper case and lower case letters.

Help your toddler and preschooler learn the alphabet with this fun Construction Truck Alphabet Matching activity. It's a fun and hands-on way to learn.

Construction Truck Alphabet Matching Activity for Toddlers

Supplies Needed for Toddler Alphabet Game

Set-Up Your Alphabet Matching Game

The setup for this alphabet game is super easy. All you need are letters and a truck. I used a paper circle punch to cut out paper circles. Then, I wrote a letter on each circle – capital letter on one side, lower case on the other side. I drew a line under each of my lower case letters just so you can tell which way to read the letters. Instead of paper letters, you could use magnet letters. (Just be sure to supervise when using magnets especially if you choose small letters. I like these jumbo wooden letter magnets from Melissa and Doug.)

Next, you need a starting place and a landing area for the letters. I used painter’s tape to mark these areas. Double check your surface before using tape on it. Short term is usually fine for painter’s tape. If you leave it on too long (like overnight), it can damage your surface. Instead of tape, you can use a piece of paper or a tray.

Write capital letters on the tape or paper at your landing area.

Place all of your paper letters on the starting lines. I had the lower case letters facing up. The goal is to match the lower case letters with the capital letters written at the landing area.

How to Play This Alphabet Matching Game

Encourage your child to choose a paper circle. What letter do you see? Ask your child to say the name of the letter. (You can also work on letter sounds.) If she doesn’t know the name of the lower case letter, have her turn the circle over and look at the upper case letter. Does she know the name of the letter now?

Have a construction truck carry the letter to the landing area.

Match the paper circle to the correct capital letter at the landing area. Say: “Can you find the letter ___?”

You could also point to the capital letters and have your child say the name of each one until you get the matching letter.

Place the paper circle on top of the correct capital letter. Take your construction truck back to the start and get another letter.

My toddler loved playing this construction truck alphabet matching game. It was a great way for me to realize what letters he already knows and which ones he could use more practice with.

Once we had done all 26 letters, he wanted to play again. And so we did.

More Alphabet Learning Games for Toddlers

Snowball Toss Alphabet Game – Practice letter recognition and letter sounds with a pretend snowball fight.

Alphabet Jumping Games – Pretend to be frog and get jumping from letter to letter.

Driveway ABC Game – Head outside with some chalk to play this outdoor alphabet game.

Do you want to do more activities with your kids?

Join our fun Facebook community, Creative Family Fun for Busy Families, for daily activities that are great for kids and families. We’ll chat, share, and have fun. It’s a safe and private place to share ideas for family and kids activities.

I’d love for you to join me! Just click the link below, request to join, and answer the questions (they’re easy, I promise). Come join the fun! Join the Creative Family Fun for Busy Families community here.

Spider Toss Number Game for Toddlers

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Spiders are a fun learning theme that’s popular around Halloween. Try our spider toss number game for toddlers to practice number recognition.

Practice number recognition with your toddlers when you play this fun Spider Toss Number Game. It's so much fun to play and learn!

Disclosure: There are Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations. You can read our full disclosure policy on our Disclosure Page for more details.

Spider Toss Number Game for Toddlers

What You’ll Need for the Number Game

Painter’s tape
Cardstock or paper (recycled paper would be great for this)
Marker
Scissors or paper cutter
Spider (made from 5 bump chenille stems)

How to Setup the Spider Themed Number Game

Use your painter’s tape to create a spider web. I like to start with a + and an x. Then connect the lines to make the web. [Painter’s tape should be fine on most surfaces but I don’t recommend leaving it on for long periods of time. Use a large piece of cardboard, posterboard, foamboard, or something similar if you’re wanting to play longer.]

Cut up cardstock or a piece of paper into small squares. Write a number on each square. I used the numbers 1-10. Work on higher numbers if your child is ready. You could even work on number words with older children.

Place the numbers around the spider web.

Create your spider with 5 bump chenille stems (pipe cleaners). I simply twisted the chenille stems together and then wrapped the stems around and around to create the spider body, 8 legs, and 2 pedipalps (short appendages by the spider’s head). I first made this spider for a sponsored post. You can watch a video or read step by step instructions on how to make the pipe cleaner spiders.

Feel free to use any toy spider you have around. Spider erasers or the plastic spiders found in the Halloween section would work well, too. Just be careful of the small size around toddlers who still like to put things in their mouths. A homemade cardboard tube spider would be great for this activity as well.

How to Play the Spider Toss Number Game

Have you child stand near the spider web and toss the spider onto it. What number does the spider land near?

Continue tossing and dropping the spider as long as your child is interested.

The goal is to talk about the numbers as much as possible. Are there certain numbers your child tends to struggle with?

As a second option, you can call out a number and have your child toss or place the spider on that number.

Say, “Where is the number 4? Can you take your spider to the number 4?”

Practice number recognition with your toddlers when you play this fun Spider Toss Number Game.

This is a super simple way for toddlers to practice naming numbers. The spider adds a bit of fun and interest.

If you want to practice counting from 1 to 10, have your child move the spider from number to number in the correct order.

Practice number recognition with your toddlers when you play this fun Spider Toss Number Game. It's so much fun to play and learn!

More Spider Web Games for Preschoolers

Spider Math Games – Work with a number line to practice counting and number recognition.

Fizzy Spider Web Art – Combine science and art to create colorful fizzy spider webs.

Sticky Spider Web Gross Motor Activity – Build a sticky web and see if your spider can catch what you throw.

Spider Web Walking Game – Can you balance on the spider’s web? Another great one for working on gross motor skills for toddlers.

Do you want to do more activities with your family?

Join our fun Facebook community, Creative Family Fun for Busy Families, for daily activities that are great for kids and families. We’ll chat, share, and have fun. It’s a safe and private place to share ideas for family and kids activities.

I’d love for you to join me! Just click the link below, request to join, and answer the questions (they’re easy, I promise). Come join the fun! Join the Creative Family Fun for Busy Families community here.

Snow Numbers Activity for Toddlers

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Do you have snow outside? Are you looking for a winter activity for toddlers or preschoolers?

Bring some snow indoors and try our Snow Numbers activity. It’s a fun way to practice number recognition and work on fine motor skills. If you don’t have any snow, you can make your own.

Practice writing and identifying numbers this winter with this fun snow numbers activity for toddlers that you can do indoors.

Disclosure: There are Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations. You can read our full disclosure policy on our Disclosure Page for more details.

Materials Needed for this Snow Numbers Activity

Snow

Washable liquid watercolors

Droppers

Water

Containers and tray for watercolors

Large storage bin or baking dish

Tablecloth or towels

Tip: While big, a flat plastic underbed storage container is perfect for this activity. You can write the number big and there is plenty of room for more than one child to work together.

How to Set Up the Numbers in Snow Activity

We had lots of snow on the ground so I filled a large underbed storage container with snow. You can use any size container really. I would recommend at least the size of a 9×13 baking dish to give you enough room to play.

Set your container up in an area that’s okay to get a wet. I like to place towels down on top of my kitchen floor.

Draw numbers in the snow. Use your finger or a butter knife.

Add a few drops of washable liquid watercolor to each container of water. I chose red, yellow, and blue. We can explore coloring mixing in the snow as well.

Place a dropper in each of the watercolor and water mixtures. I like to use the jumbo eye droppers from Learning Resources. Squeezing the droppers works on fine motor skills. You could also use smaller medicine droppers, spoons, or even a spray bottle.

Fun snow numbers activity for toddlers

Ways to Play With This Snow Numbers Activity

Encourage your child to color the numbers. If the numbers are difficult to see, you can color them first. Show your child what to do with the first few numbers and then have him follow behind you.

As your child is coloring a number, talk about the numbers and colors. What number do you see? Which color are you using? What happens when you add yellow to the red?

Allow your child to add color onto the numbers, around the numbers, or anywhere in the snow.

You could even work on positional words. Can you add red water under the number 7? Let’s drop blue water on top of the number 5.

Learn your numbers with this fun sensory snow numbers activity that is perfect for toddlers and preschoolers.

Challenge your child to add colored dots next to a number. Where is the number 4? Can you add 4 yellow dots below the number 4?

You could extend this snow numbers activity for older children as well. My kindergartener couldn’t resist playing. Practice addition by counting colored dots.

Practice writing and identifying numbers this winter with this fun snow numbers activity for toddlers that you can do indoors.

More Snow Inspired Winter Actvities

While there’s snow on the ground, try these snow science explorations.

Get the whole family outside to play with these fun snow fort building toys.

Play this snowball toss alphabet game with pretend snowballs.

Do some art outside when you use these simple 2-ingredient snow paints from Ruffles and Rain Boots on your yard.

Do More Activities With Your Family

Join our fun Facebook community, Creative Family Fun for Busy Families, for daily activities that are great for kids and families. We’ll chat, share, and have fun. It’s a safe and private place to share ideas for family and kids activities.

I’d love for you to join me! Just click the link below, request to join, and answer the questions (they’re easy, I promise). Come join the fun! Join the Creative Family Fun for Busy Families community here.