Got No Snow? Just Fake It

It might be cold, white and windy in your neck of the woods, but down in here in the southern hemisphere it's summertime. The sun is bright, the air is hot and there sure is no snow around, not even for Christmas. In fact, the kids here have never caught a snowflake on their tongues, made big-winged snow angels or rolled up three big balls of white to make the perfect snowman.

Even in the winter (your summer), it doesn't get cold enough for snow. That's why we had to fake it. To celebrate the holidays at the children's home, we mixed up some fake snow and had some lessons in good ol' snowman makin'.

And what is fake snow made of?

Diapers.

Ok, not quite. But diapers and fake snow are made out of the same stuff--sodium poylacrylate. The little bits of polymer have the crazy ability to soak up 200 to 300 times their own mass in water. Or in the case of diapers...pee.

If you want to play along with the kids at the home, just crack open a diaper and have a ball. Just make sure it's a new diaper.

Enjoy.

Just add water. Then watch the dazzling little specks slurp up almost all the water you can give them.

Dive in with your hands and give it all a good mixing and voila...faux snow. And since water is so good at stealing heat from your hands and everything else too, it even feels cold. Sadly, it doesn't mush or roll up into a very good snowball though.

But that doesn't mean you have to give up on Frosty. Just lay Frosty down and you're back in the snowman making business. (Also, notice how green the garden is in the background. Remember, it's summer here.)

Most of the kids in Madagascar haven't even seen pictures of what a snowman should look like. Some did a darn fine job of looking like the real thing.

And some had their own Malagasy flare.

Next time the flakes start falling, use the real stuff to make some snowmen of your own. And imagine how strange and wonderful it would be to see and feel snow for the first time.