We love fun activities for preschool kids and toddlers at our house so it makes sense that this squishy snow sensory activity is a big hit during the winter!
Squishy snow, also called clean mud, is easy to make, fun to play with, and NOT a mess to clean up. All you need is a bar of Ivory soap, a roll of toilet paper, and 1-1.5 cups of hot water.
I set out a large plastic bin and let the kids rip up the roll of toilet paper into it. Even making it is fun!
While they were tearing and shredding I grated the bar of soap and heated 1.5 cups of water in the microwave.
I mixed the soap with 1 cup of water (to start) and poured it into the bin with the toilet paper. They used their hands (it was cooler by then) to mix it all together. Normally at this point I would add more of the water until it becomes a smooth, slick consistency, but they wanted to leave it a little drier today so we left it alone.
They spent lots of time playing, squeezing, and experimenting with the squishy snow. And then had fun making a bunch of snowballs.
Which quickly turned into snowmen!
Have you made squishy snow or clean mud before? Did your preschool kids enjoy it?
It was interesting to see that my 3 year old who does not always enjoy sticky, gooey activities liked it better with less water. Experiment with the recipe to see what is most fun for your family!
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Looks fun, since we have no snow here in SoCal and my boys seem to be obsessed with it, I think we will have to give this a try, if I can just get over the intimidation of grating a bar of soap!
It’s so funny that you said that because I think the same thing about grating it even if I’ve done it before! It’s really not bad at all though. I bet you could even do the exploding soap thing in the microwave first!
I tried it with the exploding soap method, and it works great!
I exploded the soap (put a bar of Ivory soap in the microwave for 90 seconds – so cool!) and let the kids play with the exploded soap for a little bit. It very quickly collapsed into powder.
The resulting soap powder worked great in this snow recipe.
So much fun! I want to try it again tomorrow now!
Use a cheese wheel to grate it (like the cheese grater used at Olive Garden. Super easy that way!
That would be so fun!!! We’ll have to get one!
I bet my son would love making this! He will gladly rip up any type of paper that I ask him too! 🙂
You can’t go wrong with ripping up paper! It’s pretty fun to get to unroll the toilet paper too–especially for my 3 year old who gets redirected for trying to do in the bathroom!
Thanks for sharing this! 🙂 I’ve made this with my preschool students in the past, and it’s funny to see which children don’t care for tearing up the toilet paper and which kids really get into it! 🙂
That is so true!!! Thanks for stopping by!
Can these snowballs be reused or do they dry up?
They’ll keep in an air tight container for a couple days. You may have to lightly re-wet them if they start to dry out though.
What a fantastic idea! I love that they can shape it like snow but it won’t melt and make a mess the same way that bringing snow inside would.
Thanks Sharla! It is lots of fun! I definitely made some snow creations myself too. 🙂
That looks so much like snow – what fun!
Thanks for linking to the Sunday Showcase. I’ve pinned to our board.
Thanks so much Rebecca!!!
I love this! About how much does this make? I have about 12 students.
Hi Katie! I would say this is enough for 3, even 4. If you want to make some for your entore class I’d multiply by 4. Have fun!!!
So innovative and cool — especially for little ones who find out door snow fun but too cool and wet. Great idea and would be a great activity for parents and kids together.
Very true! I hadn’t thought about that before, but you’re absolutely correct! It’s great for little ones with a cold sensitivity!
Thank you!!! MUST try this with my own kids and my kids at church! 🙂
It is fun!!!
Did this today with the couple of kids who were left after most went home early due to snow. We made it a multi-texture activity by first playing with the dry shredded paper, then adding the soap and water mixture and letting the kids do the mixing. For added fun, we added real snow from outside instead of adding more water – it made it cold, and the texture changed as the snow melted.
That is awesome! I am so jealous of your snow!
Do you have to use ivory soap or will any type of bar soap do?
I’ve only used Ivory, so I’m not sure.
OMG…i did try this last year and it was a huge hit with the JumpBunch kids club(2-6yrs) i have here in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. So much so i had to repeat it during the summer camp and still a major hit. Im planning on doing it again this week for the playschool kids. Thank you for this project.
Yay!!!! I’m glad they are loving it!!!