It’s cold outside! Craft projects are a great way to keep the kids busy inside. Try some of these winter-themed craft projects below:
This cute baby food jar snowman craft is fun and easy for children of all ages. It makes a wonderful winter decoration for any home or classroom. Follow the step-by-step directions below.
Materials:
Baby food jar, glue,
white or sliver glitter,
paintbrush,
paper plate,
googly eyes,
buttons,
bead,
pom-pom balls,
pipe cleaner or any other items that you would like to decorate with (felt or construction paper pieces for the face, scarf or hat), optional hot glue gun (to reinforce glued items)
Step 1: Pour some white glue onto a paper plate. Let the children paint the glue onto the baby food jar.
Step 2: Pour some white, sliver or a mixture of both glitter onto a paper plate. Let the children roll their jar into the glitter until the entire jar is covered in glitter.
Step 3: Have the children decorate their snowman jars. They can use googly eyes, beads or pom-pom balls for the nose, buttons for the mouth, you can also use felt pieces for the eyes, nose, mouth or make a scarf and hat. I did reinforce some of the items the children glued on with a hot glue gun. Be creative and have fun!
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 DYI 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 you do have snow where you live there is a recipe for painting on actual snow. So go ahead and try one of these recipes below and have fun!
Pretend Snow recipes
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 for a winter background display etc… The kids even had fun making all the different snow recipes. They were excited to find out how each one was going to feel, look and smell. Even my one-year-old got in on the action (never leave small children unattended with play snow, especially if they put things in their mouth).
1. Baking Soda and Shaving Cream
Pour one cup of baking soda in a bowl and add in shaving cream slowly until you get the snow consistency that you like.
This snow recipe stays cool to the touch and has a power like feel when you touch it. This is my favorite snow recipe.
2. Baking Soda and Conditioner
Mix 2 1/2 cups of baking soda with 1/2 cup of white conditioner
This snow is also cool to the touch but has less of a power feel. It is feels more like a wet snow.
3. Shaving Cream and Cornstarch
Pour one cup of cornstarch into a bowl mix in shaving cream slowly until you get the snow consistency that 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 corn starch into a bowl add lotion until you get the snow consistency that you like.
This snow feels less powdery. It is not as white as the baking soda snow. It’s fun to make small snow balls although they do not stay together very long.
Snow Paint
This is a fun activity to do with children of all ages. It’s a great recipe to use to paint snow man and winter scenes.
Materials:
Shaving cream,
white school glue, optional silver or white glitter or if you want to make the movie Frozen snow paint add some blue glitter.
Pour entire bottle of glue into a bowl. Mix in the shaving cream slowly until you get a fluffy consistency. After snow paint is made add it desired amount of glitter
The snow paint will dry and harden overnight.
Tired of the traditional snowflakes made out of paper? Try this easy-to-make snowflake made out of a plastic water bottle. This water bottle snowflake craft is fun and easy for kids of all ages. This snowflake project also works as a winter recycling project. Follow the step-by-step directions below to make your own water bottle snowflake.
Check out: Snowflake Facts for Kids
Materials: One plastic water bottle per child, liquid glue, different color glitter, paintbrush, string, scissor
Alternative: Instead of using glue, and glitter you can use glitter glue sold in craft stores. You can also make pour glue into cupcake wrappers and add glitter to make your own glitter glue.
Step 1: Cut the plastic water bottle about 2 inches from the bottom. You will only being using the bottom part of the water bottle. If doing this with a large group of children it may be better to pre-cut all the water bottles before starting the activity. Cut a hole in the top to hang the string.
Step 2: Have the children paint a thin layer of glue on the outside part of the water bottle. Only paint the part of the bottle that you want to be the same glitter color. If using glitter glue have the children paint the glitter glue on the snowflake and skip step 3.
Step 3: Have the children sprinkle glitter over the glue.
Step 4: Repeat step 2 then step 3 until the snowflake is covered in glitter.
Step 5: When the snowflake is dry put a piece of string through the hole and hang.
This snowman craft is cute and easy for kids of all ages. You can use a variety of materials found in the home to make a creative snowman. Follow the step-by-step directions below
* This is also a great project to use as a contest in an after school or recreational program. Whoever makes the most creative snowman or puts in the most effort wins.
Materials: 2 paper plates ( 1 larger than the other), glue, scissors, items to decorate such as pom pom ball, buttons, construction paper, glitter, googly eyes, cotton balls (to look like snow), felt.
Step 1: Stable the smaller plate to the larger plate. I did this before giving the children the plates.
Step 2: Give the children items to decorate their snowman with. On the snowman in the picture I used construction paper for the hat and scarf (you can also use felt for this), buttons for the mouth and down the body of the snowman, pipe cleaners for the arms, pom pom ball for the nose and googly eyes for the eyes.
Have you ever made a snowman out of soap? Well now you can with this fun soap snowman craft. This cute snowman is fun for kids to make and is a nice decoration to place next to the bathroom or kitchen sink. Follow the simple instructions below to make your own soap snowman.
Materials: bar soap (1 per child), vegetable peeler, cheese grater or scissors, pipe cleaner (1 per child), water, bowl, paper plate (1 per child) optional small buttons (for eyes)
Step 1: Give each child one bar of soap. Use the vegetable peeler, cheese grater or scissor to shave entire bar of soap. If working with a group of children it might be better to shave all the bars of soap before then distribute the shavings evenly between the kids.
Step 2: Separate the soap shavings into 3 piles. One large pile, one medium size pile and one small pile. This will be for the bottom, middle and head of the snowman.
Step 3: Pour some water into a bowl. Have child wet hands and mold the big pile into a ball. Make sure the ball is smooth. Add more water to hands it soap is too dry. Place ball on paper plate. Push down slightly so that the ball can it on plate without support. Repeat this step with the small and medium size piles. Stack the balls on top of each other to build snowman. Add water to hands as needed to smooth the soap.
Step 4: Cut pipe cleaners so each child gets two that are about 2 inches long and two that are 1 inch long. Wrap smaller pipe cleaner around larger to make arms. Have the child push in pipe cleaners on each side of the snowman. Optional add tiny buttons for eyes. Let snowman dry completely. Place snowman by sink as a nice kitchen or bathroom decoration.
This is a great craft that easy for kids of all ages. This snow globes make perfect gifts from kids for parents or loved ones. They are nice to put out for display. Follow the step-by-step directions below to make your own snow globe.
Also check out Christmas Gift Snow Globe craft
Materials: Baby food Jar, small figurine (small cake toppers work great), Glitter, Water, Hot glue gun or shipping or duct tape (hot glue works best)
Step 1: Glue or tape a small figure to the inside of the top of the baby food jar. Make sure the figure is stuck on good and doesn’t move around.
Step 2: Put a spoon full of glitter into the baby food jar.
Step 3: Fill baby food jar with water.
Step 4: Put the top back on the baby food jar and close tightly.
Step 5: Shake snow globe and enjoy.
Cold Hands Warm Heart Mitten Hand Print Craft
Materials: Construction paper, paint, ribbon, marker, glue, scissors optional glitter
Step 1: Cut a heart out of construction paper. If your working with smaller children I recommend doing all the cutting as part as your prepping process.
Step 2: Cut a mitten out of construction paper. If your a pro you can free hand a mitten, I myself am not a great drawer so I printed a mitten template from on-line and traced it.
Step 3: Have the children glue the mitten to the center of the heart.
Step 4: Paint the children’s hands and stamp them in the middle of the heart.
Step 5: Write on the heart Cold Hand Warm Heart, however you like.
Step 6: Use glitter or other embellishments for a personalized touch.
Step 7: Poke a whole at the top to hang your ribbon.
