Element of Art Value Art Project Snowmen at Night Snowman Winter Art Lesson
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Selected reviews from TPT
★★★★★My students LOVED this activity. I printed out and laminated smaller versions of the steps, that way, everyone was able to keep up as we first completed a sample snowman. We then moved on to our own scenes! Great!
Karen Hill D. · November 2018 · TPT review
★★★★★Looking forward to using this after the holiday. The finished examples are beautiful, and well within my students' art interests and abilities.
Jennifer C. · December 2019 · TPT review
★★★★★I did this with my grade one class and they turned out beautifully! The kids had such a great time doing this art project. Thank you
Sharlie W. · February 2020 · TPT review
Rated by 111 teachers on TPT (see every rating on TPT). These are selected 4- and 5-star written reviews by teachers on TPT (Teachers Pay Teachers), shown word for word. TPT's newer 4-point scale ("Extremely satisfied" = 4) is converted to stars.
This Snowman at Night Art Lesson is a cozy winter art project for elementary students. Using soft pastels on black paper, students create charming snowmen that glow against the dark night sky.
It is a low-prep lesson for teachers and homeschool families, with step-by-step drawing instructions, visual guides and a rubric. Students practice blending, creating light and shadow and using contrast against a dark background. The project keeps students focused and calm, and it has been a favorite in winter units for years.
WHAT'S INCLUDED (NON-EDITABLE PDF)
- 2-page lesson plan with a materials list, objectives and teacher guidance
- Grading rubric
- Step-by-step drawing handout
- 16-slide visual demonstration of every step of the art-making process
- Poster example of a finished Snowman at Night piece for classroom display
HOW TO USE IT
Print the drawing handouts and rubric (for up to 30 students), then project the visual demonstration and work through it step by step. Plan on 1 to 2 class periods, depending on how familiar students are with pastels and how much detail you want.
Materials: white pencil crayon, soft pastels or chalk pastels, and black construction paper. It works well for sub plans, hallway displays, seasonal celebrations, art carts, homeschool or weekend enrichment.
FAQ
What grade levels is this for?
It is best for grades 2 to 6, and older students can extend it with more advanced blending or detail work.
Is it messy to clean up?
Pastels on paper are low-mess, and cleanup is a quick wipe of surfaces. Remind students not to blow soft pastel dust, but to shake it off into a garbage can instead. You can also use oil pastels to avoid dust altogether.
What skills does it build?
Blending, light and dark contrast and texture, with a seasonal artwork students can proudly display.
Is it editable?
No. It is a non-editable PDF.
Get free, classroom-ready art lessons and printables in my Free Art Lesson Library.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kathleen McGiveron (Ms Artastic) is an artist who has been featured on NBC LX News and designs art lessons for kids and educational resources for teachers. She is the founder of Ms Artastic and hosts the Ms Artastic YouTube Channel and Podcast.
TERMS OF USE
YOU MAY: use this in your classroom or homeschool indefinitely. Additional licenses are available for school-wide use.
YOU MAY NOT: share this product publicly or on shared drives, or sell or distribute it without a license.
Sincerely,
Ms Artastic
ALL TEACHER REVIEWS
★★★★★ “I did this with my grade one class and they turned out beautifully! The kids had such a great time doing this art project. Thank you” Sharlie W.
★★★★★ “This is an awesome activity, and the step by step instructions make it easy for my students to follow along.” Andria C.
★★★★★ “My students loved this activity. They took it a little farther by personalizing the snowmen with hats and different scarves.” Anne M.
★★★★★ “Looking forward to using this after the holiday. The finished examples are beautiful, and well within my students' art interests and abilities.” Jennifer C.
★★★★★ “So easy to follow- and they turned out beautiful! Thanks so much!” Donnalyn T.
★★★★★ “Thanks to the step-by-step instructions these turned out amazing! Thank you!” Amber H.
★★★★★ “This resource was amazing! Step by step instructions led to a beautiful piece of art.” Yota K.
★★★★★ “Another great product that was SO easy to implement with my limited art skills. You rock!” Gunderson's G.
★★★★★ “My students LOVED this activity. I printed out and laminated smaller versions of the steps, that way, everyone was able to keep up as we first completed a sample snowman. We then moved on to our own scenes! Great!” Karen H.
★★★★★ “Love, love this lesson. The snowmen turned out so well and looked amazing on our wall at Christmas time.” Sarah B.
★★★★★ “Directions and examples are easy to follow. It helps build confidence in the students. Thanks!” Lindsie W.
★★★★★ “such a great art teaching tool for those who are not so artistic!” Sandra P.
Pairs Well With
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★★★★★I absolutely love this resource! It turned out so well thanks to the detailed step-by step!
Brittney C. · August 2026 · TPT review
★★★★★Great resource for my 2nd grade dual language students!
Meet Me at the End of First · July 2026 · TPT review
★★★★★My students loved this project for a winter value study.
Ann Margret P. · July 2026 · TPT review
★★★★★My students loved this project and I loved seeing their creativity shine. Thanks for making such a great product!
Katy H. · May 2026 · TPT review
★★★★★Great art activity , students loved completing this activity.
Renee Gerrior · May 2026 · TPT review
★★★★★Students enjoyed this quick and easy activity. Great for the last week of school before winter break.
Jade M. · January 2026 · TPT review
★★★★★Our entire school is so impressed with our 1st grade snowmen. They turned out amazing!
Carly D. · December 2025 · TPT review
★★★★★This was exactly what my students needed. Thank you!
Hillary P. · August 2025 · TPT review
★★★★★Easy instructions, students were engaged, and the finished products looked great hung in the classroom.
Lisa S. · July 2025 · TPT review
★★★★★This group of students loved crafts this last year and they really enjoyed this one.
Mrs Harts Happy Store · July 2025 · TPT review
★★★★★My students loved this project and were so engaged. They all turned out amazing!
Shawna M. · June 2025 · TPT review
★★★★★My students were engaged and really loved this! I will be using this again. Thank you for the resource.
Korrie B. · June 2025 · TPT review
★★★★★This was a great resource to use in my elementary art classroom!
Maya Zamora · May 2025 · TPT review
★★★★★This is a great additional resource for students.
kailey majewski · May 2025 · TPT review
★★★★★What a fun activity for science when studying states of matter. The students took a piece of black construction paper and use pastel chalks to create a snowman winter picture after discussing the topics. They framed it and gave it to their parents.
Amelia A. · April 2025 · TPT review
★★★★★This is a great art project for students. They enjoyed and it the lesson itself was east to use as a teacher.
Alexa A. · January 2025 · TPT review
★★★★★My students loved this lesson and their art turned out amazing! Highly recommend. The steps are broken down in a way that makes it easy to use and understand.
kelly W. · January 2025 · TPT review
★★★★★My students loved this art project. The steps was so easy to follow. A great winter project.
terry C. · December 2024 · TPT review
★★★★★Their snowmen turned out so well. Very cute. They enjoyed it as well.
Katie V. · December 2024 · TPT review
★★★★★My students loved working with this product, it was easily navigated by the students. We will definitely recommend to others and we will use it again.
Beth L. · December 2024 · TPT review
★★★★★This was such an easy activity for my grade 6/7's to follow along too. I was able to leave it as a supply activity as it was so straight forward!
Lynda M. · November 2024 · TPT review
★★★★★They turned out great! Students absolutely loved creating these snowmen.
Leslie B. · November 2024 · TPT review
★★★★★Thanks for this! It was very helpful! Thank you for making great resources!
Jessica H. · August 2024 · TPT review
★★★★★This resource was easy to use and the activity was engaging to my students.
Tracy K. · January 2024 · TPT review
★★★★★We watched this book on YouTube and completed this art project afterwards. They kids were very successful. The projects look great hanging in our classroom.
Nancy W. · January 2024 · TPT review
★★★★★These turned out great. I was very happy with the step by step pictures to follow along with.
Lynne Murdoch · January 2024 · TPT review
★★★★★Super cute activity! These look adorable and made a super cute bulletin board
Krystalle Dickson · December 2023 · TPT review
★★★★★LOVED this project! I used it for grades 2-4! Thank you!
Sara's Prep Time · December 2023 · TPT review
★★★★★I love teaching his lesson. With my new classroom set up, I needed handouts so I purchased this lesson instead of doing the project step by step with my kiddos each class period. Also picked up a couple new tips + tricks to try this year.
Audrey P. · September 2023 · TPT review
★★★★★Great resource! Used with a grade 3/4 and they loved it. Would definitely recommend it!
Traci M. · September 2023 · TPT review
★★★★★My kids really enjoyed this unusual Christmas art lesson.
Stuart M. · August 2023 · TPT review
★★★★★Fun art lesson. I did it with 2nd grade. It was kind of hard, but they turned out cute.
Amy M. · May 2023 · TPT review
★★★★★This is a great resource. I love the step by step instructions.
Raelene A. · March 2023 · TPT review
★★★★★My students loved completing this art project and I would highly recommend it!
Aislinn K. · February 2023 · TPT review
★★★★★This was a fun winter themed art project. My students enjoyed it.
Lexi Forsythe · January 2023 · TPT review
★★★★★Just what I was looking for! My students loved it. Thank you!
Kristen D. · December 2022 · TPT review
★★★★★These turned out SO nice! Even my kids that get really anxious about art had success!
Whole Child Happy · June 2022 · TPT review
★★★★★Very well made! My students were very engaged.
Slothin' in Primary · May 2022 · TPT review
★★★★★My Students loved this! Great Product!
Learning with Mrs Fallone · April 2022 · TPT review
★★★★★This was a lovely project to work on together during the cold dark months and made for a lovely hallway display. All of my students could engage with it and really benefited from the value and shading aspects. They loved the idea of shading snow in blue, which opened up some great colour theory conversations.
Maureen M. · March 2022 · TPT review
★★★★★This was nothing short of fantastic. My students absolutely loved it!
Noodlebird Design · February 2022 · TPT review
★★★★★So fun!
Jill R. · February 2022 · TPT review
★★★★★My students loved this activity. Even the students that are not into art loved using the chalk to create a snowman.
Lee Reeves · February 2022 · TPT review
★★★★★Easy to follow and fun! My kids love using the chalk to color!
Julissa C. · January 2022 · TPT review
★★★★★Excellent resource! Thank you!
Mikayla M. · January 2022 · TPT review
★★★★★We enjoyed this art project very much. It was just the right amount of challenge for my first grader, but I can see older students would like it as well. I displayed them in the hallway and everyone is very impressed that first graders did these! Thank you!
Amy C. · January 2022 · TPT review
★★★★★Great Art Lesson, with clear directions and examples. We used oil pastels (its what I had) which worked ok. It probably would have been better with soft pastels that were suggested.
Camille F. · December 2021 · TPT review
★★★★★great
Brittany G. · November 2021 · TPT review
★★★★★Great art lesson!
Dayna S. · August 2021 · TPT review
★★★★★My students loved this art lesson!
Julia V. · July 2021 · TPT review
★★★★★Helped learn about shading! Students enjoyed it :)
Aakanchie Mahajan · April 2021 · TPT review
★★★★★My students created beautiful drawings using this resource. I a, truly impressed. Even students that didn't quite follow instructions, made eye-catching art. I will be using more in the future. I even extended this project to assist with adjectives and the students had to use 3-5 adjectives to physically describe their elf.
Amber Barnett · March 2021 · TPT review
★★★★★Loved it!!
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★★★★★My class got so many compliments on this art project when they were hanging in the hallway. My favourite!!
Michelle S. · February 2021 · TPT review
★★★★★We had such a fun time completing this project and they turned out beautifully.
Hillary P. · January 2021 · TPT review
★★★★★This was absolutely my most favorite thing to have my students do after we read books about Snowmen! I have some incredible artists and they LOVED this activity!!!
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Jeff K. · January 2021 · TPT review
★★★★★great
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★★★★★This is a wonderful resource. Thanks!
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Brandee C. · May 2020 · TPT review
★★★★★Thanks for this great resource!
Nicole G. · March 2020 · TPT review
★★★★★My students loved doing this art project.
Johanna G. · February 2020 · TPT review
★★★★★I love this! They turned out amazing! Thank you!
Jacque G. · February 2020 · TPT review
★★★★★So easy to follow- and they turned out beautiful! Thanks so much!
Donnalyn T. · January 2020 · TPT review
★★★★★Love it
Pia C. · January 2020 · TPT review
★★★★★This is an awesome activity, and the step by step instructions make it easy for my students to follow along.
Andria C. · January 2020 · TPT review
★★★★★My students loved this activity. They took it a little farther by personalizing the snowmen with hats and different scarves.
Anne Marie F. · January 2020 · TPT review
★★★★★These are great! They look adorable and unique when finished!
Elizabeth K. · December 2019 · TPT review
★★★★★Great!
Shelly S. · December 2019 · TPT review
★★★★★My students enjoyed this activity. A great step-by-step tutorial.
Sarah H. · December 2019 · TPT review
★★★★★My kids will love this
karen P. · November 2019 · TPT review
★★★★★These turned out great and didn't take too long either!
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★★★★★Loved this so fun!
Lisa A. · April 2019 · TPT review
★★★★★Thank you for making this great resource available!
Kristy W. · March 2019 · TPT review
★★★★★Kids loved this!
Tammy W. · February 2019 · TPT review
★★★★★Thanks to the step-by-step instructions these turned out amazing! Thank you!
Amber H. · February 2019 · TPT review
★★★★★I bought the book to go with it and the children loved it! Great activity.
Patricia C. · February 2019 · TPT review
★★★★★So excited about doing this with my class
Heather S. · January 2019 · TPT review
★★★★★Excellent
Pawsitively Awesome in Second Grade · January 2019 · TPT review
★★★★★This resource was amazing! Step by step instructions led to a beautiful piece of art.
Yota K. · January 2019 · TPT review
★★★★★Awesome!
Levi J. · January 2019 · TPT review
★★★★★awesome
Maestra Aida · December 2018 · TPT review
★★★★★Great fun!
Janice J. · December 2018 · TPT review
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Rita A. · August 2018 · TPT review
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★★★★★Thank you :)
Karen M F. · April 2018 · TPT review
★★★★★Great!
Ashley O. · April 2018 · TPT review
★★★★★Love, love this lesson. The snowmen turned out so well and looked amazing on our wall at Christmas time.
Sarah B. · April 2018 · TPT review
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Hedy M. · April 2018 · TPT review
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Julie Colette W. · March 2018 · TPT review
★★★★★Directions and examples are easy to follow. It helps build confidence in the students. Thanks!
Lindsie W. · March 2018 · TPT review
★★★★★Fantastic Product!
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Melinda H. · January 2018 · TPT review
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William A. · January 2018 · TPT review
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Theresa Y. · January 2018 · TPT review
★★★★★such a great art teaching tool for those who are not so artistic!
Sandra P. · January 2018 · TPT review
★★★★★These turned out great! Thanks!
Jennie D. · December 2017 · TPT review
★★★★★Great art activity, thank you!
Erin E. · December 2017 · TPT review
★★★★★Funtastic! Thank you!
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Rated by 111 teachers on TPT (see every rating on TPT). These are selected 4- and 5-star written reviews by teachers on TPT (Teachers Pay Teachers), shown word for word. TPT's newer 4-point scale ("Extremely satisfied" = 4) is converted to stars.
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