The aim is to take turns at trying to land a hat on your snowman’s head. When throwing, participants should stand behind a line drawn in the snow. The game can be made harder by increasing the distance between the line and the snowman. The type of hat you use will also affect the difficulty of the game. Softer, lighter hats will be more difficult to aim than more rigid, heavier hats. Throwing is best done frisbee style.

If you like, you can make up rules regarding what constitutes winning. For instance, the winner might be the person who scores the most out of 5 turns.

Photo courtesy of Tim Taphouse.

Making snow angels is a fun activity that can be done individually or as a group to make a family of snow angels! The size and shape of the angel will depend on the size and shape of the person who makes it. Making snow angels is a way of decorating your garden for free!

If there is no snow available where you live, you can make such angels on sand at the beach!

How to make a snow angel

Making a snow angel is very easy!

1. First make sure that you are very warmly dressed!
2. Then find an undisturbed patch of snow. Try not to make too many footsteps near where you are going to make your angel!
3. Lie on your back in the snow. This needs to be done carefully so as not to make a mess of the snow.
4. Now flap your arms and legs several times, as if you are doing jumping jacks whilst lying on your back! These motions will make an angel-shaped impression in the snow. The longer you spend flapping your arms and legs, the deeper the impression will be. Therefore, be careful not to continue for too long if the snow is not very deep to start with!
5. You are now finished! Try not to step on or make hand prints on your angel while you are getting up. If needed, ask someone to help you stand up!
6. If you like, you can use a stick to draw an oval halo above the angel’s head!
7. Another thing you can do is decorate your snow angel with bird seeds and other natural materials. Imagine that you are coloring in a picture of an angel. Bird seeds such as thistle, corn, sunflower, and safflower are ideal. Natural materials such as dried rose petals, acorns, pine cones, and pine boughs will also look great. Pine boughs look particularly good on the angel’s wings.

Your snow angel may last a long time if the temperature remains cold enough and there is no further heavy snow!

You can even purchase kits to help you make snow animals! These will really draw people’s attention to your garden!

Below is a selection offered on Amazon.com.

If you would rather build a snowman all by yourself, take a look at our article on how to build a snowman.

Building a snowman or a family of snowpeople can be a fun activity for the entire family or a group of children.

Instructions

1. First off, you need a certain type of snow to successfully build a snowman. The best type of snow to use is what is called “packing” snow. This type of snow is formed when regular “powdered” snow is near its melting point. This makes it moist and easily compactable. Trying to make a snowman out of powdered snow will be very difficult since it will not stick to itself. Note however, that if packing snow refreezes, it will form an unusable denser form of powdered snow called “crust”. Bearing these factors in mind, the best time to build a snowman is normally the warmest afternoon directly following a significant amount of snowfall.
2. Decide the overall shape that your snowman will have. In North America and Europe, most snowmen usually consist of three snowballs piled on top of each other. The one at the bottom is the largest and the one at the top is the smallest. These balls represent the head, torso, and lower body. By contrast, in East Asia, snowmen are normally made with just two snowballs on top of each other. Alternatively, a snowman could be made by just compacting snow into a tall mound. If an entire family is participating, it may be fun if each member makes a snowperson of themself!
3. Once you have decided on the general shape of the snowman, you can start building it! Large snowballs are best made by rolling small snowballs across snow-covered ground. As they roll, they will pick up more snow and thereby increase in size. If you have chosen to use snowballs piled on top of each other, use extra snow in between the balls to make sure that they won’t fall off!
4. Once you have the body of your snowman in place, you can start accessorizing it! You can give it a face using, for example, a row of stones for a mouth, a carrot for a nose, and stones for eyes. You can use twigs or broomsticks as arms and a row of buttons to represent a coat. You can even dress you snowman up with a hat, scarf, and coat! To keep your snowman extra warm and to give him something to do, consider giving him a smoking pipe! If your snowman is in a public place, it may be wise to use natural, biodegradable objects (eg., acorns, holly, stones, twigs, nuts, fruit, vegetables, etc.) to decorate your snowman. Doing this means that there won’t be any litter left around once the snowman has melted. Also, remember that valuable items on snowmen in public places may be stolen.

If you need extra help, you can even buy snowman building kits that help you make and decorate perfect snowmen!