What is a classroom snowball fight?
A classroom snowball fight is a novel experience to have with your students before the holiday break. You can practice many skills during a snowball fight to reinforce and review previously learned content. And honestly, it’s just a fun way to spend a few minutes during class.
Why have a music class snowball fight?
Because when the kids are acting crazy you can either drive yourself insane by maintaining order. Or you can maintain SOME of the structure and let the kids do something that will let them feel like they’re cutting loose. The snowball fight is a very novel experience and your students will definitely remember.
How to have a snowball fight in the classroom?
Prepare all your papers and materials that you need. (This will vary depending on if you’re using a flashcard snowball fight or a composition snowball fight.) Set the safety and/or ground rules for your students. In my classroom this would be no yelling (followed by practicing “whisper yelling”), walking only, and don’t aim for the face.
Next explain that students will have to complete and record their work on their recording sheet. Students then crumple up either the flashcard or their composition and throw the paper snowballs across the room for 15-30 seconds (however much chaos you can tolerate).
Once the timer goes off then students uncrumple the snowball closest to them and they work as outlined in the instructions until it is time to have the snowball fight again.
Types of snowball fights you can have in the music classroom
Flashcard snowball fights
Flashcard snowball fights are where you have a flashcard that you are throwing. For example, your student is holding flashcard number 4. Your student will record the correct answer to flashcard number 4 on their recording sheet and (per the instructions in my snowball fight activities) use the think-pair-share instructional method to check their answers in real time.
You can call out a flashcard number, or a student name, to check in on one or two students before restarting the snowball fight. I would do this just to make sure that the students have answers written down and are doing the academic part of this activity.
If you need a quick snowball fight activity I have an entire bundle of them in my Tpt store. There are also dynamic and key signature snowball fights.
Composition Snowball Fight
Give students a sheet of manuscript paper and have them compose four measures of music following other specific guidelines you created. Have students crumple up the paper and throw the papers all around the room. Everyone picks up a new piece of paper when the music stops. Students compose four more measures of music. Repeat until you have four rotations. On the fourth rotation talk about how to generate musically satisfying endings.
Skills to practice with snowball fights
- Rhythm Dictation
- Melodic Dictation
- Composing Skills
- Music Theory Topics
- Music History Topics
- Honestly anything you can think of!
Displaced Pedagogy 