Out here on the West Coast, we don’t get much in the way of snow. Winters tend to be mostly rain, rain, and more rain. We had one light snowfall this winter, but it only stuck around for a couple of days, and my kids keep complaining that there’s no snow. Ha! I’m actually pretty happy about that, but I figured I could at least make them a little play snow for some non-snow day sensory fun!
There are lots of different recipes for play snow on the internet, but I like this very simple 2-ingredient recipe. All you need is baking soda and conditioner. It feels cool to the touch, crumbles like powdery snow, and molds easily too.
In case you were wondering, I used Down Under Naturals conditioner because I had a huge bottle under my sink. Different conditioners will vary in how thick they are, so depending on which one you use, you may need to tweak the amounts a bit. Overall, this is a very forgiving recipe, so it’s pretty simple to throw everything together and make something fun.
After some experimentation, these are the proportions that worked best for us:
- 4 x 500g boxes of baking soda
- 1.5 cups white conditioner
We added silicone muffin cups, cookie cutters, scoops, and measuring spoons to the snow bin. Poke around your kitchen drawers for anything that scoops, digs, or molds for extra fun.
The kids spent over an hour playing with their fake snow. Yes, it got a little messy, but nothing a quick vacuum and wipe down couldn’t fix afterward.
Mmm… it’s a snow cone! It should go without saying, but keep play snow away from children who still put things in their mouths. Even after warning the kids, Kay still got some accidentally (or so she said) in her mouth and she did not like it, to put it mildly!
Of course I also had to throw some Star Wars figures in there to set up a snowy Hoth battle scene for the girls to act out.
And when everyone’s done playing, their hands will be nice and soft too!
Who knew fake snow was so simple to make?! Thanks so much for the thoughtful, creative, and economical article!
Woah, this is fantastic! Not that we’re short on snow here in Calgary right now, lol. I usually make “goop” with corn starch and water, but this is also another “sensory” alternative for the kids.
That is really simple! Going to have to try this!
This is such a cool idea! I never would have thought that conditioner and baking soda would turn into a fun kids’ activity instead of a giant, annoying mess :). My kids would love playing with this.