Carefully choosing buttons 
Trying to make it look as though the snowman has melted 
A3 counting the lights, “2…3…5”
A little disclaimer on this post before I get started on our play of the day! I personally think that simple play dough (as opposed to fairy dough) is best for building snowmen. Play dough has a softer consistency that gives way easily to tiny details like the eyes and nose we added to our snowmen. So if you would like to recreate this activity at home I recommend using my playdough recipe for perfect results! However, if you would like to make the softest fairy dough with an incredibly unique texture that will stretch as well as form into shapes please find my Fairy Dough recipe here! Read on to find out what details we used to build our snowmen during todays winter play activity.
A few days ago as we were out and about shopping we had surprise snowfall here in Bristol which is very unusual for this area of the United Kingdom. When it does snow, it’s rare for it to collect enough for the boys to scoop and form into snowballs and snowmen. Quite a few flakes fell which they were absolutely delighted to see and they actually scraped together enough to throw a few snowballs!
This prompted the boys to ask a few times if we could build a snowman sometime or visit a place that has real snow! We will have to hope that the situation with Covid in the UK improves so we can travel safely again but in the meantime we had fun creating our own miniature snowmen at home.
The boys loved forming “snowballs” out of fairy dough and in some cases flattening them to make it seem as though the snowman had melted!
We cut up strips of colourful felt for the scarves and found some tiny game pieces that we ended up using as carrot noses. In the past, we have used small orange Lego pieces as the nose which works well too.
We have a little button collection at home so the smaller buttons came in handy for this activity but there are so many things that can be used instead if you don’t have these at home! You can use sequins (that we also included), Lego or whole black peppercorns, which we used for the snowman’s eyes and smile.
Cloves are also great for tiny details on your snowman as they are easy to push into the dough. For hat options we brought out a few hats from our Playmobile people but in the past I have included a little bit of black play dough so the boys can make their own hats.
We had some small thin craft sticks at home that we added for arms but the boys much preferred going into the garden and collecting small sticks from our tree and snipping off the tiny ends of these to make hands and arms for the snowmen.
If you have small children this is a great activity in itself to promote fine motor skills as long as the stems are not too thick for children’s scissors to handle.
Finally, we added a star roller for some extra magic and a little bit of glitter in the dough itself, because glitter is always a welcome addition!
The materials used for this activity are very easy to get (play dough materials can be found at any supermarket and are inexpensive (most things can be picked up at the Pound Shop/Dollar Store). The details we used can be changed to whatever you have lying around your house. Ignore the fancy set up if you like – children will be happy with a pile of dough and some small items to stick into it and you’re done!
We would love to see your snowmen if you recreate this activity at home. Share to my Facebook page or tag me on Instagram @saireesays. Be creative and have fun!
Sairee Says 