Reusable Snowman Building Activity

When I saw this snowman activity at Stir the Wonder, I knew I wanted to do something similar in my classroom. But I also thought it would be fun if the kids could make snowmen over and over again, and change things up each time! So I went to Jo-Ann Fabrics and bought three different sizes of styrofoam balls and a flat styrofoam base. I also picked out two small hats from the doll section that fit perfectly on the smallest styrofoam ball. (I glued on a paper flower to one of the hats.) Once I got to school, I went through all my craft supplies to find different things for the snowmen. I found buttons, star confetti, beads and wiggle eyes, but I wasn't sure how the kids would attach them to the balls. Remember, I wanted this to be a reusable activity, so no glue allowed! Then I thought of my brass fasteners. Perfect! I used a glue dot to attach the items to the ends of the fasteners!

This way the kids could stick them in the styrofoam and pull them right out again! I also made simple scarves from felt, used brown pipe cleaners for arms, and had long orange beads and orange pipe cleaners for noses. The kids used toothpicks to attach their first ball to the base and then to attach other balls on top. (Please note that toothpicks are sharp so supervision is a must with a younger group. My four- and five-year-olds did great and never poked themselves!)

The kids LOVED this activity! On Friday they were just as excited to go to this center as they were on Monday. They never grew tired of it! At first they all made traditional snowmen, with 3 balls, but by the end of the week they were getting a little more creative.

I'll definitely have to bring this out again before spring. We also had little snow cones with our afternoon snack to start off our Winter week on Monday,

and we finished the week by acting out one of my favorite books, Sneezy the Snowman by Maureen Wright. It's an adorable book with wonderful illustrations. Sneezy is cold and wants to warm up but he always ends up melting himself! When I read it, the kids always yell out "Make me brand new!" And the cardinals are hilarious! (Take a look at the inside of the book on Amazon. You'll fall in love!) So I picked a child to be Sneezy and the rest of the kids were the other characters in the book. SO CUTE!

I hope you all are staying warm wherever you are! Our schools have been closed the past two days because of dangerously low temps, but we head back tomorrow. I'm excited to get crafting again!

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