Do you want to play with snow, but it hasn’t snowed yet, it’s too cold outside, or it doesn’t snow where you live? You can still play with snow with these DIY snow recipes for kids.
Below you will find recipes for pretend snow (which are good for children’s sensory activities, craft activities, and just fun to play with), Snow clay (for molding), Snow paint (paint pictures that look like snow), and if it does snow where you live, there is a recipe for painting on actual snow.
Most of the supplies needed, such as baking soda, are already found in the home. So go ahead and try one of these fake snow recipes below and have fun. Who knew you could have so much fun with snow? Make fake snow today!
Pretend Snow recipes
Playing with pretend snow is a great sensory activity for kids. They will love touching it, figuring out what it is or how “real” snow can be inside. It’s also great for craft projects.
You can glue some on a winter scene picture, use it for a winter background display, etc… The kids will have so much fun making all the different snow recipes. If you are teaching a class, such as Pre-K or Kindergarten, I suggest making all the snow recipes.
They all have only two ingredients and do not take much time to make. It will be fun to discuss which recipe the kids like the best. They will be excited to find out how each one feels, looks, and smells.
I made the baking soda and shaving cream recipe with my one-year-old, and she loved it. She was trying to figure out what it was (never leave small children unattended with play snow, especially if they put things in their mouths).
Follow the recipes below to make your own pretend snow.
1. Baking Soda and Shaving Cream
This baking soda and shaving cream snow recipe is super easy. Pour one cup of baking soda into a bowl and add shaving cream slowly until you get the snow consistency that you like. You want to use fluffy white shaving cream, not gel. This is an awesome fake snow recipe to make.
This snow recipe stays cool to the touch and has a powder-like feel when you touch it. Since this is an easy recipe, it’s great for a daycare, Pre-K, or elementary school class. Kindergartners love this snow recipe.
If you are doing this with a class, you may want to talk to them about different kinds of snow. For example. When cold outside, the snow will have a more powder-like real verse.
When it’s warmer, the snow will be heavy and wet.
Want to learn more about snow or winter? Click the links to read our snow facts for kids and our winter facts for kids.
2. Baking Soda and Hair Conditioner
This is another great fake snow recipe to make.
Mix 2 1/2 cups baking soda with 1/2 cup white Hair conditioner. White Rain hair conditioner is cheap and works great.
This snow will also feel cool to the touch but has less of a power feel.
It feels more like wet snow. Again, if you are doing this with a class, you can explain to them you get a more wet feeling of heavy snow when the weather is warmer.
It’s fun to make baking soda, shaving cream, baking soda, and white conditioner simultaneously. Then the children can compare the two.
3. Shaving Cream and Corn Starch
Pour one cup of cornstarch into a bowl and mix in shaving cream slowly until you get the snow consistency you like. This snow feels sort of like powdery crumbs. It is not cool to the touch. It is not as white as the baking soda snow.
4. Corn Starch and White Lotion
Pour one cup of cornstarch into a bowl and add lotion until you get the snow consistency you like. It’s important to use white lotion. Otherwise, your pretend snow will not be white.
This snow feels less powdery. It is not as white as the baking soda snow. This is a great recipe for some molding. Making small snowballs is fun, although they do not stay together very long.
Now that you made pretend snow for the kids to play with, how about trying to paint with snow? Follow the simple recipe below to make snow paint.
Snow Paint
This is a fun activity to do with children of all ages. It’s perfect for a childcare center, preschool, or kindergarten class. Older children love this as well. I have used this recipe with toddlers up to middle school students. Everyone enjoyed it. It’s a great recipe for painting a snowman and other winter scenes. The paint will try quickly and look like puffy paint.
Materials: Shaving cream, white school glue 4oz bottle, optional silver or white glitter, or if you want to make the movie Frozen snow paint add some blue glitter.
If you want cold snow paint. Put the glue and shaving cream in the refrigerator for 30 minutes before the activity so it will be chilled when you make it.
Pour the entire bottle of glue into a bowl. Mix in the shaving cream slowly until you get a light and fluffy consistency. If the recipe looks heavy or sticky, then you need to add more shaving cream.
After you get your snow paint at a good consistency, consider adding some glitter.
Another good idea is to cut off black hats, circles, and orange noses for your snowman. You can stick them right over the paint, it sticks together nicely. There is no need for extra glue.
This recipe will be enough to do with about ten kids. If you are working with a couple of children, start with less glue, then add a little shaving cream. You can always make more if needed.
Snow Clay Recipe
Most kids like playing with clay or play-doh, so why not make some snow clay? This is a great recipe and will keep the kids busy for a while.
2 cups of baking soda
1 cup of cornstarch
1 and 1/2 cups of water
optional sliver or white glitter
Mix all the ingredients together to make clay.
Outside Snow Paint Recipe
I wish I had known about this when I was little. I would have had a ball painting the snow outside. It’s easy to make, and the kids will have a great time painting the snow.
Put water in a spray bottle or plastic cup. Add a couple of drops of food coloring to each container of water. Mix Well. If using spray bottles, simply spray them onto the snow. If you use plastic cups, use the snow as a cup holder and place each cup in the snow. Then use a paintbrush to paint the snow.
You can also use watercolor paint to paint onto the snow.
Winter Sensory Bin Ideas
Sensory play is exciting for young children. Most daycare, childcare, and preschool classes have sensory play bins for their children. Sensory play helps stimulate cognitive growth, helps develop fine and gross motor skills, and enhances language skills.
Sensory play is also great for developing social skills. If you do sensory play with your children, try to make fake snow. It will be a fun and exciting new experience for your children.
Many wonder which fake snow recipe can be used in a sensory bin. The DIY fake snow recipes listed above are perfect for winter sensory bins. To make a simple winter sensory bin purchase a plastic bin.
I suggest using a clear bin; this way, the children can see what’s inside from all angles, but you can use any color. Next, make one of the snow recipes above. Then you can add fun things to the bin for the children to play with. Some ideas include;
Tiny shovel and buckets. When using shovels and buckets, I like to use the cornstarch and white lotion recipe because you can mold it easier.
You bury small toys under the snow and have the children dig through the snow to find them.
Ice fishing I placed the magnetic fish under the snow and had the children use the fishing poles to find the fish under the snow. If you do not want to use the magnetic fish, you can use the fish from the regular go-fishing game and have the children use bathroom cups to find and pick them up.
We hope you enjoyed these easy snow recipes for kids! Come back soon for more fun activities and ideas on kidsplayandcreate.com
