Tuesday, 15 December 2009

• Let It Snow: Kids' Arts and Crafts Projects

  Guest post from MamaTRUE
  

  Do you live someplace where your kid may never see snow? At our house, we’ve started reading all of the winter/holiday books full of snow but my three-year-old has never seen those beautiful white flakes in person.

  My winter childhood memories involve either being outside in the snow or being inside drinking hot chocolate because it was so cold outside. Cavanaugh knowing nothing of the stuff– except for what we’ve read in books– is freaking me out. This past week, Cavanaugh came running in to show me the playdoh snowmen and Christmas trees he and his part-time nanny had made. It inspired a lot of snow crafting at our house this week. Even if the projects hadn’t turned out so well, Cavanaugh and I have gotten to work together, giggle, create, and have a ton of sweet time together.

  

  Paper snowflakes – Your child may be adept with scissors. Mine isn’t yet, so I made the folds and cuts, then he unfolded (with a little help). Fortunately, I couldn’t remember how to get a six-sided snowflake so I was trying to find directions on the web. Cavanaugh started playing with my box of shredded paper while he waited and that’s where our next two projects came from.
  

  Paper snow showers – At first, he was dropping the shredded paper back into the box, but he started putting some on his legs, dropping it onto the floor. I found myself telling him to keep it over the box then asked myself one of my favorite parenting questions. Why not? Why not let the paper out? He was having fun. And how hard is it really to sweep up some paper? Soon enough I was showering the shredded paper over his head in a simulated snow shower. I suppose if I were really adept at cutting out teeny paper snowflakes, it would have been more aesthetically pleasing, but it kept us busy for almost an hour. By the end, Cavanaugh, his Hello Kitty slippers, and I were all covered in little bits of paper and were giggling hysterically (well, the slippers weren’t, but I think they had a good time anyway).

  
  

  Paper snow angels – What do you do when your floor is covered in shredded paper? Make paper snow angels. I just spread the paper around so we’d have a big enough area, then had Cavanaugh lie down. I helped him flap his arms and scissor his legs to make the skirt. Our first attempt was a little sloppy, but the second one looked like this (after I cleared out a few paper stragglers).

  Cotton ball snowman – We probably could have made a snowman with the shredded paper too, but I didn’t want to pull the stuff back out again today. Instead, we used a piece of cardstock and I made three circles with a gluestick. Cavanaugh stuck the cotton balls onto the glue. Then I gave him a small pile of metal confetti snowflakes (you could draw stars, cut out trees, or just leave off the background). He made a dot with the gluestick and then stuck the snowflakes on the paper while I cut out the mittens, hat, and rolled orange construction paper for the nose. Your toddler can be the designated gluer. Mine was also the hat inspector. I had to cut out about six before he approved. I tried a tissue paper scarf first, but didn’t like it as much as the feathers. I love our fancy little snowman. Can you tell whether Cavanaugh likes it?

  

  Coloring snow – It’s also really easy to draw an outline of a snowman, or an angel, or glue a paper snowflake onto some construction paper then let your child just color on it with markers. You can cut the shape out after s/he’s done drawing and hang it as an ornament or holiday decoration. Cavanaugh had more fun doing this after he’d already made snow angels and snowmen himself, probably because he now actually understands (kind of) what snow is.

  Do you have any other fake snow project ideas? Please let me know. And, if you try any of these, I’d love to hear how they go. Let it snow!!

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