Snow has been rather absent so far this winter in the eastern panhandle of West Virginia. We have an inch on the ground right now which will be gone tomorrow, I’m sure!  I would like to see one good snowfall every year, (my husband hates it when I say that), have it last for a few days and then have the temps return to a balmy 50-60 degrees instead of below freezing.

So with actual snow lacking, in order to get our snow fix the grandchildren and I have read some snowman books, including one of my personal favorites,  “The Most Perfect Snowman”. Then we moved on to snowman crafts.

Our first craft was these cute little guys made from empty toilet paper rolls.

Toilet Paper Tube Snowman Craft

Supplies needed:

• something to protect the surface the grandkids will be painting on
• something to protect the clothes the grandkids will be wearing!!
• empty toilet paper roll
• white paint and paintbrushes
• small size socks (Maybe some of those whose mates have been eaten by the washing machine monster! I say small because you want the sock to be able to fit snugly on the toilet paper roll)
• felt to make buttons or actual small buttons
• black and orange washable markers
• yarn
• googly eyes
• pipe cleaners (for scarves instead of a strip from the sock)

How to make them:

1. First, paint the toilet paper roll white and allow it to dry.  We found that the paint didn’t appear to be covering the toilet paper roll very well, but once it dried it was fine.
2. Cut off the top of the sock and place it on the top of the dry toilet paper roll.  You can roll the edge of the sock here to give it the look of a beanie.
3. Tie the top of the sock with the yarn and then cut the sock in strips, almost reaching the yarn.
4. Cut a strip of fabric from the remains of the sock and tie it around the tube as a scarf or use pipe cleaners.
5. Glue on googly eyes or draw on the eyes
6. Glue on the buttons you made from felt or use actual buttons
7. Draw on the mouth and nose

After all that work, it was definitely snack time.  So we moved on to making a snowman to devour!

Marshmellow Snowman Snack

Ingredients:

• large marshmallows
• mini chocolate chips or mini M&Ms
• pretzel sticks
• white frosting
• graham crackers
• candy corn or another candy for nose; we used a Mike & Ike

Assembling Your Snowman:

1. Give each child 1/2 of the full-size graham cracker
2. Cover the graham cracker with the white frosting to simulate snow and place one marshmallow in the center
3. Cover the top of that marshmallow with white frosting and place another one on top of it
4. This next step you will need to help little ones with. Prick the skin (so to speak) of the marshmallow with a toothpick to open it a little so your little ones can push in the mini chocolate chips or M&Ms for buttons, mouth, eyes, etc
5. Break a pretzel in two and push one into each side of the snowman for arms

Have fun eating!

Night time Snowman Craft on Black Cardstock

On the grandkids next visit, we worked on one more snowman craft.  This one wasn’t really structured. I did show them my idea for their snowman, but they used their imagination to create their own vision.

Supplies:

• black cardstock
• white paint and paintbrushes
• bright cardstock for hats (if wanted)
• small twigs or toothpicks for arms
• small buttons
• black marker
• orange cardstock for nose or orange marker

Instructions:

1. For younger ones, draw the outline of the snowman for them and let them paint it white. The older ones will happily create their own shape. Sprinkle glitter on the white paint while still wet.
2. Allow the paint to dry some and shake off the excess glitter.
3. Glue on the following:
   1. hat
   2. nose
   3. buttons
   4. twigs for arms
4. Use the black marker to draw the eyes and mouth.
5. Put little dots of glue all around the cardstock and sprinkle on white glitter for snow.

My grandchildren’s version of the snowman at night!

Whether you do just one of these or all three, the most important thing is to have fun together.  Allow your grandchildren to be creative with their snowmen.  Most of our crafts turn out much different than I had envisioned!

Pin me, please!

Have fun crafting!

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