Make a Christmas Cotton Ball Snowman

This is a soft, adorable snowman easy to make from a tin can and bag of cotton balls. He can be large or small depending on the size of can you wish to use. He will sit on a table, floor, or under the tree. This is a project for children and a parent. The children make the snowman, the parent will need to make the hat.

Steps

Preparation

  1. Clean a tin can and remove the label. You can use a 14-oz soup can size, medium 28-oz size or a large 48-oz size.
  2. Place the can on the piece of bristle board. Trace a circle in the middle. This determines the size of the hat brim.

Making the Body

  1. Make the body. Using a paintbrush, dab a bit of glue on each cotton ball and begin covering the sides of the can.

Making the Head

  1. Make the head. Crumple newspaper (or any other kind of paper or paper towels) into a ball and cover with a fresh sheet of paper, taping the bottom. It doesn't matter if it isn't perfectly round.
  2. Cover the head with cotton balls the same as for the body, leaving the bottom uncovered. Put a large amount of glue on the bottom of the head and place on the bottom of the can. The opened part will sit on a table and the head sits on the unopened part of the can. Fill in around the head with cotton balls.

Decorating the Snowman

  1. Cut out small circles from felt for buttons and glue on the body of the can. Cut out small circles from felt for eyes and nose and a smiling mouth from black or red felt and glue onto the head.
  2. Cut a piece of felt. Glue around the snowman's head for a scarf. or you can use a thick red yarn

Assembling the Snowman's Hat

  1. Make the hat. Cut a circular piece from your bristle board outside the circle you drew. This will be the hat brim and it should be 2-4" wide depending on your can size. Then cut out the middle circle. (the easiest way to do this is to punch a hole in the middle of the circle and cut outward to the edge and then cut around). Cut a rectangular piece of bristle board about 3-4" wide and long enough to go around the inner circle of the brim leaving a little extra. (See picture #9 below)
  2. Assemble the hat. Glue the two ends of the rectangular piece together and set inside the center hole of the hat leaving about 1/2" sticking out the bottom. Snip around this 1/2" piece and fold over gluing to the bottom of the hat. Dab glue around the inner edge of the hat and set on the snowman's head.
  3. Make the top of the hat the same way. Cut a circle leaving 1/2" extra, snip around, fold the snipped parts, dab glue on each snip and set inside the top of the rectangular piece so that the snips are glued to the sides of the top hat.
  4. Stand back and admire your wonderful snowman. With a little care, he will last for years.
  5. Finished.

Tips

  • By using different can sizes, you can make a family of snowmen.
  • Be as creative as you like, use real buttons if you wish (remember, these can be dangerous for little ones).
  • You can make the basic snowman without the hat if you wish.

Warnings

  • Do not use too much glue, just a little dab will hold it.

Things You'll Need

  • Empty, clean tin can, any size
  • Bag of cotton balls
  • Children's glue
  • Bits of felt to make eyes, nose, mouth and buttons
  • Sheet of black or red bristle board (approximately 12" / 30.5cm square) for hat.
  • Scissors (adult and children)
  • Paintbrush
  • Tape
  • Newspaper

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