Snow figures are a long-standing pastime of the inhabitants of Rus'. As soon as winter came, everyone waited for the moment when the snow would begin to fall. They made everything out of snowballs: castles, animals, sculptures; entire cities were built in certain areas. They were doused with water, three-dimensional images were carved out and left like that until spring. As the weather warmed, the figures melted and floated away on a long journey until the next winter. This tradition has survived to this day. Snow figures are sculpted in kindergartens, schools, and, yes, in ordinary courtyards. We will consider options for figures and methods for their construction in our article below.
Snow figures pictures
Bunny
To make a bunny, you will have to work hard. But the figure does not have to be placed exactly on the ground. The bunny will look good on the bench.
- We form an oval from the snow. This will be the body of a bunny;
- Next you will need four small balls - paws;
- The tail can be sculpted either raised or lying down;
- Let's move on to the head. We make a ball and form an oval out of it. Add a little more snow to the sides to create cheeks;
- We sculpt ears;
- You can either draw eyes and a mouth or use food coloring diluted in water.
How to make figures from snow, what kind of snow is good to sculpt from
To create snow figures, you first need to wait for a good snowfall. It is desirable that the snow is clean, without dirt. With ideal timing, a few days of snowfall is just the thing for creating snow heroes. But these are not all the conditions. If the quantitative requirement is met, then it is also necessary to wait for the temperature regime. Snow forms at temperatures not lower than 0 ºC.
Sometimes weather disasters occur and when there is a sharp change in cold temperature, excess air humidity appears. For example, the air rose from -13 ºC to -2 ºC. At this moment, you can start sculpting various figures, since the moisture will settle on the snow and its top layer will be wet. In other words, to create snow figures you need wet snow. It is convenient to work with it, combine separately sculpted parts and create a single whole. You can check the quality of the snow yourself; if a handful of snow instantly takes the form of a lump, then the consistency is ideal.
Warnings
- To prevent the top of the fort from sagging, do not build it too heavy.
- While you are building a castle, always leave a guard next to them, do not stand on it, do not go inside if there is no one nearby. There is a risk that the snow town will collapse and you will need help.
- For the safety of your children, the castle should be built as far as possible from the road and parking lot.
- In order for the snow fortress to stand longer and not settle, it is better to choose a place for construction in the shade so that the castle does not receive direct sunlight.
Light snow figures, ideas with photos
Undoubtedly, the simplest and most quickly erected figure is a snowman. Even children can sculpt it. Three round balls placed on top of each other, a ready-made composition. The rest is a matter of fantasy. If desired, you can decorate the round one with rowan berries, branches, stick a carrot and even put a bucket or hat on your head.
Hedgehog is also ideal for both children and adults sculpting. Small raised tubercles are molded onto the finished oblong lump, imitating countless needles. A triangular muzzle is attached to the body, which is completed by a small ball - the nose. Don't forget about the small recesses for the eyes and mouth. We decorate the sculpture, and the snow hedgehog is ready.
Winter fun: rules of the game
Participants in the winter fun are invited to divide into two armies, approximately equal in number and strength. Each army chooses a general and makes a banner (a flag, a scarf or a piece of colored paper nailed to a stick). Decide together who will defend the fortress and who will storm it. This is determined, as is customary among children, using a counting rhyme or lot.
The defenders of the fortress place the banner inside, but so that it can be seen from the outside. The defenders' task is to defend the fortress, not to let enemies inside and not to let them touch the banner. The goal of the attackers is to take the fortress (it is enough for at least one player to go inside and touch the banner).
1. Fortress defenders and attackers can throw snowballs at each other. A snowball hitting any place means that the participant is “killed”: if it is the defender of the fortress, he squats down and does nothing, but if it is one of the attackers, he moves aside.
2. Snowballs are allowed to be made in advance and placed in certain places. They should be small, not too hard, without soil or stones. For “wrong” snowballs, the child is excluded from participating in winter fun.
3. Attackers can hide behind each other, but do not have the right to hide behind anything. When opponents collide, they are allowed to push each other, but they cannot fight. It is also prohibited to throw snowballs at the face or head - such a hit does not count, and the “shooter”, who, in the opinion of the referee, aimed at the face on purpose, is excluded from the game.
4. Adults have the right to throw snowballs only at each other. Although they participate in the war together with children, they simultaneously act as arbiters (each adult is responsible for his own army).
5. Attackers do not have the right to break the walls of the fortress. Defenders can make forays, for example, to eliminate an enemy general.
6. Regardless of the results of the battle, the next day the teams change roles (defenders become attackers and vice versa).
Snow figures step by step:
Since childhood, we have become accustomed to making figures out of snow at the behest of our souls; if we wanted, we made a snowman, if we wanted, we wanted to make a turtle or a horse. But if it came to competitions in kindergarten, in the yard or at school, where entire families took part, then it was not easy. The plot, color, and size of the craft were thought through. We will look at ready-made solutions; perhaps these are the options that will be useful for your craft.
Father Frost
With the first snow falling, we begin to anticipate the approach of the New Year. The streets are filled with snowflakes, decorations, beautiful lights, and in addition to all this beauty, snow figures are sculpted in courtyards and squares. One of the most popular is the figure of Santa Claus. It is not so easy to fashion it, but if you follow a certain order, the exhibit will be ready after a couple of hours of painstaking work.
The complexity of the work will depend on one factor - the height of the exhibit. The taller Santa Claus is, the more difficult it will be to make a life-size sculpture. For stability, experienced craftsmen place a metal support in the snow structure. But we will not complicate the composition and will make a medium-sized Santa Claus, without support. We select snow and roll up a medium-sized snow ball. We sculpt a body on top of it, align the sides, and add snowballs - arms. Using plywood, we level the torso and limbs, and begin to design the head.
We need a new portion of snow, we form a hat, headband, beard. We pay special attention to the face, make indentations for the eyes, attach a strip of snow to the nose, and smoothly align the beard. For believability, you can stick a bag near the figure or decorate it with a magic staff.
As a staff, you will need a straight stick that will serve as a support. We paint Santa Claus in red shades and the figure is ready.
Snow Maiden
The Snow Maiden is made by analogy with Father Frost. The body is formed from a large oblong lump.
Snow hands are attached to the sides of the hewn block. In order to spend less time on the Snow Maiden’s delicate hands, we suggest decorating the snowy beauty’s hands with mittens. The body of Santa Claus's granddaughter should have a thin waist, and her head should be decorated with a long braid. If you remember the plot of New Year's fairy tales, then on the Snow Maiden's head there is a crown, kokoshnik or a beautiful hat with bells.
After decorating the body, we sculpt a small snow globe that imitates the head of a young beauty. We attach a strip of snow to the side to decorate the braid, and on the top we decorate a crown or kokoshnik. Finally, we carve out the recesses for the eyes on the figure, form the cheekbones, chin, highlight parts of the body and paint the Snow Maiden.
snowman
The simplest and most beloved folk snow figure is the snowman. All you have to do is roll three balls of different sizes. Place them in a vertical row, starting with the largest.
Next, the following additions can be sculpted on the body: make snow boots, attach limbs from branches, attach a bucket to the head, and put a rowan smile on the face, eyes, and the completion of the snow figure will be a bright carrot, symbolizing the nose of a cute little round one.
pig
The piglet is not only one of the simplest figures for snow modeling, but also a symbol of the year. Popularly, such a figure was called Khryukhryukovich. It is formed from an oblong coma. The lump is fixed on a free area, with paws-hooves attached to the sides. The 4 limbs of the pig should be sculpted in the shape of logs, they are pointed at the end.
The head is formed directly from the lying coma. A pig, in principle, is an animal that is not distinguished by any special forms and the head and body are one. Using a shovel or a paper clip, several notches are made, showing the presence of a transition from the head to the body. A snout and beads for eyes are attached to the muzzle. At the request of Khryukhryukovich, you can paint it pink. And by the way, the pig can be sculpted not from completely pure snow, but with a little dirt mixed in. That's why she's a pig.
Swedish wish lantern
If you want to not only have a fun and exciting time with your family, but also decorate your yard at the same time, be sure to try arranging an alley of snow lanterns in it. Residents of Scandinavia decorate their yards with exactly the same small lanterns on the eve of Christmas.
It’s not difficult to build such a lantern - lay out a circle of snowballs on the first tier. Lay out the snowballs of the next row in a checkerboard pattern, reducing their number and gradually narrowing the cone. Before the pyramid has time to “close”, place an LED candle or flashlight in it, and then carefully install the last rows of snowballs. Classic Swedish wish lanterns use regular wax or paraffin candles.
According to Swedish legend, on one of the evenings before the New Year holidays, you need to put a note with a wish in a flashlight with a lit candle. If the next morning the pyramid turns out to be destroyed, the candles are extinguished, and the note disappears, it means Yultomten (Swedish Santa Claus) has visited the courtyard, and very soon he will fulfill all wishes.
DIY snow figures for school, details
During school years, there are many competitions, including the snow figure competition. Such competitions are especially often held in regions where snow cover lasts almost until summer.
matryoshka
In the image of this wooden toy, you can sculpt a beautiful snow figure, and if you decorate it with bagels and Khokhloma paints, then the Matryoshka will fit into all the winter holidays. And the most suitable for her will be New Year and Maslenitsa.
The lady-matryoshka is made from sticky white snow. The figure is based on two balls. One larger at the base and one smaller. The second ball (smaller) is fixed on the first. The transitions between parts are covered with snow and smoothed out. The matryoshka is almost ready, all that remains is to align the edges and color it beautifully. To level the edge, it is recommended to use a wide wooden spatula or a piece of plywood. You can hang a bunch of large bagels between the tiers and the look will be completed.
lock
The castle is made based on the favorite children's game - fortress. A structure is built from several snowballs - fortifications. Large and small balls alternate, and windows are made between them. The top of the structure is decorated with spire-shaped peaks.
You can attach a bridge, towers, or make passages to the castle. They are also molded from snow. And, if you use your imagination, you can turn a beautiful castle into an ice road that turns into a slide. Most schools and kindergartens are located in spacious areas where there are uneven areas. Just one of the slopes can be adapted into a castle with an ice slide.
Russian stove
Based on Russian fairy tales, a pie oven would look appropriate in the school yard. It’s quite simple to fashion it, especially if you have several snow-making peers as assistants. A square structure with a superstructure is formed on a flat area.
The final step in creating a stove is painting to highlight the brickwork. If desired, you can place Emelya on the stove or place a dish with buns or pies. So, the stove will last until spring.
Ice craft designs
A separate direction in winter designs are figures made of ice. Transparent buildings, shimmering under the rays of the sun or in artificial lighting, look like real illuminations made of valuable glass.
Creating them is not easy, since ice is a very hard material that is difficult to work with . At the same time, it is impossible to restore the broken section of the structure, so such work will require special skill and training.
To form such a figure, you need to use natural ice taken from a glacier or reservoir. If you try to freeze tap water yourself, it is unlikely to become transparent, and the figure will not look aesthetically pleasing. But for training you can use this method.
Figure of a dog made of snow, step by step with photo
A dog is a man's friend, even if it is made of snow. Bright gouache will bring the dog to life and make him the main decoration of the yard. First, to create the figure, we create a large snow pile. The dog will be lying down, in this position it will be much easier to sculpt the composition. Distribute the snow for the head and paws. What we leave most of all on the body is the dog’s torso.
Select the limbs, draw parts of the body. We color the figure and the dog is ready.
Snow bas-reliefs
From snow you can sculpt not only three-dimensional figures, but also bas-reliefs. Start with small and easy-to-make images of cats, dogs, hares and other animals beloved by children. You just have to try, and very soon you will be able to move on to more monumental “canvases”.
Using stuck snow, you can decorate a fence or walls of buildings. However, to create large bas-reliefs, you will have to think through the composition in advance. Of course, we are not talking about full-fledged artistic sketches, but marking the contours or at least the approximate location of the elements of the picture with chalk will not be amiss.
How to cut a figure from snow
When working with snow, it is important to remember that the carved figure must be done right away. Otherwise, the snow will harden and it will be very difficult to highlight individual parts of the sculpture. In addition to gloves and clean snow, you will need a lot of tools for the job. They are necessary to highlight parts of the body, create a face, and carved elements. It is recommended to use durable metal tools as auxiliary tools. These include: screwdrivers, small spatulas, spatulas.
In fact, to create a snow figure one-time, it is not necessary to have a professional sculptor’s kit. Arm yourself with a chisel, a metal file or ruler, or, in extreme cases, a wide knife, and work on creating a snowy image. Places where snow does not yield easily can be sprinkled with boiling water. The snowball will melt in a second and you will have a new field for work.
Snow fortress
If you go out for a walk “seriously and for a long time,” be sure to build with your children, if not a full-fledged fortress, then at least a small snow fortification. To do this, you can use the technique of rolling large lumps of snow already mentioned above - the balls are installed tightly to each other, forming a tier of the first level. The gaps between them are covered with snow. After this, a second tier of snowballs is installed on top, but smaller. The gaps between the balls are filled with snow.
Instead of balls, you can use snow bricks to build a fort. They are made using rectangular plastic containers according to the same principle as sand cakes. Perhaps the construction process itself when using this method will seem longer, but physically you don’t get tired of it as quickly as rolling down huge snow globes.
Smeshariki snow figures, photo with explanation
Remembering the round cartoons from the numerous Smeshariki series, I just want to sculpt bright characters. In fact, nothing is impossible and, having devoted one evening to decorating a snowy cartoon picture, you will soon be able to enjoy your own yard work.
All characters are made from a large snow globe. We have all been able to do this since childhood, and the rest is a matter of technique. Let's add ears, stick two straight sticks into the head, stick snow on them, and the hare is ready. To make the hero look realistic, we’ll design a pair of teeth, a nose and eyes. Cut them out with a scraper or metal spatula.
Let's make needles for the hedgehog from snow triangles. Let's add a smile, glasses and a pair of skis. After all, it's winter outside.
Let's not forget about Elk with horns, Pina, Nyusha, Kar-Karych, Sovunya. We sculpt the features of each character onto the round body: beak, glasses, ears, etc. The most important thing about these heroes is not to forget to color them.
Add sides
When the draft of the slide is firmly put together, it’s time to take care of safety. To do this, we form protective sides along the entire length of the slide on both sides so as not to fly off the track.
For a slide 1.5–2 meters high, the sides should be at least 30 cm high along the length, and at least 50 cm high on the landing area. We sculpt them from a wet snow mass, reminiscent of clay in consistency. The sides must be immediately rounded and smoothed before the snow turns into ice. And if your slide has turns, remember that when turning along the outer radius, the side should be higher and stronger so as not to fly off the slide.
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New Year's figures made of snow for the street, photo
- Christmas tree. It is made on the basis of flattened lumps like a snowman, additionally spruce branches are cut out of snow;
- Hut. A square should be made from a compressed pile of snow. During processing, log thresholds and windows are cut out. In our version there is a clock, and a fabulous owl sits on top;
- Snake. Refers to year symbols. The snow snake can be sculpted in any position.
Select location
Choosing a place for a slide should be taken seriously. Choose a safe place away from the roadway, pedestrian paths, as well as poles, fences and other obstacles. That is, if you are going to build a slide in the yard, near the playground, immediately calculate whether there is enough space for a long descent and comfortable access to the ascent.
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How to paint a figure made of snow
Snow figures look much more impressive if they are painted in different colors. To highlight your craft, you need to stock up on paints. Spray paint cans, which are sold in paint stores, or regular paint for drawing lessons will help us with this. The first option is a little expensive, but almost everyone has watercolor or gouache paints.
The snow figures turn out to be quite voluminous; simple brushes are not enough, and in severe frost they can freeze to the sculpture. What to do? First, let's find a suitable container and dilute the paint in it. Gouache or watercolor, the main thing is to get a rich color. A suitable container would be a jar, glass or, better yet, a clean plastic bottle.
Mix the colors thoroughly. Shake the container until the lumps of paint dissolve. Pour into a spray gun and spray paint. The snow figure will be evenly colored, and the figurine will be covered with a thin crust of ice, which will give the sculpture additional protection from wind and additional precipitation.
Instead of a spray bottle, you can use a wide container of diluted paint and a paint brush. A bucket is suitable as such a container. You can simplify the task by using a bottle and holes made in the cork. Children especially like this coloring. The paint pours onto the figure directly from the holes in the cork.
When working with paint it is worth remembering:
- The water in the bottle should be ice-cold, not warm, otherwise melted holes will appear in the figure;
- Each paint color is mixed separately;
- When diluting colors, you can use food coloring instead of paints. With them it will be easier to achieve the desired color;
- Saturated colors can be obtained from home pharmaceutical products: pink-red, burgundy - from potassium permanganate, green - from a tube of brilliant green, orange - from a bottle of iodine.
Ice Gems
No matter how beautiful the snow is, sometimes you really want to paint your everyday life with the bright colors of summer. Regular balloons, ice molds, sand molds and a package of food coloring will help you do this. All you need is to dilute the dyes in boiled chilled water (this will make the ice more transparent), pour the liquid into molds and leave them for several hours on the balcony or in the freezer.
The resulting figures can be used for a variety of purposes. For example, lay out various mosaics or sculpt small sculptures. Figures obtained using sand molds can be used for impromptu mini-performances.
After all, you can simply hide the pieces in different parts of the yard and have the kids have a winter “treasure” hunt. If you don’t have time to bother organizing a full-fledged quest, you can simply bury the ice gems in the snowdrifts.
In addition, the resulting pieces of ice will become a real decoration for fortresses, snowmen and other snow sculptures.
Snake
This is perhaps the simplest figure that can be sculpted even with kids.
All you need to do is simply create a long body. To be believable, it must be curved. From one side we create a rounded head. On the other side there will be a tail. It should be narrowed towards the end. Then you need to Draw the eyes and mouth. To make the figure look even brighter and more interesting, you can use dye. Next to such a snake you will get beautiful winter photos.
Minion
Minion is a favorite children's character. It's quite simple to make. To do this you need to follow these steps:
- Make an oval. This will be the torso;
- Attach legs and arms to it;
- Draw a mouth and teeth;
- Put glasses on your head. You can make them yourself. Take any iron circle and attach an elastic band to it. It should be the size of a minion's head;
- Draw a black dot inside the glasses - this will be the eye;
- Find short branches and insert into the head. They will act as hair.
