How To Build A Snowman

In after school art this December we made these adorable snowmen sculptures. Several of you have asked for a "How To"...so here goes!

Keep in mind that I teach elementary art. So pictured are sculptures from students age 5-11. Each did very well but this is because I had everything pre-constructed and only allowed the kids to do so much on the sculptures each session. I will try and break down what we did each day.

SUPPLIES NEEDED:
-small and large Styrofoam balls- you need to buy the solid ones, not the ones that are holey. I have found them at Michael's where all the floral foam is located. They come in bags of 6 for the large and 12 for the small
-wooden dowels - these come in a bag at Hobby Lobby or Michael's in the wood craft section
-wooden plaques- again wood section of Hobby Lobby or Michael's
-wooden spools (the hat)- wood section in a baggie of several
-assorted buttons, ribbon or wool for embellishments
-DAS paper clay- this is by the FIMO clay usually. It comes in a large block so if you are just making a few buy the FIMO clay in orange even. You are making the carrot nose out of this stuff. I love the DAS because it's easy to manipulate and I am teaching 50 kids so the block goes a long way. FIMO by nature needs to be run through a pasta machine to make it pliable.
-black sequins
-black, white and orange paint
-paint for the base in assorted colors- I use the craft acrylic paints
-clear glitter
-hot glue gun
-steak knife
-drill and bit to fit dowels you bought
-Tacky glue
-spray adhesive

STEP 1: Putting the bodies together
The adult will need to put the under bodies together prior to adding the details. It's very self-explanatory when looking at the above photo.  Drill holes in the plaque then add the dowels (I cut each dowel in half. You decide how long you want the legs to be).  Using the steak knife cut a portion of the Styrofoam off on both pieces so you have a flat place to attach the 2 balls. Plus it makes it look more like a snowman. Hot glue the pieces together. Drill holes in the larger ball and place on the dowels. You may need to add hot glue to holes so it won't fall off.

STEP 2: Painting the base, Bodies and Making Noses
Next I had the kids paint the entire body with white paint. Even though the Styrofoam is white the paint covers the slight texture of the ball. Also on a side note, when I teach smaller classes with this type of sculpture we cover the entire sculpture with a very thin layer of the DAS clay. It would have been hair pulling with 25 kids at once, so we just painted them. Then paint the bases with lots of color and patterns. Using a tiny piece of DAS clay roll out a nose. You see their noses on their bases? When the DAS clay dried I attached the noses with hot glue.

 

STEP 3:  Adding the details

The next class we used Tacky glue to attach the eyes and buttons. The kids used tooth picks to make the mouths and painted their carrot noses orange. They also painted the hats black and I attached those with hot glue.

 

STEP 4: GLITTER!!! and Scarves

The last step is to make him sparkle! Using spray adhesive I went outside and sprayed the entire body portion of the snowman. Inside I had a giant bucket set up and the clear glitter.  Then the kids sprinkled their snowmen with glitter. The spray glue makes the glitter stick just right. And is way less a pain than painting with Elmer's glue. The kids then chose a ribbon and tied on for a scarf.

I of course got so excited to send them home I forgot to take photos! These are the 2 that weren't here the day we finished so I snapped their photo. You could go crazy with embellishments. Several kids were upset we didn't add arms. You could easily drill holes and add stick arms. I plan to do that to mine and add a banner in his arms. And maybe a bird. Anyhoo....these are easy and fun. It would take you one day if you baked the carrot noses in the toaster. Enjoy adn have a Merry Christmas!!