Indoor Activities for Kids: Instant Indoor Snowball Fight
Snow – love it or hate it? Personally, I love it! Having grown up in Wisconsin, trekking off to Alaska, and then landing in Missouri – I miss it. While we do get a bit of snow every year where we live in southwest Missouri, we don’t always get enough for a day of sledding, cross country skiing, fort building, or snow ball fights.
Sometimes there isn’t enough snow, not the right kind of snow, or it’s too windy and cold – what do you do?
We’ve got the answer! Bear Paw Creek’s new Snowball Movement Prop Kit + Kids = Indoor Snowball Fight
The Snowball Freeze
About a year ago, Carole from Macaroni Soup asked me to make a custom drawstring bag for her snowball kit. Of course, I was curious what it was all about and she graciously shared it with me, and said I should add it to Bear Paw Creek so others can add it to their tool kit for indoor classroom education. I finally have gotten my hands on some indoor snowballs (shower poofs), the cds, and have a stock of bags sewn up.
As of 2010, Carole says, “The Snowball Freeze Fight – it’s my best known original activity!” I’m not sure if that still hold true, as she has many others, and just released a new album as well, “Welcome” (Teaser:there are FOUR stretchy band songs on it!) but you are in for a treat. She also says, “I love to do the SFF in the middle of The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats –when Peter would love to be in the snowball fight with the big boys, but he isn’t ready, not yet. I pause, put the book down and ask, “Would YOU like to have a Snowball Fight?” And we’re off! Then, when we’ve had our SFF, I pick up the book and we see what happens to Peter next!
See a video of “The Freeze” in action.
The following comes right from her blog:
The Freeze
(also known as “Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow” by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne!)
Hear it on Dancing Feet.
You don’t have to live up North to have a blast with this activity song! The music can be used as a straightforward Freeze Dance. I’ve found that most 3 – 5 year olds know what that is. If your children do not know what that means, please teach them step by step so that they are clear about when to stop and start. I use “The Freeze” for my SNOWBALL FREEZE FIGHT! Many years ago I created this activity for a group of 4 and 5 year old boys who were having difficulty with self-control. Now this issue isn’t just a “boy” thing – everyone can use help learning to listen, and stop. The SFF was a hit from the first throw, and over the years I’ve used it for everything from 2 year olds, to teens, to family sing alongs, to a prison population! It never fails! You can see from the pictures how much fun it is!
Note to pacificists: it’s not about “fighting” – if the words Snowball Fight make you uncomfortable, call it a Snowball Throw or Toss. It’s done with smiles and laughter no matter what you call it!
TWO RULES:
- You may not deliberately throw ANYTHING, even a pretend snowball, at someone’s face – it might surprise them or knock off glasses.
- You may only hold 1 snowball at a time. If you hold more (demonstrate) – you are a Snowball Piggy!
Then put the music on and let’er rip! About 2 minutes of music is plenty! Be sure you and any available adults participate, too! It’s a blast!
Props: What do I use for snowballs? Those white louffa’s/mesh puffs that make lousy sponges but great snowballs. If you can’t find them in the dollar stores, check with parents – lots of people have them stashed away in drawers because they’re lousy sponges, but they come with many beauty products! If you can’t find them, email me and I’ll give you some online sources for bulk purchases, carole@macaronisoup.com. You will need approximately 2 per participant to get started (12 children, 24 puffs).
Age Range: ALL AGES, with the exception of infants!
Purpose: FUN! Oh, and self-control, spatial awareness, group dynamic, gross motor exercise, and FUN!
NOTE TO CONFERENCE PRESENTERS USING THIS ACTIVITY: Please credit me as the “author” of the Snowball Freeze Fight – it’s my best known original activity! Please direct conferees to this page/website – and have a blast with it!
Instant Snowball Fight with Bear Paw Creek’s Indoor Snowball Movement Prop – Just add Kids! Share on X
Get Your Snowballs
I am a do-it your self kind of girl so here are some ideas on making your own snowballs.
- When I was a kid, we used socks! So you can always used rolled up socks
- Here is a great tutorial on making snowballs using golf practice balls and yarn.
- Go buy your own shower poofs! Maybe you can liven it up and buy colored ones to make it more exciting. It makes me think of Dr. Seuss’ “The Cat Comes Back” and all of the colored snow.
- Another tutorial that used Styrofoam balls, batting and glue.
If you don’t like do-it-yourself projects or just don’t have time to mess with it, we’ve made the work easy for you. We just added an indoor snowball movement prop set to our site. You will get 30 snow balls in a mesh drawstring bag. You also have the option of purchasing the wonderful “Dancing Feet” cd. This has has 18 songs on it. So you won’t only get “The Freeze” you will have 17 more to inspire movement at home or in your classroom.
Be sure to check it out, $40 for a set of 30 snowball poofs with the “Dancing Feet” cd, or just the snowball set for $30. Both sets include a storage bag, of course!
I love that you give suggestions for those who want to make the snowballs themselves and offer your Instant Snowball Fight for those who want the convenience. 🙂
We also use paper balls. We start with the paper we need to recycle, cut in half. We work on hand strengthening by crumpling the paper into balls and then tossing them. We continue to play until we are tired, and then we race to put the paper balls into bags. After everything is cleaned up, we use the bags of paper balls to make a snowman – hat and facial features taped to the bags. We then display our droopy snowman for the season.
Thanks for sharing – what a great idea! You could sing “Happy Birthday Mr. Snowman” after you build it.