Sea Shell Snowman Ornament

Here's a simple way to use up some of those sea shells you've been holding onto since your last trip to the beach...a sea shell snowman ornament!

Some sea shells already have holes in them, and those are perfect for this craft. Just paint a snowman face on your sea shell and thread a string through the hold on your shell and it's ready to hang on your Christmas tree!

Merry Christmas!

Milk Jug Snowman Ornament

We are all for quick, affordable crafts that are easy for kids to make...and an even better bonus is if they're recycled! I had fun whipping up a snowman ornament out of a milk jug last year...

Paper Mache Sand-Man (Snowman)

I don't have any pictures of the process, but I volunteered to make a paper mache sand-man (snowman) for my kids' Scout troop float in our Christmas parade last year. The theme was "tropical Christmas" which is why it's a sand-man.

I blew up three balloons and covered them in paper mache. When they were dry, I popped the balloons and used the holes where the balloons weren't covered to stack my body parts on top of each other.

I used more paper mache to paste the body parts together and let that dry.

When that was dry, I painted the sand-man a tan color to cover up the ink from my kids' homework assignments which made up the majority of the paper mache.

Once the paint was dry, I made a watered down paste with school glue and water. I spread that over the sand-man a bit at a time, and covered that with sand.

After the sand was dry, I hot glued some sea shell buttons, the sun glasses, carrot nose (which I made from a rolled-up piece of construction paper), and lei. I added a bucket for the hat.

If you want a snowman instead, just paint it white and skip the sand part!

Wood Slice Snowman Ornament

Here's a simple ornament you could make with a large group of kids in a class or as a family...snowman faces on wood slices!

Paper Plate Snowman

We finally got some snow recently and my 2 year old had so much fun sledding! Sadly, it was not snowman snow, so she has yet to experience making a snowman, but we got creative and made a paper plate snowman inside.

All you need to make your snowman is a paper plate, black construction paper, pom poms, orange foam or construction paper, and white school glue.

I cut out all the shapes we needed and put some glue on the plate...

Then she placed all of the pieces on the glue dots. You could definitely be more adventurous and let your toddler pour the glue themselves or place the pieces wherever they want, but this was fun for both of us so I'll call it a win.

Footprint Snowman

It's been in the 50's-60's here while I've heard stories and seen photos of the 8-12 inches of snow my relatives got for Christmas in Utah. But, that doesn't mean we aren't dreaming of at least a little snow this winter! In the meantime, we'll make our own snowmen of sorts...out of our feet! This is a perfect footprint craft, and it was relatively quick to do.

I love the side-by-side comparisons of my children's feet as time goes by. Soon, I won't be able to fit my 9 year old's footprint on the same page as his siblings!

Just paint the bottom of the foot white, and press it onto a piece of paper (we used black cardstock). If the footprint is incomplete, just fill it in with some more paint. Quickly wipe/wash the foot off before your child goes wandering through the house! When that dries, paint on some eyes, a mouth, buttons, a nose and a scarf to complete each snowman.

Now you have some adorable little footprint snowmen to last through the ages :). We made some extra snowmen to put on homemade cards for my kids' teachers at church.

Thanks Crafty Crafted for the cute idea!

Hand Print Snowman Ornament

I've seen the ornaments that have children's hand prints turned into snowmen for years and just barely made a hand print snowman ornament with my 2 year old. I love it!

Silly Snowman Game

If the cold weather is driving you nuts and keeping everyone indoors, celebrate the snow with a silly snowman game. Inspired by Chicken Babies “Roll a Monster Snowman” and similar to our silly pumpkin game, it’s easy, free and fun!
Cut out a bunch of snowman parts from construction paper: lots of body parts (I traced two different size jars), hats, carrot noses, stick arms, eyes, and coal. I used pom-poms for our coal and googly eyes, but we had those on hand.

Shredded Snowman

If you’re looking for a fun winter craft for your little ones to do, make a shredded snowman with them! I know it’s not the prettiest snowman ever, but it was simple and my 3 year old loved it…

All you need it a piece of paper, a bunch of shredded paper, glue, and whatever you want to use for the eyes, nose, mouth & arms (paper, googly eyes, etc).

Have your child spread some glue in circles for the snowman body parts and then have them sprinkle shredded paper on those circles. Add the eyes, nose, mouth & arms and you’re done :). This was the perfect activity for my 3 year old while his big brother was at school.

Thanks Baby Center & Pinterest!

Paper Plate Snowmen

We have yet to have anything even remotely resembling snow around here this winter, so we have to take snowmen in whatever form we can get them…

The other day, in searching for a quick, relatively clean craft I came up with paper plate snowmen. Both of my boys loved it and this is an activity that can be modified for any age from painting, to gluing, etc! I just used my trusty sticky tack to hold the plates to the doors and let my boys color away :)

I’ll be linking up to What Are Little Boys Made Of?, Preschool Corner Friday, and Works for Me Wednesday, Kids Get Crafty.

Sock Snowman

I saw these sock snowmen on a friend’s blog last year and can’t even link to it since the blog is no longer there, but the idea is adorable and super easy…

Fill a long sock with rice and tie it into 3 sections to create your snowman. Add buttons, a scarf, a hat, or whatever you want to make your snowman unique. I like to think of my sock snowman as French with his beret, scarf and sunglasses :).

I’ll be linking up to Works For Me Wednesday.

Bottle Cap Snowman Ornaments

Are you ready for an onslaught of Christmas/holiday related crafts and gift ideas? I hope so because it’s already started! Have I mentioned my husband never thought I would turn crafty on him? Apparently I wasn’t crafty before I started blogging. Luckily he still loves me :)

Back to the topic at hand…Bottle Cap Snowman Ornaments! These are simple, cute and cheap (my favorite).
All you need are:

• Bottle caps. 3 to each snowman unless you want to make mutant snowmen for your younger brother or something…
• White paint
• Something to color with. I used a sharpie and orange highlighter
• Glue gun
• Ribbon

Start by making sure your bottle caps are clean and dry.
Give them a few coats of white paint, allowing to dry between each coat especially if you have cheap paint like me.
Fold a little bit of ribbon into a loop and hot glue that to the top of one of your bottle caps on the back. Add another dab of glue at the bottom. Glue the ribbon to two more bottle caps and trim the end. I like having a bit of ribbon show between each cap to add color.
Draw cute snowman faces and button on your ornaments and adorn your tree with cuteness! Sorry, is that too girly? My faces/buttons are a little crooked because I drew them on before gluing…yah, draw them on after the ribbon is glued on.
I’m linking up to Get Your Craft On @ Today’s Creative Blog, Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays @ Coastal Charm, Lucky Linky Tuesday @ Lucky Star Lane, Toot Your Horn Tuesday @ A Silly Little Sparrow, Tip Me Tuesday @ Tip Junkie’s, Polka Dots and Pizza. and Show Me Your Bush.

Cotton Snowman

Trendy Treehouse had a post on making a cotton ball snowman and I decided to do one today with K while C was napping. It was so much fun, and K was so proud, though you can't tell from the picture.

I drew a snowman and put glue dots inside the circles. On the top two circles, K experimented with ripping the cotton balls into smaller pieces, and on the bottom one he just stuck the balls on whole. He then learned how effective glue can be when he tried to redo some of it :)

I colored and cut out eyes, nose and a mouth and he helped place them on the glue. He then had to help color a hat and we made several different ones until we had one that was just right.

I love projects like this because it's so easy to adapt them for different ages, so I think this will be redone in years to come.

And now for a heart melting smile from C...