Skip to Content

How to Make Fake Snow – a Sensory Winter Activity for Kids

This easy, two-ingredient fake snow recipe is a cheap and fun Winter activity for your kids!

Whether you’re planning a Winter-themed or snow-themed week, this super easy fake snow activity takes seconds to set up and can give you hours of alone time – uh…I mean, sensory independent play time!

two ingredient fake snow for a fun winter activity for kids

We tend to follow “Exploring Nature With Children“‘s weekly curriculum, and the first week of January is all about Winter weather.

To expand on that, we’re going over snow in our homeschool this week.

We’ve watched a few YouTube videos on snow, are reading all our favorite books about snow, cutting snowflakes out of paper, and playing with this fake snow recipe.

How to Make Fake Snow

This fake snow really couldn’t be easier. Simply combine:

  • 2 1/2 cups baking soda
  • 1/2-1 cup of white hair conditioner

Combine the baking soda and 1/2 cup of conditioner in a bowl. Then add as much more conditioner are you need to give it the consistency you’re looking for.

fun snow sensory activity for kids

Pour your snow into a large Tupperware box or cookie pan…anywhere you can keep the snow contained.

Remind your younger kids, though, that they cannot eat the snow – wouldn’t taste very good.

Your homemade fake snow can then be stored in a gallon freezer bag for future use when you’re done.

What to do with your snow

Begin with the simplest option – just the snow. Let your kid make hand prints, tiny snowmen, or pick it up and let it fall like snow from the sky.

Have them write letters in the snow with their fingers.

When they get bored of that, introduce some water-proof toys. Below are some examples that we’ve played with:

  • matchbox cars
  • toy excavators
  • small plastic animals
  • legos/blocks
  • pine cones/sticks/rocks
  • cookie cutters
  • spoons/spatulas
  • characters from Frozen
  • and more! Let them use their imagination
painting snow for kids in winter

If they get bored of playing with objects in their fake snow, you can also let them “paint the snow”.

Combine a few ounces of water and a few drops of food coloring into individual cups.

Paint with paintbrushes, or drop with eye droppers, or just drip the paint from finger tips.

Once they’re done, throw them, and they’re now “snowy” toys into the tub and have them wash the snow off of them. Two birds-one stone!