With winter vacation ending soon for most, it would be good to incorporate some fun indoor activities or DIYs into your schedule to spend some quality time with your kiddos. And what’s better than building a snowman? While you and your little ones must have made the snow sculpture multiple times before, how about trying to make a melting one this time around? Make this DIY melting snowman with baking soda and shaving cream “dough” that dissolves in vinegar to create a fun-to-play-in mess of bubbles. This DIY winter activity is easy, inexpensive, and is sure to keep your kids entertained for quite some time.
Children don’t need much convincing when it comes to playing with fizzy concoctions. So, here’s how you can get started on this DIY melting snowman winter activity.
Materials
- Baking soda
- Foaming shaving cream (must be a foaming kind, not gel)
- White vinegar
- Large bowl
- Lipped plate or tray
Procedure
- To make a DIY melting snowman, measure 1 part baking soda to 1 ½ part shaving cream and combine in a large bowl. For us, one snowman was 1 cup baking soda and 1 ½ cups shaving cream.
- Now, mix well with your hands or a spatula. You can get your little ones involved as they will love mixing and squishing by hand. Once it is firm enough, ask your kiddos to form three balls.
- Then, stack the balls like a snowman and place them in a dish or tray with a lip. This will catch the overflowing vinegar and reduce the mess a tad bit.
- When you’re ready to melt the snowman, let the kids pour vinegar over the top and watch as it melts into a soapy puddle. The best part is that they can also play in it. Depending on its size, it might take quite a bit of vinegar to completely melt the snowman, so stock up on some before trying this DIY winter activity with your munchkins.
- To jazz it up, add a clay nose and eyes to the remaining pieces in the puddle at the end. They won’t stick to the mixture when the snowman is whole. However, with this little tweak, you can add an element of pretend play by telling your little ones you just melted their favorite character, Olaf, from the 2013 film “Frozen.”
So, go get the supplies and try your hands at this snowman experiment with your kiddos. They will love to watch the sculpture melt. Also, do let us know how many snowmen you made in the comment section below!
