Kid’s Korner

Make a Snowman Snacker!

By Allison Houchins, Director of Education

(Also a mom, grandparent, artist, farmer, AND a teacher!)

Hi, kids (and Moms, Dads, grandparents, too!)  Thanks for joining me for a winter KIDS KORNER project.  We had just a dusting of snow (sigh!) this weekend, so I took the opportunity to help my grandsons, Ty and Wyatt, craft a SNOWMAN SNACKER. I love saving things for art projects. Follow us along for this fun and resourceful project!

1. Ty and Wyatt peel the shrink wrap plastic covering off Coffee Mate creamer bottles.  I help them get started by sliding a knife under the wrap at the top.  This is a great idea for RECYCLING too.
2. All clear…next the boys starting filling them up with white cheddar cheese SNOWBALLS. I found these at the grocery around Christmas, but are available year round. You could also choose marshmallows, but their mom approved of the cheese balls for snacking.
3. Next we did faces! The boys glued on “googly eyes” on some using Glue Dots, and we added details with Sharpie markers. I showed them how to make the eyes look up by putting the pupils at the top of the eye circle, looking down put the pupils in the bottom of the circle, and looking left or right draw them to one side or the other.  Want a goofy look? Put one pupil up and one looking down!  Ty’s snowman face looks serious, and Wyatt’s is happy.
4. We used some plaid Christmas ribbon for the scarf. No ribbon? Plaid flannel from an old shirt works great too.  The lid already makes the snowman’s hat.  Don’t forget buttons down the front.  We used Sharpie, but you could glue real buttons if you like. 
5. All finished! Good job, boys! By the way, the SNOWMEN SNACKERS were empty by the end of the day!!

These can be wiped off on the outside with a damp cloth.  Adults can wash carefully on the inside to preserve your decorations.  

For extra practice on drawing faces with expressions, draw circles on a separate sheet and practice the eye directions I talked about in Step 3.  Try out different mouth expressions…straight for serious, curved up for happy, down for sad, squiggly for goofy, up to one side for a “thinking” look.  This is how cartoonists work!

Thanks again for visiting our KIDS KORNER.  Keep your eyes here for more fun projects!