Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?

December 29, 2020

build a snowman

Originally posted December 15, 2019, with new 2020 updates.

Actually, no. Not really. I would much prefer staying inside when it is freezing out. I know going outside and getting fresh air is good for you. But I’d rather curl up hygge style with a book under a blanket.

I do like snowmen. Well, indoor snowmen. Snowman cookies, snowman ornaments, and books about snowmen! Those are all pretty cool, no pun intended.

Snowman Cookies

You can make many different kinds of snowman cookies. The easiest would be standard sugar cookies with your favorite recipe. Roll out the dough, use a snowman cookie cutter, bake, and frost.

But one of our favorites is melting snowman cookies. They are fun to make and easy to put together. They are perfect for any climate. You can live in the warmer southern states and they are appropriate. You can live in the dynamic 25 degrees one day, 55 degrees the next New England area, or anywhere in between.

All you need is a cookie, preferably on the larger side. Sugar, chocolate chip, literally any will do. Next, you need some white frosting and a large marshmallow. Squirt or spread the white frosting into an irregular puddle shape and stick half of a large marshmallow on top. Now take some of those gel writing frostings and decorate the snowman faces and scarves.

melting snowman cookies *(We have actually made these in July before, as melting summer snowman cookies, but they can be used for warm winter day cookies too. Or “Frosty in the greenhouse” cookies by Professor Hinkle…)

Snowman Crafts and Ornaments

The shape of an “unmelted” snowman is rather easy to construct. It is pretty much a couple of circles stacked on top of one another. There are tons of ways to create snowman themed crafts with cotton balls, white paper plates of various sizes or simply using white paint on construction paper. I’m sure you probably have most of the materials already in your homeschool arts and crafts stash already!

fence post snowmanBut one of our favorites is “fence post snowmen”. These will take a bit more work than gluing some cotton balls to a paper plate but are also much more permanent. Some of the examples you will find vary in height and complexity which offers some great flexibility with your creation. What is also great about a fence post snowman, once you create the base body you can customize its appearance every year. Did an arm break in storage? Go outside and find another stick. Bored with the scarf and hat? Swap them out!

If you look up “fence post snowman” on Google, you will see tons of different variations of these, ranging in size and construction materials. but they are all pretty neat, and won’t melt when you bring them inside.

Snowball Snowman Army!

Sure, you can go outside and build a standard, run of the mill snowman… or you could get creative a build a Calvin and Hobbs inspired snowman graveyard! But one of our favorites was a picture we found online several years back of a mini snowball snowman army!

Regular snowmen can be pretty labor-intensive. Rolling those huge snowman sections out, lifting them into place… but anyone can handle making a snowball. Or a hundred.

snowball snowman army

Come on. You know you want to do this now. We have made a much smaller scale version of this before on our back deck.  But when you have seemingly unlimited amounts of snow available – like we always do up here in New England, sometimes we get a little crazy!

We hade this little guy perched in the tree outside our front window last year. At least until he melted. You may recognize him from this blog post’s title picture. Perhaps some of his friends will soon gather in the general vicinity…

snowman in tree

2020 Update:

This year we have two new additions! You may have seen my snowman book stack on Instagram. We raided all our bookshelves for perfectly sized white and black books to strategically piled into a very bookish snowman. He’s so handsome I think I’ll keep him up all winter long.

We actually got some pre-Christmas snow this year (sadly it melted when we had a 60-degree rainstorm on Christmas day). We were able to construct a real snowman, something we haven’t done in a really long time! We have a snowman kit that comes with a corncob pipe, a plastic carrot nose, buttons, and a plastic top hat. Surprisingly, after using it once or twice and having it stored in our garage for literally over a decade, we were able to pull it out and put it to use this winter!

Snowman Books

Of course, no blog post will be complete without a selection of books! Here is a list of our favorite snowman books!

The Snowman – This wordless picture book is a wintertime classic. The cartoon is beautiful to watch, but the picture book, imagining what happens when a snowman comes to life, is just pure joy.  (Bookshop.org link: The Snowman)

Snowmen at Night – This adorable picture book imagines what snowmen do at night while everyone else is sleeping. (Bookshop.org link: Snowmen at Night)

If Picasso Painted a Snowman – if you are looking to add more art appreciation to your studies, this book is a lot of fun! It begins with the premise that not everyone draws the same thing the same way – in this case, a snowman! (Bookshop.org link: If Picasso Painted a Snowman)

All You Need for a Snowman – This sweet story, with short and rhythmic text, is perfect for the littlest readers. What do you need to make a snowman? The story will inspire your child to create their own snowman – either outdoors or with art! (Bookshop.org link: All You Need for a Snowman)

The Biggest Snowman Ever – This is a sequel to The Biggest Pumpkin Ever in which the mayor of Mouseville hosts a contest to see who can build the biggest snowman!

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Another great thing about snowmen, is they are “winter” decorations. So technically you can display them from November to March without the holiday police yelling at you for decorating for Christmas too early. Or leaving the decorations up too long.


Emily Cook is the author and creator of the secular homeschool curriculum Build Your Library, a literature-based K-12 program infused with the teachings of Charlotte Mason. She writes full year lesson plans as well as shorter topical unit studies. Emily has been homeschooling her four children in Southern NH for 21 years. She is passionate about reading aloud to children of all ages and loves to share her love of literature with others. She and her family also makes incredibly dorky videos about homeschooling, books and more on Youtube at ARRRGH! Schooling. You can follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. You can also check out her author page on Amazon.

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Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, meaning I get a small commission if you make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you.


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