Making Indoor Snowballs
You don't need to wait for winter to allow your snow-loving kids to have a little fun with snowballs. With a little creativity, your kids can throw and play with soft, pretend snowballs indoors without hurting each other or breaking a lamp. Look around your house to find materials that you can use to create snowballs. You can use anything from plain paper to items you might have in your medicine cabinet, leading to hours of pretend snowball play for your kids.
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Paper Snowballs
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The simplest snowballs your kids can make is by simply crumbling up regular white paper into balls. These lightweight balls can be used for monitored indoor snowball fights. Have your kids experiment with other kinds of lightweight paper, such as white tissue paper, wax paper, napkins and construction paper. You can also try crepe paper if you have any leftover white streamers from a party. The kids can test how far they can throw each type of paper snowball to see which one works the best.
Fabric Snowballs
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Have your kids create snowballs out of soft fabric that they can also use for snowball fights or decoration. Your kids can raid their sock drawers and fold pairs of socks into snowflake-like balls. They can even take old ones they won't be using anymore and draw on them, using fabric markers. Another idea is to cut up old white pantyhose into pieces and fill each one with white batting, which you can find at a craft store or use from an old blanket. Stretch the pantyhose around the batting and tie the balls securely.
Craft Dough Snowballs
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Let your kids enjoy sensory play by creating snowballs with different types of craft dough. You can make a glittery snow dough by adding a 1/2 cup of vegetable oil to every 2 cups of cornstarch -- then add silver glitter by the tablespoon to be as shimmery as you like. The result is a soft and silky "snow" that your kids can shape into snowballs and make into snowmen. For a less powdery type of snowball dough, you can combine 1 cup each of flour and water with 1/4 cup salt in a pot on the stove, along with 2 tablespoons cream of tartar. Add 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil for an ultra smooth dough and glitter. Heat the ingredients together on medium heat until they thicken into a heavy ball of dough. Let it cool completely before allowing your child to play with it. Make sure the kids know not to throw these dough balls at each other, as they have weight to them and could hurt.
Other Snowball Materials
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Get creative with household cotton balls and coffee filters to create snowballs. Your kids can glue several cotton balls together to make snowballs, or they can pile a few into coffee filters, securing them with tape. You can also fill the coffee filters with gauze. Kids can create snowballs with play sand you might have on hand for sensory play. Combine 2 parts sand with 1 part cornstarch, then add just enough water to give the sand a damp feel -- like sand at the beach near the water's edge. Have the kids mold the sand into snowballs using their hands or even with an ice cream scoop.
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