In recent years, snow has not always pleased us with its abundance and consistency in winter. Whether this is due to global warming or other causes of climate change, in any case, we always, especially during the winter holidays, so want to enjoy the sight of this white fluffy miracle.

Artificial snow created right at your home can help with this desire. Although it is relevant even with snowdrifts outside the window, with its help an atmosphere of celebration and magic will be in the house if you decorate various crafts and a Christmas tree with it. In addition, such an activity with your child will be a fun alternative to other games.

How to make artificial snow at home?

Of course, you can buy ready-made artificial snow, but if this option seems unsuitable to you, you can always replace it with something. There are many options on how to make artificial snow. At the same time, it will be fluffy, soft, crispy, just like the real thing. And in addition – very fragrant. So it will definitely appeal not only to children, but also to adults.

The first recipe for artificial snow

We will need:

• 2 boxes of corn flour (starch);
• shaving cream;
• glitter (mica);
• mint extract.

This snow will turn out shiny, cold, fluffy and incredibly soft, like clouds. First, mix shaving cream and starch in a container. This process will take some time, but it will be incredibly fun. Your kids will definitely love the feeling of “snow” on their hands as they mix.

Finally, add a few drops of mint extract to the mixture. In principle, you don’t need to add this ingredient, it will just add another entertaining element to the process of exploration and play, and the snowball will smell simply amazing. For beauty and shine, add a little mica or glitter. From the resulting snow you can make snowballs or make any figures, for example, a funny snowman.

The second recipe for artificial snow at home

For this silky feeling and appearance of snow we will need:

• several bars of frozen soap;
• grater;
• glitter;
• peppermint extract.

First, put the soap in the freezer overnight. In the morning, we first take out one piece and grate it, then the next one, and so on until we have grated all the prepared cubes.

The result will be a very fluffy snowball, to which you can add mint extract and glitter if desired. This kind of snow molds perfectly, so you and your child can make any figure.

How to make artificial snow - recipe three

For this option you will need the following ingredients:

• a can of shaving foam;
• 1.5 packs of soda;
• sparkles.

Squeeze the entire can of foam into the container, gradually add baking soda and mix. The result is a mass very similar to real snow, from which it is pleasant to sculpt. For beauty, add glitter. This snow feels very soft, cool, smells of frost and freshness.

We have already done it ourselves. But for the first time it was intended to decorate our New Year's vase. The first experience ended quite comically, so this time I decided to go a different route. There are many different recipes for artificial snow on the Internet, but they would not have suited us, since we needed not just artificial snow, but one that “melts.” Or rather, with which my child could conduct an experiment.

This lesson was held within the framework of , where every day the child receives a letter from Santa Claus with various tasks and a small souvenir. We have 7 days left until the New Year!

Hello grandson, what kind of food have I eaten at your place? Thank you, I respected the old man.

And I have prepared a new task for you. Make me some snowmen. I know, I know, there is no snow in the Dominican Republic! But you and your mom can make artificial snow with your own hands. And don’t worry if the snowmen melt, because miracles happen on New Year’s Eve. The steam will carry them to me.

Did you like my gifts?

Making artificial snow with your own hands

We needed:

• Soda (454 g pack was enough for 4.5 snowmen)
• Glitter (any small ones to give a festive look)
• Water (we used about 30 ml)

At home, you can prepare artificial snow using different recipes. Since our snow was intended for experimentation, we chose a recipe suitable specifically for it.

They poured the baking soda into a bowl, touched it, and decided that it felt like sand. Dry soda definitely doesn’t look like snow.

I poured silver glitter into the baking soda and it began to shimmer beautifully. My glitter is small, so unfortunately it’s almost invisible in the photo. Now it was necessary to turn the “sand” into “snow”. To do this, I literally started adding water a few drops at a time.

All photos enlarge when clicked

As soon as the mass began to take shape, our artificial snow, which we made with our own hands, is ready.

For crafts made from artificial snow we needed:

• Artificial snow (which we made with our own hands);
• Beads (we use them to make eyes, we had blue ones);
• Foil (or any other material that does not get wet, for the nose);
• Confetti (small to give a festive look);
• Small disposable cups (it is important that the bottom is flat).

When the child had enough of playing with artificial snow, we took small fifty-milligram cups and began to decide what we should use to make the eyes and nose of the snowmen. Alexander suggested eyes made of beads, we only had blue ones, and a nose made of orange buttons.

But having put this combination in a glass, the child himself saw that the resulting face looked more like a pig. I looked through all my materials to find one that wouldn't get wet in water. My gaze fell on candy wrappers; they are made of foil on one side painted dark yellow.

I personally had the idea to cut out triangles and put them on the bottom of the cup. But my son said:

– Mom, I know how to make noses for snowmen easier and faster.

He took a candy wrapper and rolled it into a sausage with one end thinner than the other. All I had to do was cut a piece of the required length. I was very pleased with my boy's ingenuity and initiative

As I already wrote, my calculation with the amount of soda turned out to be incorrect. To fill all the prepared cups, I would need about 3 packs of soda, 454 grams each. But you can't run to the store in the middle of the process. Therefore, we filled as much as was enough.

While filling, you should try to keep the nose and eyes in place. Although Alexander is currently 5 years and 2 months old, he would hardly have succeeded. Therefore, I took on this mission. But she didn’t leave the child idle either. Putting some artificial snow on the bottom of the cup, I tried to compact it as they usually do when building castles on the beach. Then the child sprinkled some small waterproof confetti. I again added artificial snow and a pinch of confetti fell again. The idea here is that when our craft melts, the mass will look beautiful on New Year's Eve

While playing with artificial snow and forming snowballs from it, Alexander said the following phrase:

– Just like real snow, only not cold.

- What can be done to make it cold? – I supported the conversation.

– You can add ice to it.

“But then the ice will melt and our snow will turn into a puddle.”

“Then we can put it in the freezer!”

I thought it was a great idea and asked the child to put our cups in the freezer, where they spent 6 hours.

Logically, I understood that the water added to the soda would freeze, and our snowmen would become denser. But only after we started the experiment, I fully understood what this freezing did. Now I will tell you everything in order.

For the experiment we needed:

• A large plastic box (so that all the ingredients remain inside and not on the festive tablecloth);
• Glass bowl (where the experiment itself will take place);
• Magnifying glass (we have a children's one);
• Pipette (also from a children's set);
• Vinegar (we use 5%);
• Food coloring (to illustrate the process).

During children's astronomy classes, we conducted a lesson that my child really remembered. Then we simulated craters on the Moon. The soda simply hissed, its reaction to vinegar was interesting to Alexander, which is why almost 2 years later I decided to repeat the experiment.

So, after I took the snowmen out of the freezer, I simply turned the cups over by lightly tapping the bottom, and the craft easily popped out. The time that our artificial snow was in the freezer is arbitrary; I admit that I don’t know how it would behave if it stayed there overnight, for example. But in any case, if the snowmen don’t come out very well, you can put the cups in hot water for 20-30 seconds and then they will definitely jump out.

I dropped a drop of blue food coloring into the flask with vinegar. You can take any color, but I associate snow with blue. First, we examined our hand-made artificial snow snowmen through a magnifying glass.

Now we put everything in the hands of the child. Alexander conducted his own experiment: he took vinegar into a pipette and slowly poured it onto the snowman. The child quickly realized that the slower he poured the vinegar, the longer it would take to monitor his reaction.

Then we watched together through a magnifying glass how our artificial snow was seething. This is very interesting for a preschooler; my son’s eyes sparkled!

What we noticed together was that frozen artificial snow is not so easy to melt. Even when soaked with vinegar from below, look carefully at the photo below, the snowmen did not collapse. The child carried out the experiment itself for about half an hour, which took 250 ml of vinegar. I didn’t expect this at all, thinking that a chain reaction would start and that one test tube of vinegar would be enough for us. But it was not there!

In the end, all the snowmen went to the kingdom of Santa Claus, and we began to discuss our findings. My friend and reader of my blog, Maria Eliseeva, helped us make them:

The reaction of soda and vinegar has the following equation

NaHCO3 + CH3COOH → CH3COONa + CO2 + H2O

Soda and vinegar are a chemical reaction - as a result of the interaction, sodium salt, gas and water are obtained.

The child spent a long time sorting through the sodium salt mush; just in case, I touched it myself and made sure that there was no reaction to my hands. And this paste is really pleasant to the touch, so children are provided with a lot of tactile sensations during the experiment. Alexander then informed me that our artificial snow was no longer cold and asked to add ice.

After this, a new wave of play began, but it was no longer considered an experiment. My boy collected “snow” into snowdrifts and ice into icebergs. We added water so that an ocean formed and the child was occupied for another good 30 minutes.

This is where our experiment with artificial snow ended, my child was completely delighted. In addition to developing fine motor skills, tactile sensations and simply interesting independent play, he discovered the characteristics of soda and drew conclusions. As you have seen, dear readers of my blog, artificial snow is quite easy to make with your own hands, maybe your imagination will tell you other crafts made from artificial snow. I will be very glad if you share your ideas with me.

Today there are many ways to make artificial snow with your own hands. For example, you can grate a candle or white soap on a fine grater and mix it with baby powder.

You can also get artificial snow from foamed polyethylene (packaging for breakable items), which is also rubbed with a fine grater. The most common sugar is used to decorate the edges of glasses and glasses. Today, artificial snow at home can be made from the filling of a new diaper; for this, the filling is crumbled into small pieces. After this you need to wet it. The most optimal DIY snow is selected depending on what this artificial snow will ultimately be used for and what degree of safety is right for you.

For the New Year (to decorate the house with snow-covered branches), artificial snow is made from foam plastic. Frost can be made from salt crystals.

Do-it-yourself artificial snow made of polystyrene foam

You need to grate the foam and sprinkle it on the branches, which must first be coated with glue. For this, branches can be taken from any tree, and if you add a little sparkle to the foam, the snow on the branches will sparkle beautifully. This method can be used to decorate spreading and large branches. Snow-covered branches can be decorated with anything, for example, a garland, bows, balls, etc.

How to make artificial snow from salt

Imitation of frost can be obtained using the most common kitchen salt. Preference should be given to coarse grinding so that the resulting crystals look as natural as possible. And to get the effect of colored frost, the salt can be painted with regular ink or brilliant green.

So, you need to add salt to water boiling over a fire and let it completely dissolve (1 kg of salt is taken per 1 liter of clean water). After this, put only dry and clean branches there and leave to cool. Carefully remove the branches from the cooled saline solution and dry thoroughly. That's all. This method is convenient for covering small twigs, dill umbrellas and other dried herbs with frost.

Artificial snow made of sodium polycarbonate

Ingredients:

Sodium polycarbonate (found in diapers, similar to cotton);

Regular tap water;

Container for making artificial snow.

So, after cutting the diaper, we take out the sodium polycarbonate. Then pour it into a container and add a little water. Mix thoroughly. Water must be added until our diaper filling, that is, sodium polycarbonate, looks like real snow. The most important thing is not to overdo it with water.

In order for our artificial snow to be cold, you just need to place it in the refrigerator. Here you should pay attention to the temperature, which should not be below zero, otherwise it will not be snow, but ice. If these conditions are met, everything should work out!

Using this method, you can also make multi-colored snow with your own hands by adding food coloring to the container.

Kyiv decided that spring had begun. I even found fluffy cats on the willow, can you imagine! And Ksyusha has been yearning for snow since summer. She remembers it so much that the baby waits for new snow all year. Well, no, that means you need to do it yourself. In my search for the perfect homemade snow, I came across many interesting recipes, each of which promises to be super-duper. Okay, we'll try everything. During the day's walk, Seraphim and I visited all the necessary nearby shops and collected a bunch of ingredients.

Ingredients

From all this wealth, I prepared 4 types of artificial snow and recorded a short video review for you, which shows what each snow mixture looks like: does it mold, how free-flowing and smooth each of them is:

Recipe one: “Cold homemade snow”

Shaving foam snow

Ingredients:

• Shaving foam

I mixed the ingredients without adhering to any proportions, although the recipe says that you need to take 1 can of foam for 1 pack of soda. I decided to save the foam for two more experiments, so I didn’t make artificial snow from the entire can.

This snow turned out to be wet, cold and fragrant (we smell of menthol and something else). It's easy to make snowmen from it.

Recipe two: “Fragrant delicate snowball”

Snow made from baby oil

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of flour
• 1/4 cup baby massage oil

Important:

The original recipe called for 1 cup baby oil per 8 cups flour. I thought this portion was too big, so I reduced it by 4 times. You need to knead it thoroughly; you can use an egg whisk for this purpose.

This recipe made the most delicate homemade snow with a pleasant aroma. Suitable for children with very sensitive skin. You can make snowballs and figures from it, just like the real thing.

Recipe three: “Very white and crispy snow”

Corn starch snow

Ingredients:

• 3 cups cornstarch
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

Important: the presence of oil in the recipe makes it difficult to clean up after playing!

Mix the ingredients very thoroughly, you can also use a whisk. The result is super crispy, pleasant to the touch, living snow that is a bit like kinetic sand. By the way, this recipe is, surprisingly, the most economical :) And one more significant plus for mothers of one-year-olds: This snow can be eaten and it is safe!

Recipe four: “Do-it-yourself kinetic snow”

Snow made from soda, starch and flour

Ingredients:

• 1 cup soda
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup cornstarch

I prepared this snow like this: I mixed soda with cornmeal, added water, then added the required amount of starch (about 1/2 cup). The snow turned out to be very interesting to the touch, somewhat fluid. Corn starch adds this sensation to it.

How to play with homemade snow?

• You can add glitter, snowflakes, food coloring or other little things to each snow.
• For games, it is worth preparing different tools for (rolling pin, plastic knife, spoons, spatulas, molds, stamps, etc.), children's dishes or bottles with liquid paint and spray.
• You can also invite different characters to the game: animals, Santa Claus, and others.

Tools

It looks neater on a tray with sides

I don’t like to build a children’s game according to a certain scenario, so I don’t come up with any fairy tales in advance. I simply create conditions that promote exciting play. The only thing is that before each game I voice some rules, for example: “Don’t scatter snow around you, don’t walk around the house with a box, use tools in turns, and the like.” Of course, these rules often go unnoticed by my girls :) But I think they still need to be said...

Simochka pours snow into a mini ice cream bowl with a spoon

Artificial snow can help you have fun with your child and is also useful for a variety of crafts/crafts. How to make it so that it is quite affordable and simple? We have collected 20 artificial snow recipes for you - try them and share your impressions. Not all of them will completely imitate snow - fluffy, soft, cold and smelling fresh. There is “snow” paint for painting, “snow” slime, “snow” plasticine, and other interesting substances. But all of them are directly related to snow and will definitely appeal to children. And if you need “adult” options for use in needlework, then immediately proceed to the second part (point 9 and further)

For children, the most interesting options are those proposed by Crystal Andrewood

How to make artificial snow at home

1. Shining Snow

It turns out cold, fluffy and very soft.

Ingredients:

Two boxes of cornstarch/cornmeal

Shaving cream

Peppermint extract (optional)

2. Snow plasticine

Ingredients:

2 cups baking soda

1 cup cornstarch

1 and 1/2 cups cold water

A few drops of mint extract

3. Snow slime

Ingredients:

2 cups PVA glue

1.5 cups hot water

Optional: a few drops of mint extract to give the slime a frosty aroma

Mix in a small bowl

Mix in a second bowl

3/4 teaspoon borax

1.3 cups hot water
Combine the contents of both bowls and mix with your hands for several minutes until the mixture begins to stretch.

4. Snow paint

Ingredients:

Shaving cream

School PVA glue

Peppermint extract

5. "Silk" snow

Ingredients:

Frozen white bars of soap (any brand)

Cheese grater

Peppermint extract

Preparation method: Place the soap in the freezer overnight. In the morning you can take it out one piece at a time (Crystal used 6 bars) and grate it. You will get fluffy snow, to which you can add glitter and mint extract. It molds perfectly, and you can make a snowman or any other figure.

6. Snow dough

Ingredients:

Cornstarch (freeze overnight to keep snow dough cold)

Lotion (refrigerate overnight to keep dough cold)

7. "Liquid" snow.

Ingredients:

Frozen Corn Starch

Ice water

Peppermint extract

Add ice water to the starch you took out of the freezer until you get the desired consistency. It is recommended to add a little at a time so that the “snow” does not turn out too liquid.

Also, if you've never made non-Newtonian fluids before, you might be in for a surprise. Because with active interaction, the mass becomes harder and more viscous, and at rest it spreads.

8. Snow made from shaving foam

Ingredients:

1 can of shaving foam

1.5 packs of soda

glitter (optional)

Squeeze the contents of the foam can into a bowl and gradually add soda. You will have a very nice mass of snow from which to sculpt figures.

Now let's move on to the adult part.

Artificial snow recipes

9. Snow made of polyethylene foam

Ingredients:
foamed polyethylene (used as packaging material for equipment, glass, shoe inserts) or polystyrene foam;
fine grater.
We wear gloves. Grind polyethylene or polystyrene foam and... Voila! Fluffy cereal all over your house!!! If you add sparkles, the snow will also sparkle. You can powder anything with this snow if you first lubricate the surface with liquid (diluted with water) PVA glue.

10. Snow made of polymer clay

Ingredients:
remnants of dried polymer clay (plastic).
Craftswomen often have leftover polymer clay that they hate to throw away. It is very convenient to grind it by hand and then using a coffee grinder. The result is a light and multi-colored (when using colored clay) snowball, which can be used to decorate cards and other hand-made products.

11. Snow from a baby diaper

Ingredients:
baby diaper.
To get snow you need:
1. cut the diaper and remove the sodium polyacrylate from it, and then tear it into small pieces.
2. Place the resulting mass in a container and fill it with water. Pour gradually, in small portions, until the pieces of polyacrylate begin to resemble snow. Just don't overdo it or it will end up too wet;
3. To make the snow look more realistic, place the container in the refrigerator, but not in the freezer.

12. Frost from salt

Ingredients:
salt (preferably coarsely ground);
water.
Prepare a concentrated salt solution. To do this, fill the pan with a small amount of water and place it on low heat. Add salt until it stops dissolving. Dip the branches of spruce, pine or any other plant into the hot solution and leave for a while. The process of crystal formation goes much faster in warm water! Let the water drain and leave the plants to dry for 4-5 hours. Sparkling frost is guaranteed! If you add brilliant green, food coloring or ink to a salty solution, the frost will turn out colored!

13. Artificial snow for a “snow globe”

Ingredients:
Paraffin candle
It must be grated on a fine grater. This “snow” is great for making toys “a la snow globe” when glycerin and artificial snow flakes are added to the water. The container is hermetically sealed and when shaken, the snowball smoothly sinks to the bottom.

You can actually take a simpler route - and add regular sparkles to such a ball. It will turn out no less impressive.

14. Snow made of PVA and flock

Flock is a very finely chopped pile. And if you're lucky enough to find a package of white flock on sale, rejoice. After all, now you will have “snow” for any craft in a matter of minutes. It is enough to generously coat the surface with glue and sprinkle flock on top (you can use a strainer).

15. Snow made from PVA and starch

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons starch

2 tablespoons PVA

2 tablespoons silver paint

Mix (grind) the ingredients thoroughly.

This kind of snow is suitable when you need to decorate the surface of a product with a voluminous white mass.

16. Mass imitating snow

Ingredients:

fine quartz sand or semolina or foam chips

white acrylic

thick PVA

1. Pour a small amount of your chosen material into a bowl. Approximately 1 faceted glass.
2. We begin to gradually add white acrylic paint to this bulk material. Based on experience, it is better to buy it at a hardware store for facade work. We add until such a state that our loose particles stick together, but do not float in the liquid.
3. Then add PVA, preferably thick. We also add very little so that the mixture is elastic and viscous.
4. Well, and some silver sparkles. Mix everything and... that's it!!!

Recipes for edible "snow".

17. Sugar snow

Ingredients:
sugar.
Dip the edges of the glass (glass) into water or syrup and then into sugar.

18. "Snow-covered" plants
Ingredients:
gum arabic;
egg white.
Using these components, you can sugar plants (non-poisonous and non-bitter). Flowers of pear, apple, cherry, rose, violet, primrose, lemon, begonia, chrysanthemum, gladioli, and pansy have good taste. Candied leaves of mint, lemon balm, and geranium turn out beautiful and very fragrant. Dissolve 12 g of gum arabic in ¼ cup of hot water (in a water bath) with constant stirring. Cool the solution. Prepare sugar syrup: 100g sugar per ¼ glass of water. Cool too. Apply gum arabic solution first to the plants with a brush, and then sugar syrup. Sprinkle with fine granulated sugar (not powdered sugar). Dry on parchment or tracing paper. Such “snow-covered” beauty will not deteriorate for several months. These flowers can be used to decorate a birthday cake or your favorite small sweet pastries.

19. “Snow-covered” plants - option 2

Ingredients:
egg white;
sugar.
Beat egg white and sugar until foamy. Apply with a brush to the petals of the plant and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Place the plants prepared in this way on parchment and place in the oven over low heat. In two hours you can admire the beauty!

20. salted “snow” for meat

Ingredients:
a pinch of salt;
egg white.
Beat the egg white and a pinch of salt into a stiff foam using a mixer. Place this improvised snow on the meat and send it to the oven! Miracles: a chicken in a snowdrift!

I really hope that from these 20 artificial snow recipes you were able to choose the one that suits you.