Hands-On Fun with Snow Painting

The following is a post from contributing writer Colleen.

 It’s January, and in many places the days are short and cold. Kids want to go outside and play, but the bitterness of winter has set in, so it’s just too frigid to let them out for long.

And homeschooled kids, for whom the activities may have slowed so mom doesn’t have to drive around on slick roads with three or more bundled up balls of energy, cabin fever may be setting in… big time.

Next time you send the kids out to play for the 15 minutes their little bodies can handle, spend the time mixing up some hot chocolate and setting out materials to make sparkly snow pictures.

A warning though – this project can be a bit messy, especially if your kiddos get into it, so make sure you cover up your table {and maybe your floor, too} so the messes are easily contained.

Supplies Needed

• Paper bowl or plate and a plastic spoon for each child
• Cheap (dollar store) white shaving cream
• School glue
• Glitter
• Construction paper or cardstock
• Markers
• Brushes, sponges, and/or spoons for painting

Instructions

I like to let my little Rembrandts help prepare the “paint” because it’s such messy fun.

1. Have them mix 1 part glue to 3-4 parts shaving cream with their spoon in the bowl. You’ll have to supervise the amount of shaving cream added. You want it to be fluffy.
2. If they want some guidelines on where to layer their snow, offer your kids some markers to draw in a scene or a picture. My kids drew snowmen, and planned on adding more detail once the paint dried, but we found it to fluffy to draw on without smooshing it too much, so they ended up leaving it as it was.
3. Let your artists go to town with their fingers, brushes, spoons, sponges, or whatever you have on hand, and paint their snow picture. Tell them to make sure they layer it on thick and fluffy like snow. My son ended up covering the whole piece of cardstock in different “elevations” to create a snowscape on which to play with his LEGO minifigures.
4. Give them a chance to add glitter before it dries.

This fun activity can take up a lot of time of your kiddos get into it like mine did. The novelty of the puffy snow paint, and the fluffiness of the finished product should be enticing enough to draw them in for awhile.

Make sure the chocolate is hot, and you have plenty of marshmallows on hand, provide the paint materials, and you’ll have the recipe for a fun, imaginative winter afternoon.

Do you have any great winter afternoon projects to share? Add them to the comments so we can all try them at home with our own kids.