Parent tip
Set out basket or bin and newspaper before inviting your toddler in so the first minute feels smooth.
Newspaper Snowball Fight
Scrunch newspaper into balls and have a wild indoor throwing battle.
Activity details
Instructions
- Gather a stack of old newspapers or scrap paper
- Sit together and scrunch pages into tight balls — make at least 20
- Divide the room in half with a line of cushions or a piece of string
- Each player takes a pile of snowballs to their side
- Count to three and start throwing — the aim is to get all your snowballs onto the other side
- Set a timer for 2 minutes, then count whose side has fewer snowballs — they win!
- Collect all the balls into a bin together — make cleanup part of the game
What success looks like
Flushed cheeks, big smiles, and a calmer child afterwards. If they want to do it again, you’ve found a winner.
Tear pages of old newspaper, scrunch them into balls, and have a full-on indoor snowball fight. Scrunching the paper is a brilliant fine motor workout in itself, and the throwing, dodging, and collecting burns huge amounts of energy. Because the 'snowballs' are soft and light, this is one of the safest throwing games you can play indoors.
Why it helps
NHS Best Start in Life recommends practising throwing, catching and kicking a ball as simple activities that teach coordination, balance and agility. Scrunching paper into balls strengthens the intrinsic hand muscles needed for pencil grip and fine motor precision. The throwing action develops shoulder stability and cross-body coordination, while the fast-paced dodging and collecting provides the kind of intense proprioceptive input that helps overexcited or dysregulated toddlers burn off excess energy and return to a calmer state.
Variations
- Wrap a small surprise inside one special snowball — whoever finds it wins a bonus point.
- Play 'snowball basketball' — toss balls into a laundry basket from increasing distances.
- Use different paper types — tissue paper, foil, cereal box card — and compare the sounds they make.
Safety tips
- Use only newspaper or scrap paper — avoid glossy magazines with staples or sharp edges.
- Ensure your toddler does not put paper in their mouth, especially younger children.
- Supervise cleanup carefully to collect all paper balls, preventing slipping hazards.
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