I took it down a couple of weeks ago already, but Sam loved his little decorate a window Christmas tree SO much that when it began absolutely dumping snow yesterday, I decided to quickly put up a new window activity for him to enjoy. This decorate a window snowman activity has already been such a hit and the best part is that it can be decorated, taken apart, and redecorated over and over again.
First up, a little peek at the Christmas tree version… This was SO simple to put together and I’ve already stored the foam circles and star away for next year, so it’ll be extra easy to set-up again then. You can read the IG post details here.
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If you’re new to these foam window cling sort of activities, they’re really easy. We’ve been doing them since Miss G was teeny tiny, and though we first started out using coloured acetate sheets, we quickly switched over to craft foam as it’s super inexpensive and easy to find. I love these types of activities for many reasons, but a big one is that the required materials are so minimal. You really only need craft foam (this can be purchased at craft and dollar stores), scissors, and a small spray bottle that’s manageable for your little one’s hands (we like this style and they’re also readily available at dollar stores). This particular window snowman activity also uses some patterned white and clear cellophane (found at the dollar store also) and sticky tape, but if you’re brave enough to try it, you could skip the cellophane and use a black permanent marker on the window to make a snowman outline instead. I’ve heard that it comes off without an issue with a cotton pad and rubbing alcohol and I have tested out small spots with success myself, but try it at your own risk (and definitely do a test spot first!)
I stuck with the safe bet this time around and used cellophane to create our snowman… To do this I just folded a length of cellophane in half vertically, then used bowls as a guide when drawing a half snowman shape using permanent marker. I do find that cutting patterned cellophane is much easier with really sharp scissors, so be sure to use your best pair when cutting out your snow person.
Next, place it up on the window at your child’s height. It’ll stick up there all on it’s own, but I added some little tape rolls just to be sure it stayed put while Sam was playing.
Next up, cut several snowman ‘accessories’ out of your craft foam. I just did this step on the fly, but you can draw on the foam sheets with pencil first if it’s easier. What you include is up to you… I did a couple of different hats, a few carrots, a couple of twigs, then a bunch of buttons and pebbles.
Now I’m not nearly good enough with photography to capture both the cellophane snowman on the sunny window and the foam pieces set out on the table in the dark corner, but this was the basic set-up…
I love putting little play invitations like this one out for the kids to discover and use on their own time. Sam was immediately intrigued by the table full of foam goodies, but when he saw the snowman on the window? He was thrilled.
Having done a similar activity before, he immediately got to work decorating his snow person.
If you’ve never tried this type of activity before, the process is really neat. All the foam pieces need in order to stick onto the window is a spritz of water! So it’s just spray-and-stick for each piece.
Using a spray bottle is great for developing those little hand muscles and motor skills too, so win-win!
“Dis snowman same tall as ME!!”
It’s hard to see, but isn’t his snowman sweet? The twigs coming out of the bottom of its face are in fact arms and the green circles on the sides are his “funny ears”. Also, Sam told me that it doesn’t have a a name when he’s wearing the black hat, but when its wearing this red and white one, the snowman’s name is Santa.
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During nap time, I used different objects from around the house as tracers to cut the large sheets into an assortment of shapes. I placed the shapes, along with a spray bottle filled with water, on a tray next to our large front window, and left it there for my curious little monkey to discover upon her awakening.
Of course she beelined to the tray the moment she was up. I explained that we could use water to help the shapes stick to the window, and she was off. A little mist….
And stick a shape on top. 
Voila! Instant window art. Super fun and super easy.
It didn’t take her long to realize that looking through the shapes was pretty cool too… “Mama! Everything is all pink!”
Of course the previous method works well for seeing the outside world in pink, but this is much more effective for making your house turn pink.
The really cool thing about the fact that our shapes are primary colours is that they lend themselves to colour mixing very well. Grae was amazed at all of the colours she could make by simply overlapping two shapes.
And after experimenting with colour mixing, she tried sorting the pieces into groups based on shapes and colours.
And soon after that, the pieces started becoming pictures of things. The triangles stacked on top of one another became her tree and the tower of large circles became her snowman (if you look closely, you’ll see she is in the process of adding buttons to her snowman’s belly).