Snowball Drop

Snowball Drop

Since the Jingle Bell Drop was such a hit with my friends, I decided to make a snowman version that would be super friendly for my early intervention kiddos. I used white pom poms for snow and an empty milk carton to make the snowman. You could easily draw the snowman’s face, but I decided to make body parts to velcro on for added fine motor work (pulling the pieces off and putting them on) as well as to work on orientation of the body parts. I laminated the pieces to make them more durable and easier to clean since I will be using this with several kiddos. The craft poms are a soft, fun texture to explore and the opening at the top of the milk jug is the perfect size to make it a good visual motor challenge.

With my little ones, I will start by showing them what the face looks like with all the pieces on, then take one off at a time and have them put it back on. When they have that down, I will take all the pieces off and see if they can place them appropriately. This is also a great opportunity to have them identify body parts on you and on themselves! I will show them how to place the poms into the opening and let them imitate. Once I’ve placed them in the milk carton, I will see how they go about trying to get them out and help as needed.

If putting them in the container is easy-peasy for them, I will introduce the bubble tongs, then increase to more challenging tongs from there. I always try to incorporate as much language as possible- eyes, nose, mouth, hat, in, out, shake, top, open, close, etc. You could also use a variety of colored poms to work on color identification. Unscrewing a top is actually a skill assessed on common developmental tests (expected around 24-26 months) and is usually a very motivating skill to work on for my little friends, so add that to the mix of motor skills offered with this activity!

 

For older kiddos, you can make this activity more challenging by using small poms and having them use smaller and more resistive tongs to place the “snowballs” into the container.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fun and adaptable for multiple ages!  Please share your snowman creations if you decide to try this one : )

Materials used for this snowman:

Recycled milk jug

Cardstock– white, black and orange

Velcro -sticky back 

Pom Poms

Beanie

Laminator/Laminating pouches(optional)

Bubble Tongs (optional)

Tongs – not resistive (optional). 

Resistive Tongs (optional).  I also like the ones sold at Dollar Tree similar to these, however, they are not resistive like these.  Just depends on how challenging you want it to be.  Typically kids around 4 years or older will need the resistance for challenge/strengthening.