Tip 108: Make your own Snow for Play

Its winter soon and in fact, London already had one brief snowy morning. Not heavy snow, but a brief half an hour evidence of snow depositted at the top of cars before it quickly melted away. As it rains a lot in London, such brief snow encounters are possible, though the temperature does not drop below the freezing point too often. Last Saturday, Haruka already had her first Christmas show hosted at a shopping complex near our home. Daddy took the effort to be kept updated of happenings, especially free events and made early reservations so the family could enjoy Christmas carol singing and magic shows rendered by Santa Claus, Tin Soldier, Candy fairy, Rudolf the reindeer and some elves. It was just a 45 minute informal show where the children could sit on the floor near the stage and I am glad Haruka could stay glued throughout the show. I wonder if that would change in a dark environment like a cinema movie or musical London theater performance. (That's something daddy and mummy wish to do before they leave London and Haruka would have to be tagged along.) As the finale of this Christmas show, the organizers had fake snow falling from the top to the floor and all the children were delighted to play with these bits of paper. After the show ended, there were kids who stayed back to scoop the mountains of white and silver paper snow flakes, threw them up into the air to simulate the snow falling act and some also threw them at each other. Haruka watched them and began doing the same and was occupied for quite some time. I thought to myself. I could import this idea for a cheap yet interesting play item to occupy Haruka.










































As written in a previous blog post, the more simple the toy, the more avenues to encourage creativity in kids during their play time. Kids do not need too much sophisticated toys with a host of many press buttons or wardrobes full of 5.11 Tactical Pants to accompany the play. Those are toys for the adults obsessed with law enforcement games. Kids need to play toys that allow them to observe the environment, assess different materials, shapes and texture, calculate and differentiate them and create different play sequence using simple objects. Most importantly, these toys need to put a smile in their face, if not lots of giggles. How satisfied daddy was to see that happening with the end product (Watch last photo). Here is a step by step guide on how to make fake snow, whether you are in a snowy climate or not. First, get white used paper from your piles of unused printed documents at your office. You could also use some silver or gold paper to add some glitter, but not too much since the focus is on the white snow. Then, fold lots of strips so you could cut very small squares of 2cm x 2 cm or 3cm x 3cm. If its too small, it may be difficult to pick them up after play. Aim for 1000 pieces or more. You could start with a smaller amount, but later it gets more fun with a larger quantity to scoop and throw up high to watch the snowing effect. Prepare a container to store these pieces of paper that you have cut out. Before playing, clear the area of other toys and items so that you could easily gather the bits of paper in 1 place and store them back in the container after the play time. Be sure to play in only 1 place and not throw them all over the house. Set the rules early - but usually babies and little toddlers would follow such instructions. After play, get everyone involved to put the snow flakes back into the container and watch for small bits hiding inside or in the sides of your clothes. Insist on clearing the place neatly after each play time. This makes everyone happy including mummy.


















Do share your feedback if you have tried it. Would love to hear other simple toy ideas that would keep the baby happy constantly without fail.

(Photos show fake snow play at Canary Wharf, London Christmas event and fake snow play at home).