Snowman Measuring Snowfall – Winter STEM Activities

Aren’t you always curious how much snow you actually get? My kids are too. This fun winter stem activity is a great way for children to learn how to measure snowfall with a fun winter science experiment. Start out measuring marshmallows, cotton, or water and then use with winter science to top  relying on the weather reporter, but I figured it was time that we measured it on our own. So we made a Snowman Measuring Jar. It’s not only cute but it is functional! THis is a fun winter activity for kids from preschool, pre-k, kindergarten, first grade, and 2nd grade students. 

Winter Stem Activities

This winter stem activities for kindergarten is a cute snowman jar is an adorable snowman jar craft taht collects snow AND it will also help teach kids all about volume and inches. This fun stem winter activities is perfect for toddlers, preschoolers, kindergartners, grade 1, and grade 2 students.  Whether you are a parent, teacher, or homeschooler – this winter activity for kids is perfect for sneaking in some practical skills into  your learning.  This is a great winter math activity for teaching measurement, using a ruler, and volume for kids.

How to Measure Snowfall

Leave a container out in the open to collect any snow that accumulates in the cold, winter months. Snowfall is measured to the nearest tenth of an inch. You will use a ruler or measuring tape to determine the greatest amount of snowfall that has accumulated in your snowman winter craft since the last observation.

For this activity you can measure actual snow or you can measure marshmallows, water, cotton balls, etc.

Snow Science Experiment

To start, you need to decorate the jar to look like a snowman. We used:

• Mason jar
  
• Black construction paper
  
• Hot Glue Gun & Glue
  
• Brown & Orange Felt
  
• Googly Eyes
  
• Red Ribbon
  
• Blue Pom Poms
  
• Silver pipe cleaner
  
• Black construction paper
  
• Single hole punch
• Scissors
• Ruler  – if no ruler: A dowl & marker.

Winter STEM Activities

To make this winter STEM project, you will start by turning your mason jar into a cute snowman. We cut out the the hat and the nose first, from the felt. I have learned that cutting felt is super easy when you have a good pair of scissors.

I noticed that the hat was floppy, so it wouldn’t stand up straight when we glued it onto the jar. So I took a pipe cleaner, cut it to size and hot glued it to the back of the top of hat. Then you can mold and bend it however you want. I also glued a pipe cleaner across the front of the hat like a ribbon.

Next we glued on googly eyes and the nose.

The coal for a mouth was created with a single hole punch and black construction paper. We hot glued these on too.

We used red ribbon and wrapped it around multiple times to create the effect of a scarf.

The buttons are made from blue pom poms.

Winter Activities for Kids

If you have a ruler you can stick it inside the jar. If you don’t, we created one by putting inch and inch and a half marks on a dowel with a marker.

You can set it outside as soon as you are done or when you know that it is going to snow. Once it snows, the jar will fill up. You can measure how much snow you received by checking the marks on the dowel or the ruler. You can also measure the volume by checking the marks on the side of the mason jar. It will show in cups or ounces- or both.

You can take it one step further, also. Bring the jar inside, with the snow inside.
The heat of your home will melt the snow. You can then show children the difference between the frozen snow and the melted snow (water). The inches will be different as well as the volume. You can even ask your children to create a prediction based on how much show you are ‘supposed’ to get and how much they think it will melt into.

This is a cute craft turned STEM activity!