Printable Build a Snowman Craft (with Free Template)

What winter season would be complete without making your own snowman? This printable snowman craft is a great alternative to those frigid days when it is just too cold to build a real snowman outside.

Read on to learn how to make your own paper snowman craft and to download your free snowman template!

Living in New England, the winter is an amazing time of year. I don't think the joy one feels with the first snowfall will ever go away. However, after a few weeks the reality of the harshness of the season begins to kick in.

I am all for bundling up and venturing outside, in fact some times I would trade in those very hot summer days for a frosty one.

For someone who lives in a place that has four very distinct seasons, you would think I would be used too all of the different temperatures.

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Jump to:

• Snowman Themed Activity
• Craft Supplies
• Building the Paper Snowman
• 1st Version: Cut and Glue
• 2nd Version: Build a Snowman without Glue
• Benefits of this Craft Project
• Displaying Finished Snowman
• Paper Snowman Craft
• Terms of Use
• Comments

As a mom, to a little one the reality is that sometimes it just too cold to be outside for long periods of time. On days when we are cooped up in the house I like to have a few easy craft projects on hand.

Crafting is a great way to enjoy the winter season from the comfort of the pellet stove!

Snowman Themed Activity

There are many ways to do this craft with your kids. I include two different versions one involving glue and one without glue.

Both are perfect as winter crafts and pair well with other snowman activities.

If you are doing a unit study with a winter theme, this project is a fun way to integrate art. Pair this craft with a few additional activities about winter weather and cold climates.

Even if you do not live in a location that receives snow, your kids can still enjoy making a cute snowman. Creative activities are great ways for kids to learn about weather.

Books, printables, and crafts are all great ways for kids to learn about these topics even if they can not experience the cold weather first hand.

Or you can simply make this adorable snowman craft during a winter break or snow day.

Craft Supplies

• Kid Safe Scissors: for cutting out the snowman pieces. I highly recommend these blunt tip scissors for little ones along with these scissors for older children.

• Glue: a bit of craft glue or a regular old glue stick

• Coloring Supplies: markers, crayons, colored pencils, or even watercolor paint can be used to color in the template

• Plain Paper or Construction Paper: your kids will use this paper as the background for their paper snowman. Colorful construction paper or plain white paper.

• Snowman Template: free printable template found at the bottom of the post

• Regular Printer Paper: plain or cardstock if you want to use thicker paper

• Printer: if a printer is not available, you can create your own printable by drawing the snowman outlines on a blank piece of paper

Additional Templates: optional, but paper snowflakes, evergreen trees, trees with no leaves, or stars can be cut out and placed around the finished snowman.

These coloring pages are not just great for coloring, but for templates for paper crafts.

Building the Paper Snowman

Before cutting out the pieces, let your kids color in the different decorations including: stick arms, buttons, carrot nose, hat, and scarf.

My pieces did curl a bit because I colored them in using watercolor paint (great low mess paint option!)

If you want them to lay flat, I would use crayons, colored pencils, or markers instead of paint.

Using scissors let your kids cut out all of the snowman pieces. As they cut each one out, have them place them to the side.

Helpful Hint: you may need to help very young children with the cutting process.

I added additional buttons to the printable in case some get misplaced during in the cutting process.

1st Version: Cut and Glue

The first version involves making a permanent snowman using glue and construction paper.

Once the pieces are cut out, place the snowballs in the correct order on a paper background. Plain paper or construction paper both make great backgrounds.

Add a few drops of craft glue or use a glue stick to attach the snowballs to the paper.

Then let your kids decorate the blank snowman using the printable carrot nose, hat, scarf, buttons, and stick arms. Use glue to stick the individual pieces to the snowman.

This part is optional, but so much fun! Decorate the background using additional paper cut outs and drawings.

Once complete, let the paper dry on a flat surface for at least an hour. Young children often use a lot of glue and you want all of that to dry before hanging up the paper.

2nd Version: Build a Snowman without Glue

The next version was inspired by my toddler and involves no glue. After coloring and cutting out all of the pieces, let your child build the snowman.

We used our craft table as a surface for this step. My original plan was to make the snowman to take photographs for this post.

However, my young child had so much fun building, then taking apart, then re-building the snowman without gluing it down.

Made me realize that using the pieces as a sorting activity is a great way for little ones to practice fine motor skills.

While making, then deconstructing, then recreating my toddler had to use logic and his own imagination.

I love how sometimes the simplest activities really are the best!

My advice if you decide to use the printable in this way, is to print it off using cardstock. To protect the paper for multiple uses you can even laminate the sheet using a laminator.

Benefits of this Craft Project

Cutting out and moving around all of the different pieces is a great way to practice fine motor skills.

If doing this with preschool or kindergarten aged kids, remembering the order of all of the pieces is a fun memory game.

Building the snowman is similar to constructing a puzzle. They have to use critical thinking skills to assemble all of the pieces.

As a parent, try not to rush in and give them the correct answer. Part of the learning process is figuring things out using trial and error.

Plus, the best part about making art is being creative, no two snowman will be exactly the same!

Some children will benefit from seeing an already put together paper snowman or just having an image of a snowman to use as reference.

Remember, when crafting with young kids, the process is more important than the final product. Your kids may come up with a unique way to put together the pieces and that is part of the creative process!

My little one insisted that our snowman had shoes, so he cut out some shoes using the scrap paper! Plus more buttons so he drew a few of those.

Finally, he needed hair so my preschooler found another scrap and added that under the hat. Well then, the snowman needed the rest of his family so off to the printer we went and printed off a few more!

Displaying Finished Snowman

Once dry, your kids can hang up their creation. Kids of all ages enjoy seeing their art work on display.

This craft also makes a great gift. A special way to warm up the cold months is to spend time making something for someone special.

If you keep the snowman pieces to use as a sorting activity, store them in a baggie or on a tray.

Whichever option you use with your kids, hopefully they will have so much fun making this winter activity.

Terms of Use

This printable was created by Nature Inspired Learning and is for personal use only in your home, classroom, or public library. This free printable build a snowman template is for non-commercial use. See full disclosure. Have questions, send me an email at julie (at) natureinspiredlearning (dot) com

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Downloadable Build a Snowman PDF

Don't forget to get your copy of the snowman template to use with your kids!