Transform your kiddo’s playtime into a winter wonderland with our DIY bright white snow playdough recipe. This sensory-rich activity is perfect for preschoolers exploring the chilly delights of winter while staying cozy indoors. Easy to make with just two household ingredients, it’s a fun way for kids to explore their creativity through the lens of winter play.
We’ve organized our collection by theme, so you can use the links below to jump straight to a specific topic of interest in this article…
When the weather outside is frightful, bringing the fun of playing in the snow indoors is always delightful! Homemade playdough is a versatile material that allows children to engage their creativity in tactile, imaginative play.
Music: Winter by Alex-Productions / https://onsound.eu/ Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com / Creative Commons – Attribution 3.0 Unported License (CC BY 3.0)
If you’ve ever made standard DIY playdough from scratch, you know it typically ends up being a light beige-yellowish color. It’s great for things like playdough baking play, but when your goal is “freshly fallen snow” that natural tint doesn’t quite hit the mark.
This snow dough recipe creates a bright white playdough that is one of the softest, silkiest doughs I’ve ever made. I was a bit skeptical as I was mixing it up, but this stuff is a BLAST to play with.
Better yet, it only requires two ingredients, and kids who like getting their hands messy will LOVE digging their mitts in to mix and blend the ingredients together.
From a bustling fall dramatic play playdough apple orchard or playdough apple pie baking center, to simple texture-making play invitations or fall sculpture-making.
This silky white snow dough captures the softness of frosty flakes in a tactile sensory experience that’s easy and inexpensive to pull together.
Kids learn an incredible amount through hands-on play, so be sure to keep reading for more play ideas to explore!
DIY White Snow Playdough Ingredients:
Note: We prefer to shop locally or use what we have at home, but this list contains Woodpeckers Crafts, Etsy, Blick Art Materials, Bookshop.org and/or Amazon affiliate links for reference. As affiliates (and Amazon Associates), we make a small commission on qualifying purchases.*
SNOW PLAYDOUGH RECIPE:
Makes 1 large ball of playdough
- 2 cups of cornstarch
- 1 cup of white lotion
PLAY SUPPLIES:
- Biodegradable glitter
- Playdough play tools
- Our printable winter playdough mats
How to Make No-Cook White Snow Dough for Snow Playdough Activities – DIY Instructions
Mix the playdough ingredients.
Mix the cornstarch and lotion in a bowl with a plastic or metal spoon, stirring until the mixture thickens and forms a ball.
If it’s too sticky, add a teaspoon more of cornstarch, if it feels too dry, add a teaspoon of lotion.
Knead into a ball of white playdough.
Knead the dough on a clean surface until it’s soft and pliable.
Add tools and play accessories to create a snow playdough invitation.
Lay out a small selection of kid-sized and kid-safe kitchen tools like a rolling pin, cookie cutters, a cutting wedge or spatula, and stamps so they can mold, cut, roll, and add fun textures to their playdough.
Storage: Keep your snow playdough in an airtight container. It should last for up to a week. If it starts to dry out, rejuvenate it by kneading in a teaspoon of lotion in.
12 Snow Play Dough Activities and Snowy Sensory Play Ideas
Now comes the fun part: transforming plain old playdough into “snowy” sensory material. Here are few ways you can use your homemade snow dough for seasonal sensory play…
1. Make playdough snowmen!
Buttons, felt, yarn, little hats (corks or pill bottle lids make fantastic mini top hots) cloves, orange playdough, googley eyes, and more can be presented in small bowls or on a tray for a playdough snowman-building activity.
Build snowmen of different sizes. Encourage children to accessorize their snowmen with items from around the house. It’s a fun way to discuss seasons and weather.
2. Make a winter small-world playdough snowscape
Create a mini snowscape with characters and houses. This can include snowy mountains, a frozen lake, and playdough animals. It’s perfect for storytelling and fostering imaginative play.
Or make a lego snowball fight, build a miniature winter village complete with playdough inhabitants,
Use the playdough to tell winter stories. This could involve creating characters, setting up scenes, and developing plots. It’s an excellent way to integrate literacy skills with play.
3. Stamp winter designs or patterns into your snow playdough
Use stamps to make snowflake patterns. This can be a great way to teach children about symmetry and patterns. Plus, they can create custom-made greeting cards with their designs.
Use cookie cutters, clay tools, or household objects to cut geometric shapes like circles, squares, triangles, rectangles, diamonds, stars, and hearts. Spread shapes out and have children take turns selecting and sorting by categories: corners vs curves, small vs large, etc. Turn it into a game by keeping score of how many shapes make it into the correct piles.
4. Make playdough snowflakes
Encourage kids to experiment with snowflake creations. Teach kids about the uniqueness of snowflakes and explore basic geometry concepts. It’s also a great fine motor skill activity.
5. Roll playdough snowballs
Roll up snowballs and build a mini-snow fort. Encourage kids to measure and compare the sizes of their snowballs. This activity is great for developing hand-eye coordination and understanding basic measurement concepts.
Refrigerate your playdough for use for a chillier experience! This is interesting, because you’ll notice quite a change in texture.
The cooler the playdough gets, the crumblier it is. Roll it around in your hands to warm it up, and you’ll notice it regains its silky, smooth texture.
6. Make playdough igloos or mini snow forts
Challenge kids to construct a small igloo mold fort structures. This can also be a learning opportunity about Arctic living and the engineering behind igloo construction. It helps develop spatial awareness and planning skills.
You can use cups and bowls as basic forms to mold the playdough around. This can be an exciting challenge in architectural design for kids. They can also create a narrative or story about the fort and its inhabitants.
7. Have a playdough snow sculpture contest
Host a friendly competition for the best sculpture. This encourages healthy competition and creativity. It’s a great way for kids to showcase their artistic abilities.
8. Enjoy snow playdough free play!
Let children’s imaginations run wild with unstructured play. This is crucial for cognitive development and encourages independent thinking and creativity. Kids can mix and match ideas from the other activities or come up with their own unique creations.
9. Add a variety of scents for a sensory challenge.
10. Make winter nature art with snow playdough
Incorporate natural elements like leaves or twigs to create textured impressions in the playdough, discussing different aspects of nature in winter.
11. Snow playdough rescue
Set up a game where children use tweezers to place small objects into playdough, improving fine motor skills.
12. Form a winter alphabet
Create your own winter alphabet using snow dough (a wonderful way to work on letter recognition and early literacy skills over a holiday break or throughout the winter months). This activity could take the shape of:
- Letter Formation – Shape dough into upper/lowercase letters using tools
- Vocabulary Building – Generate winter “S” words while playing with snow (slushy, slippery, sledding, skating, etc.)
Snow Playdough Play Tools and Supplies
Open-ended sensory materials like playdough offer children endless options for creatively expressing themselves. Stock up on these kid-safe supplies, tools, and embellishments to enhance the wintery theme…
SAFETY NOTE: If you’re working with children under the age of four or any child who may be tempted to put objects in their mouth, all loose parts should be at least 2 inches in length or diameter. Small parts and play accessories should meet federal small parts standards.
- Cookie cutters
- Playdough tools like a rolling pin, stamps, or a cutting wedge.
- Pinecones
- Snowman accessories
- Snowflake confetti
- Cinnamon sticks + anise + cloves + leaves
- Salt glitter or rock salt
- Q-tips or craft sticks
- Glass gems
- Wood slices
- Cotton balls/ pom poms
- Reusable ice cubes, extra large, in bright colors, or color-changing ice sticks
- Foil
- Small world play miniatures like animals, cars and trucks, peg doll people, Lego, etc.
- Ice cream scoops
- A mirror
- Feathers
- Sugar cubes
Kids Playdough Activities for Every Season
Playdough is such a classic sensory tool, and so easy to modify for seasonal play. For winter-themed playdough variations on this activity, try our pumpkin spice playdough, playdough donuts, or create a variation on our simple nature playdough with paper straws and pinecones or pine clippings.
More Winter Sensory Play Ideas
- Mini winter sensory garden
- A winter game with water beads
- DIY scented winter playdough
- 35 winter sensory tinker tray ideas
- Easy winter clothespin dolls
More Easy Winter Snow Kids Crafts
*A note about affiliate links: We strive to use simple, earth-friendly supplies that can be purchased locally whenever we can, but sometimes we find the best universally available options, a rare eco-friendly find, or a niche product only available on Blick Art Materials, Amazon, Etsy, or Woodpeckers Crafts. When included in our supply list, these products are affiliate links, and if you click through to make a purchase we receive a small commission that helps us re-order these supplies!
GETTING READY TO TRY this?
I love seeing all the ways people make these ideas their own! If you're sharing the results of one of our projects, mention or tag me with @barleyandbirch, or share it in the comments of one of our Pinterest project pins.
