by Trudy Brown

Created on: November 04, 2009

Building a snow man is a favorite activity on snowy days, but even if you live in the balmy south where the snow rarely falls, you can make these snow man crafts to celebrate the chilly approach of winter.

*Paper plate snowman

Even the littlest crafters can make this easy snowman. Staple three plates together. Cut a top hat out of black construction paper or felt and glue it to the top plate. Glue black pompoms in place for eyes, mouth, and buttons. Glue two orange pompoms together and glue one to the plate so that they stick outward like a traditional carrot nose. Cover the rest of the area on the plates in white cotton balls.

*Snowman stamps

Make a unique snowy landscape by using interesting textures to make snowman stamps. On a black or dark blue colored paper, paint the bottom white to make a snow-covered ground. Then cut snowman shapes out of bubble wrap, corrugated cardboard, felt, a crumpled paper bag, cork board and any other objects that would make a unique imprint. Dip them in white paint and stamp them onto the paper to make a page full of one-of-a-kind snowmen. Use a pen or marker to draw arms, faces, and buttons.

*Gluemen

This can get messy, especially with very small children, so be prepared. On wax paper, make three puddles of glue. The puddles should ooze into each other. Let your child stick wiggly eyes, black pompom buttons and mouth, and orange craft foam nose into the glue. Give them small twigs to make arms. Sprinkle some glitter for extra shine. Leave the gluemen on the wax paper for several days. Once they are dry, you should be able to pull them off the paper and use them to decorate. Hot glue a piece of yarn or string to the back and hang them from suction cups on your child's window.

*Shaving cream snowmen

Mix glue and shaving cream together and let kids use the mixture to finger paint a snowman on dark colored paper. Once dry, the picture should retain a 3-D texture.

*Snowman sun catcher

Cut some shavings from a white crayon. Sprinkle these onto a piece of contact paper and carefully lay another piece of contact paper over the first, sticky side down. Place a towel over the top of it and use an iron to melt the crayons. Cut a snowman shape out of the melted area. Hot glue buttons on to make a face.

Even if you don't get four feet of snow at your house this winter, there are still plenty of ways to make your very own decorative snowman. Exercise your preschooler's imagination and spend some quality time together crafting.

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