Snow Play by Birgitta Ralston If you’ve never lost your child’s love of snow, but want something new to do, take a look at this book. Alternatively, if you have kids bringing you your coat and forcing you to go out in the cold, here’s a book to get you excited about it. This is a book of snow creations for adults, or adults and kids, with a few projects suitable for younger children by themselves. After detailed general instructions, including explanations of tools used and the difficulty and time to complete ratings, the book dives into projects. There are fresh takes on classics, like mutant snowmen or snow bunnies. There are giant, all-day projects, like a life-size Loch Ness monster and a fire pit with a circular surrounding bench. There are tiny projects, like little free-standing animals on straw legs or ice ornaments. And my favorites, the glowing ones – including a birthday cake and a lantern made of snow balls, lit with real candles or LEDs. All of the projects have gorgeous full-color photos of the finished product as well as step-by-step illustrations. The most commonly used tools are buckets, shovels, and snow block molds. Projects range from half an hour to a day in length, with most rated at half a day. Most of the projects also seem geared towards adults working with school-aged children or older kids and teens, though there are some suitable for young children as well. I asked for this book sight unseen, a rarity for me, and am now super excited to go out and play in the snow.

Crossposted to http://sapphireone.livejournal.com and http://library-mama.dreamwidth.org .