Hello darlings! Amy here from That Teaching Spark. Another cold, but rainy day here in the Show Me State! I wish it were snowing instead! One game my kiddos love every year is a Snowball Fight. Yes, we throw paper around the classroom and act crazy, but you know what? Those kids are learning! They absolutely love it! I've been doing this for a few years now and I can tell you, it gets more fun for me each time!!
So what did we do? Each kiddo got a snowball card with a multiplication problem on it. Before they even solved it, they crumpled it up into a ball and when I yelled "Snowball Fight!" they threw the ball across the room. (I can see you are panicking...)
Next, they grabbed a snowball, opened it, and had to solve it as quickly as they could on their recording sheet before I yelled "Snowball Fight!" again. When I yell the secret words (or ding a bell, etc) kiddos crumple up their paper again and throw it. We kept repeating this. (It is okay, hang in there!)
I do have a lovely conversation with them BEFORE we start about appropriate throwing methods. They CANNOT throw it directly at a person or purposely throw it behind something. They are basically TOSSING the paper. I demonstrate exactly what I expect. Be dramatic. They love dramatic.
To make it a little more exciting, there are yellow snowballs mixed in. If a kiddo grabs a yellow snowball, they have to go to a designated spot in the classroom and do 15 jumping jacks and wait for the next round. I didn't tell my kiddos what the yellow snowballs represented. I told them to make an inference. They got it. Yuck!
Needless to say, EVERY single kiddo was working hard to solve his/her math problem. Even my kiddos who like to melt down or refuse to work, were working, smiling, and giggling! It was fun even for me. I didn't think to take pictures since we were having a blast!
Click the pictures below to download the game of your choice and while you are at it, check out the rest of my highly engaging Winter Math Centers here.
Other suggestions: Play this game as a SCOOT game by placing the cards on each desk and students "scoot" around to each desk to solve OR tape the cards on the walls around the room and have students solve the cards by walking around.
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