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.
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Materials You’ll Need for the Snowball Toss Game
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.
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.)
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.
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.
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.
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.)
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.
I love how this game gets kids moving and working on gross motor skills (throwing, bending, running, etc.) while practicing the alphabet.
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.
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.
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