Tiny salt snowflakes
During winter, snow is a popular theme. There are countless ways to explore this theme with young children. After all, although adults may find the cold weather and shoveling difficult to handle at times, little ones absolutely love snow.
I would like to share a simple activity that requires very little prep work with you. It can even be done with items you most likely already have on hand. Creating tiny salt snowflakes on black construction paper yields beautiful results. Best of all, this activity can be adapted even for very young children.
To make your own salt snowflakes, you will need:
- Black construction paper
- White glue
- A white wood coloring pencil
- Paintbrushes
- Salt
Follow these steps:
- On a piece of black construction paper, draw lines representing a snowflake. Drawing a snowflake is easy (see picture below). What’s more, to simplify the activity for young children, the snowflake outline must be as basic as possible.
- Once the snowflake has been drawn, hand children paintbrushes and provide white glue. Have them trace the lines. Note that each line must be generously coated with glue to ensure the salt will adhere to the construction paper.
- Once all the lines that make up the snowflake have been traced with glue, let children sprinkle salt on their masterpiece using their fingers. Remove any excess salt by shaking the snowflake over a garbage can. Admire your beautiful salt snowflake.
With very young children, you can simplify your snowflake even more. If there are babies and toddlers in your group, you can trace the lines with glue for them and let them sprinkle salt over.
It’s that simple! This tiny salt snowflake activity represents the perfect craft for a multi-aged group.
Have fun!
Maude Dubé, Specialized educator