all you need to make a snowman

We've been battered by the winter gods so far this winter season. Already we've had two major winter storms. I'm talking 24" of snow...two freaking feet of snow. It's pretty, it's a winter wonderland, it's magical and it's too effing cold to take the kids outside to enjoy the white fluffy stuff. Not to mention the little guys can barely walk when the snow comes up past their waists. Not a whole heck of a lot of fun to stand out in the snow. I decided we needed to make a snowman and got out everything we needed. Glue, wax paper, paintbrush, construction paper, scissors and a paper punch. Yep, you read that right. No snow, dressing kids in a zillion layers, cold wet hands when mittens go missing, or potty emergencies 3 seconds after heading outside. This project was simple enough that the 3 and 4 year olds could do it unassisted and the toddlers needed only minimal assistance.

I made a snowman template and placed that under the wax paper for the kids to follow but you don't have to. I also free hand cut out the hat, carrot nose, arms, and hole punched the eyes and buttons. You could also use recyclables or found objects for these items. You will need a lot of glue. I got the biggest squeeze bottle so it would be simpler to follow the template.



Once the template is under the wax paper let the child squeeze glue on the wax paper inside the lines of the snowman. It's hard to get the glue in every little spot so we used a paintbrush to gently spread the glue into any empty spaces.


Next your child will need to add the snowman's hat, nose, eyes, arms and buttons. I found it was best to tell them not to smush the item into the glue because then their fingers get all gluey and the next paper piece sticks to their hands. I showed them how they could get as close as possible and then just to drop the piece onto the snowman. This worked out well for the most part.


Here they are drying. They did spread a little which the kids found hysterical. "My snowman is melting!!!" The more glue your child uses the more it spreads so we tried to find a good balance between not enough and too much. They will dry overnight. Once they had dried I cut the excess wax paper off. I was going to peel them off the wax paper but I tried and it didn't really work all that well. So I just left them on.


Here is our crowd of frosty friends. I love how whimsical they are.


These guys were made by the toddlers and I think they are even cuter. They've got a zaniness that is just so appealing.