Monday, February 3, 2014

Make Fake Snow from Diapers

Guess what Chuck and I played with today while it snowed outside? Fake snow!  We made some from a Pull up Diaper.

Make fake snow from diapers

Say what?

Oh yeah.  We visited our nearby science center last week and the kids loved playing with their fake snow.  I found out that the fake snow was made from the same material found inside of diapers!  Wow.  Mind blown.  So of course we had to make it at home. 

Keep reading to find out how we made our fake snow!

Materials to Make Fake Snow:

  • Diaper
  • Scissors
  • Water
  • Large, deep container (to store your snow and hold it while the children play)

Directions to make Fake Snow:

(The polymer sodium polyacrylate inside of diapers expands when it gets wet.  We're basically harvesting the stuff and then getting it wet to "grow" our snow.  To read more about the science, click here or here.) 

 1.  Cut out the bottom of your diaper.  Then, carefully peel out the white, fluffy, cottony stuff.  Place it inside of a deep container.

(Note:  Choose a nice large, and deep container.  Chuck loved playing with this stuff and our container was a bit too small.  So it got everywhere!)

2.  Add water, a little at a time.  The white fluffy stuff will become mushier and mushier.

3.  Use your hands to smoosh up the white stuff.  It will feel slightly wet and squishy.  Keep smooshing and soon you'll have a bunch of fake snow.

4.  To make your fake snow seem more realistic, place it in the fridge to make it colder or add animals.  
(Why the giraffe and bear?  Well, we don't really own any winter animals... so these two had to do.)


Now you're ready to play!

5.  When you're done, DON'T FLUSH the stuff down the drain! You don't want to clog it.  Just throw it away in the trash.

Have fun playing with your fake snow!