Snow painting is a fun outdoor winter activity kids love. Plus you won’t believe how easy it is to make snow paint at home. Add new excitement to your next snow day by letting kids paint snowmen, snow castles, and host snowball fights with cool colors.
Learn how to paint snow and what to use to paint snow in your yard. The easy snow painting recipe will turn your snowy backyard into a painting canvas. The best part is the paint is washable so you don’t need to worry about staining their winter coats.
This is a really cheap and fun winter activity for kids that’s sure to keep them busy outdoors all day long.
Follow along as I teach you how to make snow paint and cool snow painting ideas to use in your backyard. It’s a new activity you can start today!
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How to Make Snow Paint & Snow Painting with Kids
Are you ready to learn how to snow paint? It’s so much fun! Your kids are gonna love spraying the snow with pretty colors.
Find even more outdoor winter ideas and ways to use your snow paint in our 30 Outdoor Winter Activities for Kids too.
Snow Paint Recipe
You only need a few items to make snow paint.
- Water (cold tap water)
- Food Dye – Any colors you like
- Spray Bottles (You’ll need one for each color you make)
That’s it! This is a really cheap winter activity. You can pick up the food dye and spray bottles at dollar tree. So for $5 you can have hours of fun.
How to Make Snow Paint
1.Making your snow paint could not be easier.
2. Fill up cold tap water in your spray bottles.
3. Add 20-30 drops of food dye to the spray bottle & water. The more drops you add the darker the paint will look in the snow.
4. Add the top back on the spray bottle and swirl it around to mix the food dye and water.
5. Take your bottle outside and start spraying your snow.
The closer your kids get to the snow with the spray the smaller the section they will paint and it will be darker. This is good for making the eyes or mouth of a snowman.
Spray from further away if you want a wider spray area. It will give it more of a tie-dyed look like in the snow fort picture below.
If kids want to write words in the snow just get a little closer to the snow with your sprayer and make each letter.
Related Article – Cool Ice Balloons Science Experiment for Kids you’ve got to try this winter!
Snow Painting Ideas
Here are a few snow painting ideas so you have some fun ways to snow paint with your kids.
Snowman
Let the kids paint each of the parts of the Snowman’s body a different color. Then use the paint up close to make a mouth, nose, and eyes.
My kids wanted a tie-dyed snowman so they just used tons of colors together and it turned out pretty cool too.
Color Your Snow Castle or Snow Fort
Let each kid make their own unique fort or castle with different colors and designs they create. We used a snow brick maker for one snow castle and red spray paint to make it look like red bricks.
Snowball Fights
For an epic snowball fight let the kids create different color bases to hide behind with the snow paint. Then kids can spray paint their snowballs to match their base color. When the snowballs start flying they’ll know which team hit them.
We use a snowball maker to get rounded snowballs that are easier to paint. Plus it makes the snowballs faster during a battle.
Snow Flowers

Bring spring to your winter snowscape with snow-painted flowers. Your neighbors will love driving by and seeing these pretty flowers along your house.
Use Your Imagination
Let kids use their imagination to create designs and their own pictures in the snow. They can also write their names or fun phrases for people to read.
Are you ready to start snow painting? I hope you kids enjoy snow paint as much as my kids have. It’s a great winter activity to encourage your kids to spend more time outdoors. Plus it’s a cheap & quick activity you can pull out every snowstorm.
Ice Balloons

Add some colored Ice Balloons to your snow displays too. They are an easy winter science experiment for kids with balloons, water & food dye.
My kids also used them to decorate their snow forts and as ice jewels, they needed to protect in creative play outdoors. Super easy to make and are a great way to make the cold fun.
Ice Ornaments

Decorate your trees this winter with DIY Ice Ornaments. Get the kids outdoor collecting items they find in nature like leaves, berries, or small pine cones.
Add all your nature bits into a pie tin and freeze it with water overnight. The next day you’ll have a really cool frozen suncatcher to hang in your tree, on your kid’s snow fort, or on their snowman.
Find directions on How to Make a DIY Ice Ornament.
Indoor Winter Activity Ideas
Need a few more kids’ activities to stay busy this winter? Visit our kids’ activity & game page or try some of these fan favorites.
20 Fun Stay at Home Indoor Kids Activities to Burn Energy When Stuck Indoors.
30 Fun Outdoor Winter Activities for Kids – Get your kids outside & off electronics
Indoor Laser Maze with Streamers – Ultimate indoor obstacle course
Easy Rainy Day Activities for Kids – Quick DIY indoor games & activities
How to Make a Volcano – Super Cool at Home STEM activity
Easy Coffee Filter Butterflies – Create a beautiful Butterfly craft
Cardboard Butterfly Craft Ideas – Recycled art project with Cardboard boxes
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