If you are a snow lover like me, then you have probably wanted to take matters into your own hands to make some snow on those times that the weather isn’t cooperating to bring snow. The good news is that I am going to show you 6 ways how to make instant snow at home any time of the year!
The best thing about these snow recipes is that they only require a few ingredients that you likely already have around the house. This artificial snow will keep your kids entertained for hours and hours!
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6 Easy Ways How to Make Instant Snow at Home
1st Method: How to Make Instant Snow at Home With Salt and Water
Supplies Needed:
Salt
Water
Mixing Bowl
Large Baking Sheet (Optional for playing with snow)
Steps:
Pour about 15 ounces of iodized salt into a mixing bowl.
Add a very small amount of cold water. Begin with a teaspoon amount and stir the snow and water with a fork. If you need more water just be careful not to add too much. Since salt dissolves in water, if you add too much water then your snow will just be a melted puddle of salt water!
Keep stirring with a fork to fluff up your salty snow mixture. When it gets to a fluffy texture then you are ready to enjoy your snow!
Test Results:
Cold Test: The salt and water instant snow method feels pretty cold in the cold test department! As long as you use very cold water, then the temperature of your snow should feel very realistic!
Packing Test: The packing test for this salt and water faux snow was surprisingly pretty good as long as you add in enough water. We were able to make a snowball and even a snowman after adding more water.
Texture Test: Depending on how much water you add, this salt and water snow actually makes for a great powdery texture for snow if you use very little water. It looks the most realistic and if you were wanting to use it for decorating purposes then this would be your method to stick with. Although it can also be good for packing when you add extra water, you do want to use caution if you have dry or cracked hands when playing with this snow. The salt will sting if it gets in any cuts or cracks in your hands. Trust me I learned this from experience!
Clean-up Test: Because salt dissolves into water, this snow is very easy to clean up by wiping any spills up with a wet rag and rising the bowl out with water.
2nd Method: How to Make Instant Snow at Home With Baking Soda and Water
Supplies Needed:
Baking Soda
Water
Mixing Bowl
Large Baking Sheet (Optional for playing with snow)
Steps:
Put your box of baking soda in the freezer for a couple of hours, or the night before if you want it to feel cold like real snow.
Pour 3 or 4 cups of baking soda into a mixing bowl depending on how much you want to play with.
Slowly mix in a small amount of very cold water until the snow reaches your desired texture. More water=slushy, good packing snow, and less water=powdery snow.
Optional: You can also a little salt to the mixture to give the snow a little more grainy, realistic feel.
Test Results:
Cold Test: The temperature of this baking soda and water snow is about as close to feeling like real snow as you can get if you put the baking soda in the freezer for a while and use very cold water in the mix.
Packing Test: If you are very careful to add just the right amount of water, this snow will pack well enough to make a nice snowball or snowman.
Texture Test: The texture of this baking soda and water snow feels pretty close to the real thing! You can even make it feel more powdery and look more decorative by adding less water. You can also go for a wet and slushy texture by adding a little more water.
Clean-up Test: Since this is made of only baking soda and water, the clean-up process is very easy to wipe off when you are done playing in your snow. It does tend to stick to your hands a little bit though.
For more details on this method with baking soda and water check out How to Make Instant Snow.
3rd Method: How to Make Instant Snow at Home With Shaving Cream and Corn Starch
Supplies Needed:
Shaving Cream
Corn Starch
Mixing Bowl
Large Baking Sheet (Optional for playing with snow)
Steps:
Put some corn starch in your freezer the night before or at least a couple of hours before making your snow if you want it to feel cold!
Pour about 8 ounces of corn starch into a bowl or on a baking sheet.
Add about half of a 10 ounce can of shaving cream and mix the corn starch and shaving cream together (use a spoon to do the initial mixing if you don’t want messy hands).
You can add more or less shaving cream to corn starch ratio depending on the texture of snow you want. The more shaving cream you add, the better the snow will pack into snowballs!
Test Results:
Cold Test: The shaving cream and corn starch method did feel pretty cold at first thanks to the corn starch being in the freezer beforehand. After playing with the snow for awhile it warmed up quickly but still kept its wonderful snow-like texture.
Packing Test: You can definitely make a nice snowball with this shaving cream and corn starch method, but a snowman becomes a little more difficult!
Texture Test: I have to admit the texture of this snow is probably my favorite out of the ones we test in this blog! Not necessarily because it feels the most like real snow, but it just feels so cool in your fingers. It’s like the perfect consistency of fluffy snow, yet also packs for a good snowball. I guess you just need to make it and try it for yourself!
Clean-up Test: The messiest part of this shaving cream and corn starch method was that I decided to use my hands instead of a spoon to mix the ingredients in the beginning and everything stuck to my hands! Then I got smart and used a spoon to mix and then played with the snow after it was mixed and my hands stayed much cleaner and it was super easy to wipe up any spilled snow too!
4th Method: How to Make Instant Snow at Home With Baking Soda and Shaving Cream
Supplies Needed:
Baking Soda
Shaving Cream
Mixing Bowl
Large Baking Sheet (Optional for playing with snow)
Steps:
If you want your snow to be really cold like real snow then keep it in the freezer a few hours before the experiment. If you are looking for warm and tropical feeling snow, then skip the freezer step.
Add baking soda into a large mixing bowl. You can use as much or as little as you want, but I usually use about 3 or 4 cups.
Slowly add some shaving cream to your baking soda and mix it to your desired texture. I usually use about half a can of shaving cream to a 16-ounce box of baking soda.
Test Results:
Cold Test: Since you should not freeze or chill shaving cream, this method will not get as cold to the touch as the baking soda and water method. You can still freeze the baking soda though to still give the snow a chilly feel.
Packing Test: Baking soda and shaving cream snow packs into snowballs, but is a bit too crumbly for a very sturdy snowman.
Texture Test: The shaving cream adds a little extra fluff to the snow, while still allowing it to pack nicely too! It makes for a great middle-ground between powdery snow and slushy snow.
Clean-up Test: Cleans up pretty well and leaves less residue on your hands as long as you mix it with a spoon first. Once it is mixed the shaving cream snow will be very easy to clean up.
5th Method: How to Make Instant Snow at Home With a Diaper
Supplies Needed:
Diapers
Scissors
Water
Mixing Bowl
Large Baking Sheet (Optional for playing with snow)
Steps:
Use scissors to cut the bottom seam of a (clean) diaper out.
Carefully pull out the cotton padding in the diaper and shake out the tiny little polymer beads that are inside the diaper and put them into a bowl. If you want to make lots of snow, you can repeat this step with a few diapers.
Slowly add a little cold water to your bowl of magic diaper beads and watch in amazement as the beads absorb the water as it turns into nice and fluffy snow! You may want to stir the water into the beads with a fork to help speed up the process.
When you are done playing with your diaper snow, you can dry it out and then use it again by adding water next time!
Caution: Whether you decide to keep your diaper snow to reuse it or throw it away, do not put it down your sink! It can clog your drain!
Test Results:
Cold Test: Feels nice and cool to the touch but it is certainly not the coldest of our three methods of snow. If you are going for that arctic feel then you might want to stick with the water and salt instant snow method.
Packing Test: This snow is nice and lightweight and super fluffy, but it is not any good for packing into snowballs or snowmen.
Texture Test: The diaper snow method ranks right near the top as far as texture goes! It makes the type of snow that you see in movies gently floating through the sky and is very light and fluffy. This would also be great snow to use for decorating. The best part is that when it dries out and shrink you just need to mist it with a little water and it fluffs right back up time and time again!
Clean-up Test: The clean-up test is where this diaper and water snow method fails. The sticky properties of the polymer beads that make all the magic happen also like to stick to countertops and basically, anything else when they are wet. The best way to clean this snow up is to let it dry out overnight and wipe it off the counters and sweep it off the floors the next morning.
6th Method: How to Make Instant Snow at Home With Baking Soda and Conditioner
Supplies Needed:
Baking Soda
Conditioner (white)
Mixing Bowl
Large Baking Sheet (Optional for playing with snow)
Steps:
For the coldest snow, put your baking soda in the freezer a few hours before making your snow.
Pour baking soda into a large mixing bowl. You can add as much or as little as you want, depending on how much you want to play with.
Pour some hair conditioner into the bowl of baking soda and mix it together. Much like the water, you will want to add less if you want powdery snow, and more if you want wet and slushy snow.
Test Results:
Cold Test: The baking soda and conditioner method feels pretty cold if you put the baking soda in the freezer first. I do not recommend freezing the conditioner though. With the conditioner being room temperature, the snow mixture is not quite as cold as the 1st method.
Packing Test: The baking soda and conditioner excels in the packing test category! You can make a great snowball and snowman with this snow!
Texture Test: The texture of this snow is a little less crumbly and powdery when using the conditioner instead of water mixed with baking soda. It’s great for playing with and packing, but probably not the best for decorative purposes or if you are doing for powdery snow.
Clean-up Test: Very easy to wipe up with a towel or rag. This gets a 10 out of 10 on the clean-up test.
How These Instant Snow Recipes Compare:
Coldness:
The baking soda and water (method 1) proved to be the best in the cold test category. This snow really felt as cold as the snow you would find outside on a cold winter day!
This is thanks to the baking soda being well below freezing to start with and the very cold (but not frozen) water that was mixed together.
The corn starch and shaving cream (method 3) comes in as a close runner up in the cold temperature factor, but I do think the baking soda and water method remained a cold and snowy feel for much longer.
Packing:
The baking soda and conditioner (method 6) created the best snowball and was some of the best packing snow I have ever experienced (artificial snow or real snow!). It was also perfect for making a snowman or any other fun snow creatures!
The conditioner mixed into the baking soda also gives it a nice and fresh scent! My snow ended up smelling like a nice and tropical coconut smell!
Texture:
This is the toughest category to rank the different methods that we tried because they all had a great snow-like texture in some form or another.
When push comes to shove though I would have to say the shaving cream and corn starch (method 3) takes the top texture award! I just love how light and fluffy it is! You can even make a snowball with it, but a snowman became a little bit more of a challenge!
Clean-up:
Honestly, all of these recipes on how to make instant snow at home are super easy to clean up after you and your kids are done playing, but I would have to say method 6 with the baking soda and conditioner gets the edge in this test.
Method 2 involving the water and baking soda tends to leave a little more residue on your hands at the end and is just slightly more sticky to wipe up, but still is not too bad to clean-up.
The Best Way How to Make Instant Snow at Home:
After comparing these different methods on how to make snow with baking soda, my personal favorite would have to be Method 6: How to make snow with baking soda and conditioner.
I really like how easy the baking soda and conditioner snow is to pack into a perfect snowball and makes it super easy for the kids to play and build a snowman!
Depending on the type of conditioner you choose to use, it also makes your snow smell really really good (mine smelt like coconut)! Just make sure to use a white conditioner unless you want your snow to be a different color!
Even though this method with baking soda and conditioner did not get quite as cold as method 2 with baking soda and water, I still think it wins as the overall best homemade snow and it is super easy to clean up!
Now it’s time to gather up your snowmaking materials and turn your kitchen into a winter wonderland filled with homemade snow!
Garden Courte is a blog written by [James Marcus], a passionate gardener and writer. She has been gardening for over 20 years and has a deep understanding of plants and how to care for them. In her blog, she shares her knowledge and experience with others, providing tips and advice on gardening, plant care, and more.