Posted by Nicole Carney on Nov 28, 2013 in Literacy Activities, Picture Book Activities, Winter Activities, Winter Picture Book Activities | 0 comments

Lois Ehlert, Snowballs

We are big fans of Lois Ehlert in our house, and her book Snowballs is definitely one of our favourites! Ehlert puts a creative twist on snowman building, by getting rid of the usual carrots and coal and replacing them with a plethora of innovative options.

Creating Eccentric Snowmen

We decided to take a lesson from Ehlert and gather some materials we had around the house to create our own craft snowmen. We ended up with an eclectic collection ranging from dried food in the pantry to colourful feathers from our craft drawer. We organized our items into the compartments of a muffin tin so they would be easily accessible.

ribbon, coloured shredded paper, string, buttons, cotton balls. egg noodle pasta, corkscrew pasta, Cheerios, coffee beans, pom-poms, pipe cleaners, feathers, cinnamon sticks, and popcorn kernels

Materials:

A variety of materials from around the house
Paper plates
Tape
Unscented shaving cream
Elmer’s white glue

After gathering our items, I taped the opposite sides of 2 paper plates together to form the boys’ snowmen.

I taped the opposite sides of the plates together so the boys’ snowmen would lay flat when mounted on the wall.

Next, I mixed equal parts shaving cream and Elmer’s white glue on a baking sheet to create our fluffy snow. My bugs shovelled the ‘snow’ onto their plates and smoothed it out towards the edges, making sure to cover both of the plates. They were a bit unsure at first, but they soon got into it! The texture of the shaving cream and glue is quite wonderful and very fun to squish between your fingers!

Once their plates were covered with the puffy, white mixture, the boys began creating their snowmen by selecting materials from the muffin tin and pressing them lightly into the ‘snow’.

This project can be pretty messy, but the boys loved it! What I enjoyed most was the variety of textures and materials my bugs were able to explore, and how they used their imaginations to turn unexpected objects into creative snowman features.

I assisted B in assembling his snowman’s face, but he did the rest on his own.

I love how M gave his snowman a feather for a moustache :). He also chose Cheerios for eyes, corkscrew pasta for ears, a coffee bean for a nose, and a cinnamon stick for a mouth.