6 Craft Recipes to Make Fake Snow

Make fake snow for crafts, mini snowmen, or décor with these six easy recipes. Most use just two household ingredients and are perfect for winter projects.

Also, see DIY Snowman Hot Chocolate Gift Kits for another winter-themed craft idea.

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Make Fake Snow for Crafts

There are all sorts of fake snow recipes and the one you’ll need depends entirely on what you want to do with it. Some of the recipes listed below are for sculpting or crafting, others are for decor or winter scapes.

The tutorial (below) uses a snow recipe perfect for crafting little snowmen or snow animals. They make really sweet place markers for a dinner table as you will see below.

Fairy Lights | Amazon

Also, if you use the recipe here, when you are done with your snowmen, just remove the embellishments, and use the “snow” to clean sinks or your bathtub. It works very nicely. No waste!

If you just want something that looks like snow for an indoor scene or scape like a winter fairy garden but do not wish to make snowmen, coarse table salt looks really pretty, especially with fairy lights shining through the salt crystals. Just add some fairy garden accessories and you’re done.

Now let’s make some snow.

6 Ways to Make Fake Snow

Fake Snow You Can Shape and Mold

1 Combine baking soda and hair conditioner | click for instructions (below)

2 Combine baking soda and shaving cream | click for instructions (below)

3 Combine flour or corn starch, baking soda, and water.

The exact amounts of ingredients will vary depending on how much fake snow you need and the specific ingredients you are using.

Start with the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and gradually add the wet ingredient (hair conditioner, shaving cream, or water) until you get the desired consistency.

In the snow people project (below), you can see what I made with the amounts listed.

Purely Decorative Fake Snow

These fake snow ideas are perfect for little snowscapes where you want to create a mini scene to look like snow.

4 Combine coarse salt and table salt. | Salt sparkles like snow

5 Shred white paper towels into tiny pieces

6 Cotton balls or makeup pads | Tear them into pieces and arrange

Other Options for Creating Snowmen

• Modelling clay | See product at Amazon
• Polymer clay | See product at Amazon
• Styrofoam balls | See product at Amazon
• Marshmallows| See product at Amazon

How to Make Fake Snow Instructions

This fake snow recipe requires two ingredients: baking soda and hair conditioner. With the right proportions, they bind together to form a snow-like material. And no, it’s not cold to touch, but, oddly enough, it does resemble snow both by looks and feel.

This is what I would call a temporary craft and not for hands-on play time. While the snowmen will last indefinitely, this is only if they are left alone. The ‘snow’ is fairly crumbly so they can’t be played with or knocked about.

If you plan to do this with children, be sure to make some ahead of time so you can understand what it’s like first. A child who enjoys fine motor skills and has a steady hand will enjoy it. One who is accustomed to Play-Doh, which is quite stretchy and forgiving, will probably not enjoy it.

You can also use shaving cream instead of hair conditioner. I find the shaving cream does make a firmer snow ball (one you can throw), but it tends to have a stinky scent (to me). Other people say they just use baking soda and water. I’ve never found it binds as well as hair conditioner.

Examples

Make 4 snowmen (3″ tall) and a critter 

• ¼ cup Hair conditioner
• 1 ½ cups Baking soda

Make 8 snowmen (3″ tall) and a critter

• ½ cup Hair conditioner
• 3 cups Baking soda

Make 12 snowmen (3″ tall) and a critter

• ¾ cup Hair conditioner
• 4 ½ cups Baking soda

Steps

1 Measure the ingredients

For the snowman scene you see pictured in this article, I used ¼ cup Hair conditioner and 1 ½ cups Baking soda.

2Combine Ingredients

Combine the baking soda and hair conditioner in a mixing dish or bowl.

Some brands of hair conditioner are quite watery and you’ll need less of it. Some are quite thick and you’ll need more.

Add the hair conditioner gradually. Mix it with the baking soda and check for it to become clumpy. You want to be able to form the snow into balls.

3Form a Snow Ball

When you can form a snow ball that doesn’t crumble, it’s ready.

Congratulations, you are now a snow maker.

How to Make Snowmen

Here are some tips for making snowmen like these ones.

I used small beads for the faces.

If you like the classic look, you could also make a carrot nose with polymer clay. 

This post shares how to make little polymer clay charms and more.

The arms are twigs from a lilac bush. Anything will do.

The snowmen are in a glass pie dish which is sitting on a silver serving tray—all gently-used items from a local thrift store.

I added “snow” on the ground using more baking soda, as well as glitter pinecones, and mini twinkle lights which are battery powered. I love the little lights! Some come with built-in timers or you could use a mechanical timer to make them come on at night.

Create a Tabletop Winter Scene

Another fun idea is to put the snowman in a champagne glass. You can get the little blackboard signs here on Amazon or at a dollar store. This is a fun idea for place cards at a holiday table.

I hope you enjoyed this project. As mentioned, it really is super simple. The snowman won’t last forever, but it’s a fun project to do with kids.

~Melissa the Empress of Dirt ♛