Upcycled Craft: CD Snowman

Are you looking for a simple winter craft for your classroom? Consider this simple and fun way to upcycle an old disk into a snowman you can display all winter. It’s easy to get creative with this craft and substitute with items you have around to make your upcycled snowman unique.

Materials:

• old disks (CD, DVD, video game etc)
• cotton balls
• liquid glue
• construction paper (any color, for hat)
• orange tissue paper or rubber finger (for nose)
• scotch tape
• old buttons and/or dried black beans or pipe cleaners (for eyes and mouth)
• Twine/ribbon/string (for hanging)

Steps

1. Attach the twine for hanging. You can either loop it through the hole in the center of the CD or punch a hole in the disk with a crop-o-dile. The twine should be long enough to reach beyond the hat.
2. Cut out and glue on the construction paper hat. Make sure the twine runs directly up underneath the center of the hat so your snowman hangs straight. If you punched a hole for your string, be sure it’s centered underneath the hat. You can make it double-sided if you like and glue two identical hat cut-outs together on either side of the CD.
3. Make & attached nose. For a tissue paper carrot nose, cut a full-size sheet of orange tissue paper in half. Fold the half sheet in half twice, once length-wise and once width-wise (just as you would to fold a wash cloth). Grab and pinch the middle of the folded tissue paper and twist. Twist and pinch the end of the carrot until you’re happy with it. Push it through the hole in the center of the CD, trim the excess to just about 1/2 inch, then tape the excess down if it needs securing. If using a rubber finger to make a “corn cob”-style nose, simple pinch the rubber finger and pull it through. This style of nose may not be as secure as the tissue paper carrot but it is more durable. (see images of back below).
4. Glue on buttons, beans, and/or pipe cleaners for your eyes and nose.
5. Make it white! Grab 5 or so cotton balls (double if you’re covering the back too) and pull them apart a little. Glue these onto the CD, being careful not to cover up the eyes and mouth.
6. Allow it to dry and hang.

This craft is super flexible! Substitute just about anything with items you have on hand that will work.

Tips:

If doing this as a group, you may want to write names on the back side of the CD before getting started.

Use the blank shiny side of the CD for the front of your snowman. No need to cover the back with the cotton balls but you can if you like. This could be tricky to do without squishing your carrot nose but it will likely recover with little twisting.

If you want to add sparkle, use salt as an eco-friendly glitter. Store-bought glitter is made of plastic and not recyclable. Plus, it gets all over and is difficult to clean up indoors (which can be irritating) and outdoors (which is polluting).