Hobbies And Interests
Racing Games
Try a "snowball race." Give each child a Styrofoam "snowball" and a pencil. From a marked point on the floor, the children push the snowballs across the room with their pencils, around furniture and other items, and back to the starting point. The first player back is the winner.
For variations, children might kick the Styrofoam snowball through a complicated obstacle course, or navigate the same complicated course by pushing the snowball with the pencil. In another race, children must carry a smaller Styrofoam snowball under their chins and pass off the ball to a teammate using only their chin. Balancing the snowball on a certain part of the body, such as a raised shoulder, can add another level of challenge to any racing game.
Decoration Challenges
Styrofoam balls are permeable. Narrow items can be stuck into them easily, making them strong candidates for decoration challenges. You can provide items such as pipe cleaners, toothpicks, narrow play limb attachments, or anything with a slightly sharp point. Children can stick the items into a Styrofoam ball to make a myriad of creations. Just make sure the points on objects are not too sharp, so that children don't get hurt. Typically, you set a time in which children can make an item, such as a snowman, and whoever finishes first wins. There is also a decoration contest in which whoever comes up with the craziest creature can win by popular vote.
"Snowball" Fights
This game is good for a rainy day, for when wind chills are too low to facilitate an actual snowball fight, or for when there are blizzard conditions outside. The idea is to play a game of dodge ball, but instead of lamp-breaking playground balls, use Styrofoam snowballs. Children stand on opposite ends of a boundary and throw the "snowballs" at each other. Whoever is hit is out. You can play a variant of this game with wadded up paper if you do not have Styrofoam snowballs, but the paper is more apt to come loose when thrown.
Sports Games
Just about any sport can be played inside with Styrofoam balls. In a spacious area, they make for durable "baseballs" and "hockey pucks." You can use them to play a game of indoor basketball with a trash bin as the "basket." For an indoor version of tennis, hit a small Styrofoam ball back and forth with badminton rackets.