How to Make Snowman Play Dough from Scratch

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There are tons of great winter crafts for adults with special needs. Winter DIY crafts such as this Snowman Play Dough are great for helping a person who has limited movement to develop their fine motor skills. Play Dough and the individual elements can also serve as great sensory toys. And, bar the glitter, this DIY snowman play dough is even taste-safe. So, without further ado, here’s how to make a play dough snowman from scratch!

Ingredients for the Dough

• 3 Cups White Flour
• 3/4 Cups of Salt
• 3 Tbsp of Cream of Tartar
• 3 Tbsp of Vegetable Oil
• 2 ¼ Cups of Water
• Glitter (if you’re feeling particularly brave)
• 1 Large Bowl

How to Make the Dough 

1. Mix all of your dry ingredients in a bowl while boiling the water.
2. Add the vegetable oil to the dry ingredients, and then slowly mix in the boiling water. 
3. Allow the mixture to cool slightly and pop it onto a lightly floured counter. 
4. Knead the dough until it gets smooth and doughy.
5. If the dough is too dry, you can always add more water to it. If it’s too sticky, you can knead more flour into it. 
6. Add about a tablespoon of glitter. Add more or less if you like.

Ingredients for the Snowman’s Fashion Show

• Scissors
• White Play Dough (see above recipe)
• A Couple of Small Twigs (try to keep to ¼ inch in diameter)
• An Orange Coloring Pen
• Toothpicks
• A Small Strip of Felt 
• Buttons
• Black Sequins or Googly Eyes
• Sorting Tray (if you have one)

How to Make the Snowman’s Cool Threads

1. Cut two 2½ inch pieces of twig and set them aside or into a sorting tray. Alternatively, you can also color two toothpicks brown and use those as arms.
2. Color in one toothpick using the orange pen. When dry, cut ½ inch to off the end of the orange toothpick to be used as a nose. 
3. If you do have a sorting tray handy, you can add each of your individual clothing pieces to it now. 
4. To make a scarf, cut a piece of felt strip so that it’s roughly 4 inches long and one inch thick. 
5. Make 2-3 small cuts on each end to make tassels.
6. Set everything aside so that you can get rocking on making your fabulous snowdude.

How to Make the Snowman

1. Pull a small handful of play dough and roll it into a ball to make the lower part of the body.
2. Set aside. 
3. Now pull off a piece of play dough that’s about two thirds of the size of the first piece you pulled. 
4. Roll the smaller piece of play dough into a ball to make the snowman’s mid section 
5. To make the head, pull a piece of play dough that is roughly half the size of the last.
6. Attach stack the three sections to make the snowman’s body. 
7. Push 2-3 small buttons onto the snowman’s middle section. 
8. Add either black sequins, googly eyes, or very small buttons to make his eyes.
9. Push the twigs or brown toothpicks into the sides to make his arms.
10. Add your orange-colored toothpick as the nose.
11. Wrap his scarf around his neck, and you’re done!
12. If you’re looking for a hat for your snowdude, they can sometimes be found in craft stores or dollar stores.  

You can also make the snowman play dough into a kit by making the play dough and placing it into a sandwich bag, then placing the decorative items into a separate sandwich bag. This makes for an awesome gift!