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By Dawn Woodruff, Twisp Library

Supplies

  • Corks (real ones)    
  • White acrylic paint 
  • Pipe cleaners in assorted colors
  • Felt or yarn in assorted colors
  • Tiny pom poms in assorted colors – optional
  • Black & orange acrylic paint or markers
  • Hot glue gun or white glue 
  • Paint brush for painting the body
  • Q-Tip or toothpick for painting the face
  • Newspaper or other scrap paper to protect table tops
  • A little craft wire and yarn or fishing line if you want to make it into an ornament – optional

A note about safety:

These are not for young kids who might put them into their mouths. A hot glue gun is preferable if you have it because it sets so fast.  Adults, please help kids with this.

A note about supplies:

When I made my snow people I used white tempera paint instead of acrylic. I didn’t think it would matter. It does! Tempera paint cracks and flakes off and makes the snowman look awful. This is also what happens if you use fake, rubbery corks.

How to make the snow people: 

Look at each of your corks and decide which end is the top and which is the bottom depending on how flat they are. You want the flattest end to be the bottom so that your snow person sits level. If you are going to make your snow person into an ornament, go ahead and screw the wire into the top of the cork and make a small loop at the top of the wire. You can use it as a handle when you paint! I did not make mine into ornaments so I skipped this step. 

Paint the sides and tops of each of the corks. I put 3 coats of paint on mine, waiting for each coat to dry in between. Most corks have writing on them, so you want to cover that up and make them bright white. 

While you are waiting for the white paint to dry, sort through your pipe cleaner and felt or yarn scraps. This is fun!  What colors do you like best? Which look good together? Do you have enough felt for a scarf or hat? I gave each of my snow people a scarf and either a hat made of felt or ear muffs made of pipe cleaners.  The pipe cleaners spirals (that go over the ears) get glued down. If you make a hat of felt it gets glued into a hat shape and glued down. I put one dot of glue on the back of the snow person to hold the scarf in place. 

Once I had all my snow people dressed, I painted black dots for the eyes and buttons. I used a toothpick with a tiny blob of black paint on the end and practiced first on a piece of paper until I felt like I could make the perfect dots. I let the black paint dry. You could use a black marker instead. I used orange paint to make a carrot nose. Again I practiced on paper first. You can use an orange marker instead.

Display your snow people all winter! Give them away as gifts! 

Thank you to RedTedArt for this fun idea.

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