Snowman Crafts and Activities {The Sunday Showcase 12/7/13}

My mind is already starting to focus on "winter" fun so I thought I'd share in case you were like me and already gathering ideas. This week I am featuring some fun "Snowman Activities" shared on last week's linky.

Click any of the links below for the full activity post

Fine Motor Activity: Build a Snowman

(Frogs, Snails & Puppy Dog Tails)

Snowman Activity Tray

(Happy Hooligans)

Snowman In a Jar Play Dough Kit

(The Connection We Share)

Roll a Snowman: Ice Cream in a Bag Game

(Little Wonders Days)

What great Snowman Activities!

Looking for more snowman ideas?

Check out some of our favorites:

The Melting Snowman Experiment

Build a Snowman: Long/Short O Game

Upcycled Water Bottle Snowman

Don't forget to peruse our Winter Fun board on Pinterest.

It's filled with awesome ideas for the holiday.

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Now it's your turn to share!

Do you have any fun snowman activities to share? 

Please share them with me in the linky, 

by commenting below or by visiting our Facebook page. 

Be sure to link up your child centered ideas while you're here.

I love to see what everyone is doing.

If you have been featured, grab a button you deserve it!

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The Sunday Showcase is hosted on FOUR blogs!

Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas
Here Come the Girls

Inspiration Laboratories

Learn Play Imagine

Each blog showcases their own features so be sure to check them all out!

If you are here for the first time please read this informational post for the full details.  Anything kid friendly and/or child centered is welcome!  You are welcome to share more than one post,  but we don't accept links for giveaways,  shops, or downloads for purchase, etc.  They will be deleted.

If you're linking up we encourage you to visit other links 
& our Pinterest board!  

*Important* 

Please note that by linking up you are giving us permission to use a photo (with proper link to you!) in our featured section and on our Pinterest board!  

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Link up and share your child centered ideas with us!

Bern

An InLinkz Link-up

Winter Craft: Packing Peanut Snowflakes

Have you ever opened a package that arrived in the mail and been greeted by hundreds of packing peanuts? Have you ever wondered what you can do with them besides throw them away? LOTS! Packing peanuts are awesome to work with. The Lil Divas and I recently spent some time crafting, creating and experimenting with biodegradable packing peanuts. Today, I want to share our packing peanut snowflakes - they were so easy and fun to make.

What I love about using packing peanuts to create structures, not just snowflakes, is that all you need is a little water. How simple is that?

To adhere your packing peanuts to each other simply dip your finger into some water, wet the tips of your packing peanuts and press them together. They adhere to each other almost instantly. This was met with lots of oohs, ahhs and "how did you do that?" from the Lil Divas when I first demonstrated it to them. 

Once the Lil Divas knew what to do, they got right to work creating their snowflakes.

They created lots of different snowflakes and much like the real thing - no two were the same.

Packing peanuts are super easy and fun material to craft and create with. They are also great to experiment with. Tomorrow, I will be sharing a simple experiment we conducted with some of our packing peanuts. 

Have you used packing peanuts in a fun way? Be sure to share in the comments below. I'd love to know more fun ways we can use them. I still have tons of them!

Bern

This post is part of the Winter Wonderland Blog Hop

For more fun winter crafts, activities, treats & play
check out all the participating blogs:

The Iowa Farmer's Wife - B-Inspired Mama - Kid World Citizen - Love Play Learn - Home Learning Journey - KC Edventures - Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails -Milk and Cuddles - Putti's World - Nurture Store - Creative Playhouse - Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas - Teach Preschool - This Reading Mama - Housing A Forest - Royal Baloo - Two Big Two Little - Ready Set Read - CraftoArt - The Outlaw Mom Blog - JDaniel4s Mom - Creative Family Fun - Kitchen Counter Chronicles - Caution! Twins at Play - Enchanted Homeschooling Mom - Blog Me Mom - Mama Miss - Living Montessori Now - Ingles 360 - Glittering Muffins - The Pleasantest Thing - Here Come the Girls - 3 Dinosaurs - Train Up a Child - Little Artists - The Chirping Moms - My Nearest and Dearest

Snowflakes, Snowflakes All Around! Faux Tie Dye Coffee Filter Snowflakes & More!

There is just something about cutting snowflakes that never gets old.

No matter how old you are or how many times you've done it -

it is still exciting to create your own snowflake masterpiece.

The Lil Divas cut/made their first paper snowflakes last year

so this year I thought it would fun to change things up a little.

Faux Tie Dye Snowflakes

What You Need:

coffee filters

dot markers/bingo daubers

What To Do:

1. Fold coffee filter in half & then in half again

2. Using dot markers/bingo daubers make a pattern on the coffee filter. 

Be sure to cover both sides completely.

3. Open coffee filters & allow some drying time

this makes it easier to cut without ripping them because they won't be so wet.

4. Refold & cut your design into your snowflake.

Open & behold you awesome Tie Dye Snowflake

These look fabulous on our window!!!

Kid Friendly Food: 

Cinnamon Sugar Snowflake Tortillas

In the spirit of cutting snowflakes we also made some 

yummy, fun & easy cinnamon sugar tortillas as a quick snack.

What To Do:

1. Fold a tortilla in half & then half again.

2. Using clean scissors cut as you would a paper snowflake

3. Melt a little butter and brush onto tortillas.

4. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar to liking.

5. Pop into the oven at 350 degrees for 5-7 mins.

6. Allow to cool a bit & then enjoy!

A quick, easy & fun snack that kids can help you make.

Books We Read:

Bern

The Snowman Experiment

The Lil Divas have been begging to build a snowman.

This is pretty impossible in Florida.

Or is it?

By freezing 3 water filled balloons (1 small, 1 medium, 1 large)

we were able to make our very own Snowman (or should I say Ice man?)

The Snowman Experiment

This was the perfect opportunity for a bit of scientific observation

& after our fabulous Mad Science Theme - 

the Lil Divas are very excited about all things science!

Here's What We Did:

1. Freeze 3 water filled balloons (preferable over night)

You will need 1 large, 1 medium and 1 small balloon for your snowman.

2. Peel the balloon off your frozen ice balls

3. Using a bit of salt to adhere them, stack your ice to form a snowman.

4. We used some felt to make the face and buttons -

Tip: Wet the felt and add just a pinch of salt to stick them on!

Since the Lil Divas have been so interested in science lately

I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to introduce them

to some scientific terms & processes - on their level.

We discussed what we were going to observe during this experiment:

The Experiment - 

1 Snowman would be put outside & 1 left indoors.

We were going to observe which would melt the fastest.

Each Lil Diva made a prediction about which would melt the fastest

and recorded their observations both before and after.

5. We placed one snowman outside & left one inside in our kitchen.

Both snowmen were placed in bins to collect any water.

Here's What Happened:

 After 3 hours our snowmen had visibly begun to melt.

The Outside Snowman had quite a bit of water evident in the bin

and was smaller in size from when we first put it outside.

The Indoor Snowman, although his head had toppled, 

had much less water in the bin and was still considerably large in size.

Approximately 8 hours later we found that 

the Outside Snowman was nearly completely melted.

The Inside Snowman was still pretty large and mostly intact.

A side by side comparison of the 2 Snowmen:

We ended the experiment a bit prematurely 

as is was soon to be the Lil Divas bedtime but I think 

the results were pretty conclusive about what the final results would be.

The Oldest Diva wrote down our results & her final observations 

at the conclusion of our experiment.

It was a fun experiment 

& we got to build our very own snowmen,

 even in Florida!

Books We Read:

The Snowman Experiment was inspired by this pin on Pinterest.
I changed it up a little to suit our needs but that was my inspiration!

Check out my Winter Board on Pinterest - so many wonderful ideas.

Interested in more fun & easy science ideas -
check out our other science experiments.


Bern

Winter Fest: A South Florida Snow Day

Yesterday, we had a Winter Fest with some friends.

Living in FL we unfortunately do not experience much of a winter

& I was determined to give the girls (& their friends) a bit of winter fun.

I had 7 kids total ranging in ages from 1 to 10

& every one of them had fun! 

Here's what we did:

Winter Cards

I supplied paper, card stock, markers, crayons, stickers & stamps

and let the kids make winter cards for someone special.

They made cards for their Dads, Moms, teachers & friends.

It was a great gathering activity.

Marshmallow Snowflakes

 Frozen Paint Crayons

I found ice cube trays that make long thin ice -

absolutely perfect for crayon shaped frozen paint!

They all made great works of art 

as they explored the frozen paint.

It went from cold, to melty & squishy.

A very tactile & messy painting experience.

We had fun exploring

Insta Snow!

They played with their hands,

explored how it felt under their feet (cold but soft!)

threw it on themselves, on each other and all over the floor

enjoying every minute of it!

Ice Excavation

One of the other Mama's froze some toys/trinkets

into cups of ice and we let the kids explore getting them out.

They used droppers and added some water to help them melt

some smashed them against the wall (luckily we were outside!)

and they hit them with wooden hammers to help crack them open.

It was lots of fun, both for them to do & for the Moms to watch!!

Sock Snowball Fight

There's no better way to end a winter fest

than with a snowball fight!

The kids were armed with sock snowballs

and they had way too much fun pelting each other. :)

I LOVE that photo of the Lil Divas 

just having a GREAT time!

It was a great Snow Day!

(PS) I LOVE Insta Snow! 

It was so easy to do, play with and clean up!

Don't have access to insta snow?

 The Chocolate Muffin Tree recently shared a quick way to make some cold icy snow!

Bern