Working together on this fun family craft will not only make the winter pass more quickly and jazz up your winter landscape, but it also will provide an opportunity for you to teach your kids a few basic lessons in architecture. Armed with a tape measure, lay out the four corners for snow houses first -- for unlike igloos, these structures will be rectangular. Begin by standing at one corner with the tape measure. Have your child pull the tape out and walk to either of the nearer corners. If you've decided on a 10 X 10 snow house, then your child will walk 10'. Shovel a path through this 10-foot area to mark a line, indicating where one wall of your snow house will rest. Proceed this way around the projected perimeter of the snow house. To check that the corners are all square, have your child measure the two diagonals, which should be of equal length -- basic architecture lesson #1 derived from this fun family crafts project.
Once you begin laying the blocks of the snow house, you'll want to finish the perimeter first (minus the hole for the entrance). Here's where basic architecture lesson #2 can be taught. Have your child use a level to make sure the tops of the blocks are all level. Where you find a snow block to be slightly askew, use an ice shim to make it level. When you've completed the perimeter and begin the second round of blocks, have your kid check not only for levelness, but also for plumbness, so that you'll have straight walls on both the horizontal and vertical planes of your snow house. What way of teaching your children these elementary concepts could be more enjoyable than through this fun family crafts project?
Some variations are certainly possible on the construction style illustrated in the photo above. For instance, a more elaborate archway over the entrance could have been incorporated. Or for a totally different style that furnishes your structure with a roof, try building an igloo, such as the igloo photographed for Page 1. If you're not interested in being such a purist, yet you still desire a roof for your structure, lay pine boughs across your walls.
Spruce up your finished snow house with accessories afterwards, making creative use of whatever interesting stuff happens to be taking up space in the shed or garage. Maybe your children will have some ideas of their own for the finishing touches. One fun accessorizing idea is the use of torches, which will lend a medieval-castle look to your snow house. Here's a chance to dust off those mosquito torches that haven't been used since summer. Drive them into the top wall of the snow house. Light them for an hour or so some night and enjoy the eerie glow they cast over your snow castle.
So the next time you wonder why kids today don't seem to reach the same level of creativity that you exhibited in outdoor activities when you were growing up, take it upon yourself to lead the way by sharing some ideas with them. In the process, there'll be loads of fun and opportunities for practical lessons. The winter will also seem to pass more quickly. And as long as the winter chill does stay in the air, your landscape will be graced by a focal point handcrafted by your own progeny.
