Snowball Fight
Snowball Fight
Purpose
To get up and move while learning.
To get to know about each other.
To review material before a test.
To have some fun while learning and reviewing.
Time
2-5 minutes to complete individual task
45-60 seconds for each snowball fight
Groupings
Individual activity, then large group activity
Materials
One piece of paper per student
One pencil per student
Directions - Ice Breaker
Have students write three facts about themselves on their piece of paper. Facts should be interesting, unique, and not something everyone already knows about the student.
When all the students are finished writing their facts, have them wad their paper up into a paper snowball.
Explain to students that, at your signal, they will stand up and form a large circle.
Once students are in a circle, tell them that at your signal, they will gently toss their snowballs at each other for one minute.
Like a snowball fight, students should toss, pick up another snowball, toss, toss, toss, until they are told to stop. When the tossing is over, have each student pick up a snowball and unfold it.
If a student unfolds his or her own snowball you can: have another snowball fight.
let the student read his or her own snowball without letting on it is his or hers.
have the student quietly swap snowballs with another student.
One by one, have students read what is written on the snowball they are holding. Have the rest of the class guess who the snowball belongs to.
As a Review Activity
On their paper, have students write: a review question for material they have read or are studying.
a test question for an up-coming test. Use the student-generated questions as your test questions.
a math or algebraic equation. Have students pair up with the person on their left or right and solve the math problem or equation.
verb, noun, or adjective. When they unfold their snowball, students must give an example of the part of speech written on their snowball.
a foreign language phrase to translate, an infinitive verb to conjugate, a word in English to translate, or a word in the foreign language to translate into English..
a date or event in history.
a science fact, process, law, Periodic Table element, classification, etc.
a spelling word from their spelling list. When the snowball fight is over, have students unfold their snowball as quickly as possible, say the word outloud (everyone at once), spell it, and say it again. Then, wad the snowballs up and toss them again! Continue until interest wanes or time runs out.
Follow Up Discussion
A follow up discussion may or may not be necessary at the completion of this activity depending on the purpose of the activity.
Did you learn anything new during this activity? What?
Did you discover a new perspective or way to think about the topic? What?
Was this a valuable activity? Why? Why not?
Can you think of other ways we could use this activity to learn or review?
Would you like to do this activity again?
