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23 Jul

Indoor Throwing Activity That Won’t Break Breakables

Gross MotorPreschoolersToddlers

18 Comments

Throwing newspapers!

Good for throwing practice, but also for hand-eye coordination, as well as some counting practice in there too!

Super simple setup. Some newspapers and a tub or bucket of some sort to throw into.

Henry and I made our newspaper balls together. Crunch them up any way you like. The tighter they are, the easier they are to throw.

We lined up our newspaper balls in a row and counted them.

Henry counted seven newspaper balls to throw into the tub.

Then we each took turns throwing the newspaper balls into the big green tub.

I have lines on my rug that I had Henry stand behind when throwing, but you could easily put a tape mark down too.

2012-03-24_5712

It was hilarious to watch, but also fun to do it too!

Once all the newspaper balls were thrown at or in the tub, we counted them up.

How many did you make into the tub?

How many did you miss?

Henry’s first try? 6 missed. Made 1.

Henry improved a little each time, eventually making it to 4 made and 3 missed.

George and Dad watched from the couch. Dad thought it would be easy to throw it from sitting down on the couch across the room to the tub. It took several tries though before a successful shot. Henry kept wanting him to try until he got it. It was cute!

Check and wash your hands when you’re done. Newspapers leave a nasty black ink residue.

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Reader Interactions

18 Comments

  5. Not only did my toddler have fun with this activity, but her 6 year old brother and 4 year old sister loved it as well. They formed teams and held a contest to see who could throw the farthest, get the most newspaper balls in the tiniest container and also who could do it blindfolded. We (including me) enjoyed this activity. Thank you.

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  6. Great idea can’t wait to try it on my 1year old nephews when they come over to visit. My child has grown children of her own but I am lucky to be surrounded with lots of nieces and nephews. I’m always looking for things to do with them and Love your site. Keep up the good work

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  8. Jamie, I do this activity every year during the winter. We don’t have snow down here in AZ, so we use newspaper balls as “snow balls.” The mess is spectacular, but the laughter is even more so!

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  10. What a simple but fun idea! I bet scrunchy up the paper was a hit too. And isn’t Pinterest great at times – I’ve taken my lad to the computer with me and said ‘which activity from my arts and crafts board do you want to try?’

    Thanks for sharing at Happy Family Times!

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  11. So simple, yet sure to be so much fun! This would be a great rainy day activity, and April is usually pretty rainy! Pinned for the days I am out of ideas ;)

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