Looking for a quick and easy winter art project? Try making these Potato Snowmen! They’re easy, kids love them, and they require materials you probably already have on hand.

As winter trudges on, my kids seem to be less enthusiastic about going outside and playing in the snow, so I’ve been brainstorming fun wintery art projects to bring the outside in. Like all kids, mine love building real snowmen, but they were just as excited about creating a cute little piece of snowman art that we could display on the fridge for a few months. These Potato Snowmen look so cute, but they are actually really easy to pull off. Read on to learn how to make yours.

What you need to make potato snowmen

Potatoes. These are important, they give the art project its name after all! You’ll want to look for nice round raw potatoes in a few different sizes to make the bottom, middle, and head. All you’ll need to do is cut the potato in half and you have your stamp! Carrots or turnips would work as well!
Construction paper. We tried our snowmen on blue and green construction paper and prefer the blue. The white is more striking on the darker blue background. But of course, any color, aside from white will work just fine.
White paint or white ink pad. We tried both and I found that the ink pad was easier to work with, cleaner, and created the smoothest and best looking snowman. It also dried significantly faster.
Accessories. Accessorizing your snowman is the fun part! You’ll want to think of materials you can use for your snowman’s arms, eyes, and a nose. You may also want to add a hat and scarf, like we did. We used twigs for our snowman’s arms, buttons for his eyes, felt for his nose and hat, and a piece of yarn for his scarf.

How to make your potato snowmen

Make the stamps. First, you’ll need to make the stamps used to create your snowman. To do this, pick out three evenly round raw potatoes and slice them in half. We used a large potato for our snowman’s bottom third, a medium sized potato for his middle, and small potato for his head. Other vegetables like carrots or turnips would work as well.
Create the body. Grab a blue sheet of construction paper (we cut ours in half), some white paint or a white ink pad, and get started! Have your child hold the large potato half in their hand and dip the smooth surface into the paint or onto the ink pad, then place the potato, paint/ink side down, onto the bottom section of your paper. With gentle pressure, press down to transfer the ink from the potato to the paper. Repeat with the remaining potato halves, until you have a three-piece snowman standing tall on the paper.
Add snowflakes. Then, ask your child to dip their index finger into the white paint or onto a white ink pad and then touch the top (sky) portion of the paper to create finger-print snowflakes. Add just a few or several to create a sweet snowy effect for your picture.
Accessorize. Accessorizing their snowmen was my kids’s favorite part! This is what makes your snowman unique. Make him silly or serious or traditional or unique, just have fun! We cut a top hat out of brown felt and then cut out a triangle “carrot” nose using orange felt. Next, we collected little twigs from the yard to use as his arms. We found two small matching buttons to use for his eyes (but little pebbles, felt circles, or raisins would work too!). Then we found a chunky piece of yarn for his scarf. We knotted it once and cut off the excess on either side. We used hot glue to stick everything onto our snowmen.

Why we love making potato snowmen

It’s quick and easy. This art project is so simple, even the littlest of hands could manage it. It’s also really easy and quick to clean up.
A fun winter art activity. Like other art activities we feature on this blog (like Marshmallow Snowflakes), this one is in sync with the particular season we are experiencing. I like to teach as we do projects and it’s important for children to understand the cyclical changes occurring around them. It’s also important to embrace all seasons and remember the things that bring us joy during each season we are experiencing.
Materials are cheap and easy to find. This project does not require a special trip to the store. You probably have all the materials just lying around. And if you don’t – improvise!
They make a memorable piece of kid art. We visited my husband’s office the other day, and his desk is starting to resemble our refrigerator at home: cluttered ever so sweetly with kid art. We both adore the art our children make for us. It’s so fun to display and will be really heartwarming to open up a box when our kids head off to college and remember how little and sweet they once were. These potato snowmen don’t take up a lot of space, but they do make for a really fun piece of art to add to your child’s collection!

How to Make Potato Snowmen

Yield: 1

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Active Time: 10 minutes

Additional Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Estimated Cost: $5

Materials

Potatoes (1 large, 1 medium, and 1 small)
Blue construction paper, cut in half
White paint or a white ink pad
Accessories (buttons, yarn, felt, twigs)

Tools

Knife (to slice potatoes)
Hot glue gun (to attach accessories)

Instructions

1. First, create the pototo stamps by picking three evenly round raw potatoes and slicing them in half. Use a large potato for the snowman's bottom third, a medium sized potato for his middle, and small potato for his head. Other vegetables like carrots or turnips would work as well.

2. Next, make the snowman's body. Hold the large potato half with you hand and dip the smooth surface into the paint or onto the ink pad, then place the potato, smooth side (paint side) down, onto the bottom section of a piece of blue construction paper that is cut in half. With gentle pressure, press down to transfer the ink or paint from the potato to the paper. Repeat with the remaining potato halves, until you have a three-piece snowman standing tall on the paper.

3. Next, add snowflakes to the top half of the paper by dipping your index finger into white paint or onto a white ink pad and then touching the top (sky) portion of the paper to create finger-print snowflakes. Add just a few or several to create a sweet snowy effect for your picture.

4. Finally, accessorize by adding a hat, scarf, eyes, nose, and arms. Cut out a top hat and a carrot nose from felt and glue onto the snowman's head. Then gather two small identical buttons and glue on to his head to make eyes. Then, gather two small and similarly sized twigs to use for the arms. Glue one on each side of the middle circle. Finally, find a piece of chunky yarn to use for his scarf (about three inches long). Knot the piece of yarn in the middle and cut off the excess on either side. Use a hot glue gun to stick the acessories onto your snowmen.