It’s Day 14 of our 31 Days of Indoor Fun for Toddlers and today we created a Snowman Fine Motor Game for Toddlers! This is something your toddler can use over and over again all winter long! It takes a bit of preparation initially, but the use it receives afterwards will be well worth it!
Safety Note: If your toddler still puts items in his/her mouth, please skip this activity or use larger balls (like ball pit balls) that cannot fit inside a child’s mouth.
This simple activity is great for fine motor control (fitting an object through a hole) and you can also add one-to-one correspondence practice by counting every ball that your child puts in the snowman. Later down the road, you can even add letters or numbers to the ping pong balls for additional practice!
Here’s what you’ll need:
A container with a wide-mouth large enough to fit a ping pong ball
White spray paint (optional)
A small piece of fabric for a scarf
1. Start with a jar that has a wide enough mouth that a ping pong ball can fit through the top.
I used a Pace Picante bottle, but would encourage you to use a different type of bottle as it will continue to smell like salsa both now and forever more (blech!). I had some white spray paint on hand, so I decided to spray paint it. You can skip this step if you want and just remove all the labels. Once the white ping pong balls are inside the container it will look white.
2. Grab some ping pong balls and let your little one start filling the snowman!
Little Sister’s face cracks me up in this picture…I have no clue what she is doing. :)
She wanted to play over and over and over again!
Literature Link:
Just a Snowman by Mercer Mayer
The only thing Little Critter wants to do is build a snowman, but first he helps dad shovel, has a snowball fight with Little Sister, goes sledding and ice skating with friends…and then finally gets to build his snowman. At the end of the book he warms up with some hot chocolate and shares some with his snowman!
There Was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow by Lucille Colander
I think the Old Lady Who Swallowed a ____ books are weird, but my kids (and my former students) think they are utterly hilarious. This book is not exception. The text is rhyming and repetitive, perfect for a fun read-aloud! :)
Check out more indoor fun for toddlers here:
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