Dig your fingers in and have a blast building a snowman, rolling out snowballs, and simply enjoying the powdery soft texture of this DIY fake snow. This sensory activity is easy enough for kids to mix together themselves, and it’ll create hours of exciting pretend play!
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How long does fake snow last?
We made fake snow 2 weeks ago that still feels the same as the day it was made! So if you store the fake snow in an airtight container or Ziploc bag at room temperature, it should last for at least a few weeks. Of course, it all depends on how clean the hands are before playing with it, so keep an eye on your fake snow and use your best judgment. It’s easy to make a new batch, so it doesn’t hurt to throw it out after a few days if it smells or feels off.
How to play with this fake snow?
This fake snow is perfect for sensory play and squishing through your fingers. You can use beach toys, plastic spoons, and shovels to move the snow around. Our fake snow recipe also makes a great vehicle for pretend play. You can add little plastic toys and figures into the snow. We actually created a whole winter village scene and made our toys have a “snowball fight”, which you can see in the picture above. It’s so easy to get creative and build a whole world of make believe play!
Can you put fake snow outside?
No, this fake snow cannot be put outside, because the ingredients aren’t good for wildlife. If you’d like to make a fake snow that can go outside, you can buy the instant snow that we used in our cloud slime. This fake snow is biodegradable and safe to place outdoors!
How to make fake snow without conditioner?
We experimented with a few different recipes for fake snow and we definitely found that conditioner and baking soda make the BEST fake snow. But if you don’t have conditioner, or don’t want to use it for sensory play, there are a couple other recipes that work. Start with the amount of baking soda you’d like and then add the wet/liquid ingredient until you’re happy with the mixture.
Baking soda and baby oil: This snow is similar to the baking soda and conditioner recipe, with a really nice texture. But it was harder to make snowballs and build things with this mixture, so it wasn’t our favourite. Baking soda and shaving cream: This mixture is similar to the baby oil mixture, but a bit fluffier and less wet feeling. Shaving cream often has an overpowering smell that some people don’t like. Also, the fluffiness from the shaving foam disappears within a few hours.
We don’t recommend using cornstarch and shaving cream. It made a really powdery mixture, but it didn’t stick together or feel like snow at all.
Whether it’s too cold outside to play, or you live in a place that doesn’t get snow, this sensory craft is the perfect way to enjoy “snow” inside this year! You can use pantry ingredients you probably already have to make this easy fake snow recipe. It’s such a fun winter activity, perfect for at home play or a weather unit in school.
Here’s even more fun sensory craft ideas:
Puffy Snow Paint
Ice Painting
Cloud Slime
Our book Low-Mess Crafts for Kids is loaded with 72 fun and simple craft ideas for kids! The projects are fun, easy and most importantly low-mess, so the clean up is simple!
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