Homemade Snow Globes

Over the Christmas Holiday I am always looking for ways to entertain my younger siblings. With unlimited time for play their rowdiness can sometimes be overwhelming. We recently completed a wonderful craft that uses things from around the house, making it super cheap. As a kid, snow globes had always fascinated me. I had never thought that I could make one myself. When looking at a diorama of a village beneath a bottle I was thrilled. What a great way to engage with children over the holiday. And set out to make my own version with a snowman along with my siblings. We were able to easily scroung around the house to find the items necessary to complete the project. Unfortunately,  I had to make the decision that we would have to make waterless globes. In a family of nine kids, water anywhere always leads to chaos.

The materials we used:

An assortment of old jars with lids

Cotton balls for our snow men

Sheets of white paper for our “snow”

Beads  and buttons 

Hot glue gun

We first found sheets of white paper that had only been colored on one side. We took our time and cut the paper into the smallest sizes that we could manage. We now have “snow”. The boys spent hours, yes hours cutting snow. It was the best activity to keep them occupied. They just loved spending using the scissors and creating tiny snow banks on the table.

Next we hot glued the cotton balls to the inside of the lid. We stacked the cotton balls to make the bodies of our snowmen. Gave them faces and buttons on their bodies with our assortment of beads we found.

Note: For this project we used a hot glue gun. Elmer’s glue was a total failure and the children became frustrated when the fibers of the cotton balls fell apart. The hot glue gun worked great.

We then screwed the lid on the jar and flipped the jar upside down.

Now, I will admit, these are definitely not like the water snow globes I sat dreamy eyed as a child. Still, they are a wonderful way to spend time with kids. If you aren’t fond of snowmen, then I also suggest that you use little animals that are seldom used or army men for the inside of your globes.

I hope that this sparks creativity for your wonderful holiday season!