Crafts for Kids: Make it Snow!

When it comes to snow, sometimes we have to make our own here in the South.

I grew up in New England, where we wore parkas under our Halloween costumes. Here in the sunny South, I still expect at least one good blizzard every winter. And each year, the weather forecasters hype a big news story about a potential storm that might come near Charlotte. If every star in the universe aligns. So we duly buy milk and bread and make sure the boots fit.

And Amelia waits for the promised snow. And waits, and waits, and waits. And there might be a flake or maybe even an inch, but so far no blizzards.

So when the weatherman taunted us last week with frosty promises and only a few flurries materialized, we decided to make our own. On a warm day.

I found this snow recipe on Pinterest, and it requires only a few items we already had on hand:

• Baking soda
• Shaving cream
• Vinegar

We put the baking soda into a bowl, added the shaving cream and mixed it with our hands. It was cold and felt good, but it wasn't a snowstorm—until we started to throw it! Even a bucket of fake snow makes decent snowballs!

After the snowball fight, we had just enough snow left for an experiment. The tutorial mentions that adding vinegar from a spray bottle or eye dropper will cause the snow to foam. So we tried it – and it works! Our little remaining blobs of "snow" erupted into mounds of foam. Not great for more snowballs, but still fun to play with, pour and throw around.

Overall, it wasn't a blizzard or an old fashioned snow day, but we had a great time, made a mess in the yard, and got to have a snowball fight without snow boots.

Welcome to winter in the South!

Want more Mess? Visit Melanie's blog, or drop by her Etsy store, Made by Mommy!