# Fake Snow Painting
> Add water to Insta Snow powder in a foil pan, watch it puff up into soft fake snow, then squeeze and spray colored water on it for a color-mixing sensory play. A snow day for kids who never see snow.
- URL: https://www.funlittles.com/winter-activities-for-kids-fake-snow-painting/
- Ages: 3–6 yrs · Difficulty: easy · Mess: medium
- Time: prep 10 min, activity 30 min
- Works for: one-on-one, small group, whole class · one batch serves about 2 kids
- Skills: sensory-exploration, color-mixing, science, fine-motor, asking-questions
- Cautions: food-dye, ingestion-risk

## Materials (one batch)
- Insta Snow (instant fake snow powder)
- Water (for making the snow) (household)
- 1 piece Tin foil baking pan (household)
- Food coloring
- 4 piece Squeeze bottles
- Spray bottles
- Eye droppers or spoons (optional)

## Substitutions
- Instead of squeeze bottles: Eye dropper or spoon (Dispenses colored water in more controlled quantities, which is better for this project.)

## Safety
- Insta Snow is non-toxic but it is not food. Supervise small children closely and don't let them eat it. One child asked "Can I eat it?" and the author was worried.
- The author recommends this for kids who don't put things in their mouths anymore.
- Adult handles the dry Insta Snow powder. Keep it away from mouths and eyes, and store it out of reach.
- Wash hands after play time.
- Food color can stain hands, clothes and surfaces.

## Before you start
- Optional: make the fake snow in advance and keep it in the fridge so it feels cold (reader tip).

## Steps
1. Pour the Insta Snow powder into a tin foil baking pan.
2. Add water according to the package directions and watch the snow grow.
3. Feel the fake snow with your hands and explore it. Ask and answer lots of questions.
4. Adult: mix water and food color, and pour each color into its own squeeze or spray bottle.
5. Squeeze or spray the colored water onto the snow.
6. Add more colors and watch them mix together in the snow.
7. Try the spray bottle to color small spots a little at a time.
8. Keep painting until the snow is full of color.
9. Wash hands when play time is over.

## Tips
- Watching the polymer expand and transform gets the kids really excited. Be prepared for numerous questions after that!
- It's too soft for snowballs unless you add more water and make it a bit soggy.
- Use something that dispenses colored water in controlled quantity: an eye dropper or even a spoon is better than squeeze bottles. With a toddler, gentle squeezing just isn't going to happen.
- Spray bottles work best for controlled dispensing. They do take a few sprays to show color, though, so there's less instant gratification.
- Use only a limited number of primary colors and the pretty colors won't blend into that infamous muddy brown.
- Don't toss the colorful leftover snow. Ours ended up greenish and became our green goo dinosaur small world.
- Make it in advance and keep it in the fridge for an extra sensory element. (from readers)
- Spray bottles are a huge hit. One reader's boys love to spray Insta Snow. (from readers)

## FAQ
**Can kids eat it?** No. Insta Snow is non-toxic, but it is not food. The author recommends it for kids who no longer put things in their mouths. Supervise and wash hands after play.
**Where can I find Insta Snow?** The author says Amazon carries Insta Snow.
**Can you make snowballs with it?** It's too soft as made. Adding more water and making it a bit soggy helps it pack.
**Why isn't it cold like real snow?** It's made with room-temperature water. A reader suggests making it ahead and keeping it in the fridge to add cold.
**What's the best way to add the color?** Something that dispenses in controlled amounts. Spray bottles, eye droppers or spoons work better than squeeze bottles, especially with toddlers.

## The original post by TurkeyMom (2014)

Winter doesn't have to be being cooped up in the house. Engage the children in all kinds of fun *winter activities* starting with this easy to put together *snow activity* where they will have a grand time doing *snow painting*. Thus begins another new season which we will never know even existed. Snow season. Living in the ‘burbs of Southern California, we are severely seasonally-challenged. We don’t see the glorious color changes during fall and snow is a foreign concept. Then, I was reminded of the way we brought in fall into our home- **[painting our leaves and making a fall tree](https://www.funlittles.com/puffy-paint-fall-art/).** For the upcoming snow season, we bring in fake snow. With fake snow we begin a series of winter activities for the kids. You can read more about the material we use here on **Steve Spangler Science** and on their own **website..** It is called “ Insta snow”. It is non-toxic but is still a good idea to supervise small children and wash their hands after play time. We have used this product for two more activities. Our [**winter sensory bin**](https://www.funlittles.com/christmas-tree-craft/) and our [**dinosaur goo world.**](https://www.funlittles.com/sensory-activities-green-goo-and-dinosaur-world/)

- Insta Snow
- Colored water
- Spray bottles, squeeze bottles

This snow activity is so easy to put together.We added the fake snow in a tin foil baking pan and added water according to the directions. The transformation is a sight to behold for our little people. The polymer apparently expands 100 times its granular size and watching the expansion and the transformation get the kids really excited. Be prepared for numerous questions after that and resist the temptation to draw an analogy between “ subject matter is beyond the scope of this text book” and the current age of your child.

 The kid started off feeling the fake snow for a long time since this is their first time exploring a new play material. Big A was full of questions to which there was only simple answer. Why do we have to add water to make snow? Why can’t I make snow balls” It is too soft. Is real snow too soft? Why is not cold at all? Can I eat it? I was worried about the last one.

### Just placing a new material to explore really encouraged her to start thinking about the material and come up with questions.

Once the newness wore off and the fact that it can't be easily made into ball ( unless you add more water and make it a bit soggy)we moved on to making it colorful.I quickly made colored water (water+food color) and poured them into 4 squeeze bottles. It is better to use an eye dropper or a spoon even. Since we included a toddler in this activity, the concept of gentle squeezing or squeezing in moderation became irrelevant. Having said that, my toddler had excessive amount of fun with colored water spraying. Armed with colored water, it was all about color mixing and requesting more colors.  

### Ideally for this kind of project you would want to use something that dispenses colored water in controlled quantity.





Spray bottles seem to work the best in terms of controlled dispensing. But for a kid the instant gratification of watching changing colors is quite absent because it does take a few sprays to see colored snow.



The pretty colors did not blend and turn into that infamous muddy brown because we used only limited number of primary colors. But the colors were beginning to lean towards our most used color combination blue and yellow





Finally we were left with a greenish fake snow with which we did another entirely different activity which will be posted shortly. Click here to see our [**green goo small world.**](https://www.funlittles.com/sensory-activities-green-goo-and-dinosaur-world/)



Thanks for reading
Please take a moment to comment Hello Visitor, Thanks for stopping by our little space here. We encourage you to stick around and take a look at [**couple of**](https://www.funlittles.com/paint-with-spaghetti-brooms/) our [**popular posts.**](https://www.funlittles.com/animal-resist-painting/)

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