If there's one craft supply that I like to pick up from the dollar store the most, it's quite possibly seasonal foam shapes. I have bunnies, hearts, Christmas ones, snowflakes, snowmen, and so many more. They're so versatile, which is why I like to keep a healthy supply of them around my house.
One way we like to use them is to create simple a balancing game. This snowflake balance game and gross motor activity is just one example.
This snowflake gross motor activity is super simple to set up and the kids will love it! It's also a quick way to burn off energy (a must when you live somewhere that gets unbelievably cold for many months during the winter!) and work on different skills (you'll find lots of ways to play and learn below!).
A version of this post originally appeared on the CBC Parents website.
Snowflake Balance Game: What You'll Need
Here's what you'll need for this simple little snowflake activity:
- A pack of large foam snowflake shapes - I found packs of these at Dollarama and they included different colors in each pack.
- Permanent marker (optional) - To label the snowflakes with sight words, numbers, letters, etc. See the variations section of this post for more ideas. Alternatively, if you don't want to write directly on the snowflakes, you could label sticky notes and put those on the snowflakes instead.
Simply create a path for your kids along the floor using the foam snowflakes. It can be a straight path if you want or you can make it bend and sway to make it a bit more challenging and interesting.
Keep in mind that you can make this activity as simple or as challenging as you'd like simply by spacing the snowflakes closer or father apart as well.
Once you have your snowflake path laid out, it's ready for play. There are lots of ideas below.
We have done lots of seasonal variations of this snowflake game in the past. So often, in fact, that every time K sees me grab a set of foam shapes, he's like: "Can I jump or walk across those?!"
Ideas for How to Play this Snowflake Game
There are many ways that you can play this game, but the basic idea is to move from snowflake to snowflake without touching the ground in between. However, for an added challenge, you could encourage your kids to:
- Walk on their tip toes across the snowflakes
- Walk backwards
- Touch only the snowflakes and if they touch the carpet or floor, then they have to go back to the start
- Hop from snowflake to snowflake, either on one leg or both legs
- Hop from snowflake to snowflake, but alternate which leg you use for each snowflake (e.g., left foot on one, then right foot on the next, then left, right, etc.)
- Crawl across the snowflakes, making sure hands and feet touch only the snowflakes and not the carpet or floor
- Step on every other snowflake
- Walk across the snowflakes while carrying something
- Pick up snowflakes behind them after they move to the next snowflake
- Time them to see how long it takes them to walk across all of the snowflakes
Feel free to get creative with this snowflake game! As we'll see in the next section, you can easily transform this simple balance game into a learning activity to target sight words, math skills, and so much more!
Learning Variations for this Snowflake Gross Motor Activity
If you want to sneak in some extra learning, then you could try the following ideas:
- Label each snowflake with sight words or spelling words and have your child read the words as they walk across
- Number the snowflakes and have your child count as they walk across (try this idea to practice times tables or skip counting)
- Label each snowflake with the letters of the alphabet and have your child name the letters as they walk across (perfect for hyperlexic kids!)
- Write simple math equations on each snowflake and have your child answer the question before they move to the next snowflake
- Write a simple instruction on each snowflake (e.g., touch your nose, clap 5 times, touch your toes, spell your name) and have your child read the instruction and do what it says before they move to the next snowflake
- Label each snowflake with music symbols and have your child name what the symbol is before moving to the next snowflake (great for music teachers!)
- Label each snowflake with a simple rhythm to clap and have your child clap the rhythm that they see before moving to the next snowflake (another great idea for music teachers!)
Again, feel free to get creative with this snowflake gross motor activity. There are endless possibilities, as you can see.
However you decide to adapt it, I hope that your kids enjoy this simple snowflake balance game as much as my kids do.
