Looking for a quick and easy activity to entertain your toddler all winter long? Try making this “Feed the Snowman” activity using an old bottle. With just a few supplies (cotton balls, construction paper), you can make a fantastic DIY toy.
What is a “Feed the Snowman” activity?
Toddlers love jobs. They love tasks. They love having something to work for. Toddlers love a goal. So I’m always looking for activities with a goal to meet – like Feed the Snowman – which is perfect for these job-loving toddlers.
Feed the Snowman is a quick winter spin on one of our favorite activities: Feed the Turkey. This activity is an easy way to entertain a toddler on those stuck inside winter days.
RELATED: Looking for more ways to entertain a toddler on a winter day? Check out my great list of easy indoor activities for toddlers!
Supplies
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- Plastic bottle: I used a creamer bottle
- Small tongs: These are also at the Dollar Store
- Cotton balls
- Construction paper
I’m not one for big supply lists and this is about as long a supply list as I can handle. Plus, it’s just the things I normally have around my house – nothing special or fancy needed to make a dynamite toddler activity.
RELATED: Check out my FREE downloadable calendar of indoor activity ideas.
The set-up
I used a creamer bottle as my snowman which worked great – it was just the right size for snowman feeding. You can use any bottle, just check the opening is wide enough to shove a pom pom ball into.
I made a quick face out of construction paper and glued it on. I can’t believe I had googly eyes on hand. That’s the real miracle here.
Once the snowman/creamer bottle had come to life, I set it into a tray with some cotton balls. I was going snowball vibe.
Tip: To make it challenging, I added plastic tongs. This is optional if you are working with a taby age-group that isn’t ready for tongs yet. It’s quite a fine motor work out.
RELATED: Trying to find indoor activities for kids? I made the best (and most popular) list of them.
Learning goals for Feed the Snowman
I quickly told my daughter (2.5 years old) the goal (fill the snowman with the cotton balls) and modeled once how to use the plastic tongs to lift the cotton balls into the container.
She was off and playing!
This activity is so easy to make but has so much learning involved!
Feed the Snowman works on:
- Fine motor skills
- Hand eye coordination
- Problem solving (sometimes the cotton balls don’t go in exactly right and she’d have to figure out what to do)
- Measurement (this activity secretly works on capacity – how to fill a container and how much it can hold)
Don’t put this toddler activity away
What I love most about this activity is how long we can play with it. Keep the cotton balls and the snowman together in a bag or tray, and set them out as another “toy” option for your child. It’s an easy DIY toy to leave out and let kids play with continuously.
Feed the Snowman is perfect winter toddler activity.
Frequently Asked Questions
Remember: think stages not ages. Instead of going based on age, ask yourself these questions: can my child hold tongs? Do they like pushing objects into others? Are they interested in fine motor play?
You could use pom pom balls for a colorful snowman or set the container into a rice sensory bin for a different “filling station.”
Yes! I packed this away with our winter decorations. My daughter was tickled the next year when I pulled out a baggie filled with the supplies for this activity.
Susie Allison, M. Ed
Owner, Creator
Susie Allison is the creator of Busy Toddler and has more than 2.4 million followers on Instagram. A former teacher and early childhood education advocate, Susie has written two home learning curricula, Playing Preschool and Branches. Her parenting book “Busy Toddler’s Guide to Actual Parenting” is available on Amazon.
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