I had no clue what to name this game. After watching Frozen for the 15th time and yes if you must know I still cry when Anna steps between Hans and Elsa, my daughter and I brainstormed some ideas. We thought about making a Sven craft, then some snowflakes but we already have so many snowflake crafts … then this popped into my head. What if we used my daughter’s favorite movie EVER as inspiration for a gross motor math game? I wasn’t sure it would work but I knew we had to try. Well it did work and she loved it! Using your child’s interests is so important when doing educational activities at home. At school they won’t always get a chance to have such targeted ideas presented to them and at home it’s a great way to entice them to do something educational , how can they resist when it’s all about their favorite movie/book/character… etc… Also worth noting is that this would be a FUN Frozen party game for birthday parties. I’d write names on the snowflakes and have the party goers retrieve their own and the birthday boy or girl grab the frozen heart in the middle.
This could easily be adapted to any theme – you just need a basic shape, some things for the numbers, and stuff to walk over. You’ll see.
The Rules Of The Game:
*Roll the die and retrieve the number snowflake you rolled without falling off the snowflake ( you can decide what constitutes falling off the tape).
*Walk back to the start and drop the snowflake.
*After they have retrieved a designated amount of the snowflakes ( we did 3) they can go retrieve the frozen heart at the middle.
*If they step off the snowflake or step on any of the pom poms they must start all over again.
How To Set It Up
Gather your materials. You will need some painter’s tape, some pom poms, snowflakes, a marker, and a die or two. You may also want a heart gem to make the center heart. The one we are using was a tree ornament my daughter created herself but seemed perfect for this activity.
Start by making the number snowflakes we were just doing 1-6 to match the number she rolled but if you are playing with 2 dice and working on addition or subtraction you’ll want all the possible sums/differences.
Pop the tape on your floor. 
I am too nervous to use this on my newly re-stained wood floors so I stick to our living room carpet. My daughter even helped.
Now place the pom poms randomly. These are ice bombs and if you step on one you must return all the snowflakes you have earned and start again. 
Place the numbered snowflakes on the tape. 
Make a little snowflake to act as the starting point.
Play! 
Roll. 
Walk.
Pick up the snowflake. 
Avoid those ice bombs!
Roll again and again until it’s time to gather the frozen heart in the middle. There are so many ways to play with this idea. I hope we’ve inspired you to create something for your kids!
This was the perfect game after a few sick days to just get up an move a little. By using something she is great at ( numbers are her thing) mixed with something she is not… balance not so much her thing… I created a challenging but fun activity.
Kathy Gardiner Grigg says
Love this game! Great idea, I am always looking for new ways to do things. Thanks for posting.
Janice says
I’ve been stalking this one in my inbox. Love the idea, just needed to find the right day. Where did you find the snowflake cutouts? I’d much rather spend $1 on a pack then time cutting them out! ðŸ˜
I’ve got the sight word scavenger hunt ready to go for after preschool today. I think my kids will love it and will probably have to do one for the older’s spelling words once he sees it! Thanks for all your down to earth simple ideas…I’ve about given up on everyone else.
Allison McDonald says
I got them at the dollar store – I think Oriental Trading has them as well. Thank you for the kind words as well, my goal is to make activities people can USE. It’s great to hear that you do.
Laura says
Cute! I teach preschool, because of our funding, we can no longer call holidays by their actual names…Halloween, Christmas, Easter etc…. So we just had a fall party and we are planning our Winter Fun Day 🙂 It’s all so crazy to me but I decided we needed to play some games that are winter related so we don’t get in trouble…this is perfect and every child in my class likes Frozen!!
Thanks for the idea!
Rainey Daye says
Just saved this to Pinterest for a fun activity with my munchkins. I gotta ask though…WHERE did you get that Anna dress? It looks like an actual cotton dress that is comfortable to wear as a play dress vs just a scratchy playing dress-up kind of dress.
Allison McDonald says
So sorry this comment got lost in moderation – I bought it on Etsy https://www.etsy.com/shop/NanasSewingCloset
Marjo says
Love this gross motor activity, though I need to make it work for a pre-k center involving multiple children. I’m thinking one child can roll the die, one can collect the snowflakes, and one can record the numbers on a white board. Any suggestions?
Allison McDonald says
For a big group I would place snowflakes with all different numbers on the big snowflake and then I would have them roll the die and go retrieve the same number they rolled. I would have them do this 3-4 times and then add up the total they have to determine the winner.
Malakai says
I help to run a young mum’s group with kids from 4 weeks old to 3 years old, and i adapted this game to make it a little easier for the younger kids(the majority are 1 and a half and up), since they’re not too great with numbers yet, i changed it to shapes. We’re going to be testing it out today.
Allison McDonald says
Let me know how it went!