snowless snowmen: easy winter activities

let it snow! well, unless you live where we do. then, well, not so much. but fret not, fellow maritime dwellers (and those who prefer to stay warm and dry inside, thankyouverymuch). today we've got some kid-tested, slacker-mom-approved snowmen-sans-snow activities for you!

snowmen in the living room

being a snowman is
surprisingly toasty

who doesn't love to build a snowman? we sure do, even if it's a pint-sized gal. but no snow? no fret. build one in your own living room with a willing model and a white bedsheet.

first, grab some props—boots, hats, scarves, mittens. see what the kids come up with. Sweet One wanted to give her snowman a backpack. Little One thought it was the neatest thing ever to throw yellow burp rags at her snowman's feet. the key material, of course, is snow! for that, we turn to a white bedsheet (or maybe yellow if you have that sense of humor?). a fitted sheet works best, with one corner going over the head like a hood. the larger the better: our king-size sheet left plenty of room for loosely wrapping ourselves in "snow." then give your snowman some flair. the girls thought this was the funnest idea ever.

oops, she melted!

melting snowman

as a finishing activity for the bedsheet snowman, you can also act out this fun rhyme about a melting snowman. the King County Library System has an amazing online collection of fingerplays, rhymes and songs. there's even a category for holiday rhymes, which includes some Christmas and winter-related gems. one that generates some giggles, and fits our theme, is I'm A Little Snowman. i'm including their YouTube demonstration, but see their original webpage for some nice variations on the words. (i like a blend of the two versions, substituting a carrot for the broomstick.)

to save you some digging, here are a couple other winter rhymes from the collection:
Ring Those Bells
We're Going on a Santa Hunt

cotton ball snowmen


looking for an activity that focuses on more fine-motor skills? me neither. looking for a craft that will keep the kiddos busy for five freaking seconds and may even draw you in? ok, then! i had a huge bag of cotton balls that i haven't drawn from in two years or so. hm, they look like snow! we started (and continue to enjoy) a cotton ball-snowball fight (or ten). then we lumped them together into bigger balls for some floppy snowmen. we glued a couple cotton balls onto green-paper trees for some easy Christmas cards. and now we're eyeing our growing stockpile of upcycle-worthy thingamabobbers to create our own snow model Christmas town (where their cottonball snowmen look a bit more put together than our slackers).

and to get in the mood...

see our favorite story about snowmen (what do they do at night?) and enjoy this video of caspar babypants' "i wanna be a snowman."