Get ready to learn one of our absolute favourite DIY projects – homemade snow that you can make all year round. Making your own fake snow at home is surprisingly simple. It makes a a great sensory play activity with children too.
We'll show you three ways to make fake snow in this guide. Each one only needs a couple of every day ingredients that you can already find around the house and the whole process will only take a few minutes.
Fake snow is an inexpensive way to decorate your home at Christmas. Use it to dress up mantlepieces, windowsills and photo frames for a homemade winter wonderland.
All of the methods in this tutorial are quick and easy. While the finished snow varies slightly, whichever method you choose will create fluffy, realistic-looking fake snow in a flash. It's so life-like that you can even crunch into snowballs.
Homemade snow is fun for all ages, but it also makes a great sensory play activity for children. If you are crafting with really young children, you might prefer the third method in this tutorial (baking soda, cornflour and water) as all of the ingredients are edible if they end up trying to eat it.
For more mini maker ideas, see our round-up of craft ideas for toddlers. We've also got a whole batch of other Christmas crafts for kids to try once you've mastered fake snow.
What can I use to make fake snow?
We'll show you 3 different methods in this guide.
- Shaving cream and baking soda (also known as bicarbonate of soda)
- Baking soda and hair conditioner
- Baking soda, cornflour and water
Read on for our step by step guide to each of these techniques. The end results aren't hugely different from one to the next, it just depends on what you have to hand at home.
Bicarbonate of soda
Also know as baking soda this is miracle stuff and gives your snow a bright white finish. We've used a 200g pot in these methods, which will make a small bowl (or a few handfuls) of fake snow.
Shaving foam
The beauty of the shaving foam method is you may well already have some in your bathroom cupboard. We've used a can of Gillette Sensitive Shave Foam and it worked really well. As the shaving foam we used was scented, so was the final snow we made – although this was tried and tested with my two children and they loved the smell. You can get unscented versions too if you prefer, but just make sure you use shaving foam, not gel.
Cornflour
If you're crafting with younger children and want to use completely edible ingredients, try our cornflour method. We've used a 500g pack, but as with all these fake snow recipes, the more you use, the more snow you'll make.
Hair conditioner
You can use any hair conditioner to make fake snow – and the plus side is, your finished snow will smell great. We used Pantene Pro V Miracles and it made a lovely soft, crumbly snow that held it's shape well. But you can try this method with any conditioner you have – just make sure it's colour-free.
Fake snow kits
If you love the sound of this DIY but you're not sure you want the mess, why not try a fake snow kit? These come either ready-mixed or you just add water to create your own snow at home. Here's a couple we've tried at home and liked:
- Instant Snow (£8.95, Baker Ross) – simply add water.
- Magic Snow (£3.99, Amazon) – comes in a cute test tube that my kids loved.
