Do you want to build a snowman?
Well now you can with this fun, and educational, Google Slides activity. This is a great way for students to be
creative and to work on their
writing skills by describing or writing about their snowman.
Here’s how:
- Make a copy of the Google Slides “Build a Snowman” template, found further down in the blog post.
- The template has a blank snowman and several slides full of items to add to your snowman including eyes, mouths, hats, arms, feet, hair, and more.
- Copy and paste the items to build your snowman.
- If you need different pictures, you can search for more.
- When done building, write about your snowman or snowwoman in the textbox. You can describe them, tell a story about them, or explain who they are.
- When all done you can download a picture of your snowman and writing to share with others.
See below to get your own
copy of the template, as well as more
detailed directions and a
video tutorial on how to do the activity.
Get a copy of the template
This activity is created with Google Slides. To get your own copy of the template simple click the link below.
- “Build a Snowman” template - Google Slides link
(Original version with movable snowman.)
- “Build a Snowman” template - Google Slides link
(Version 2 where snowman cannot be moved. May be easier for younger children.)
Your students can click this link to get their own copy, or you can use Google Classroom to push out a copy of the template to each of your students.
What’s in the template
The Google Slide template has multiple parts for the activity. These include:
Slide 1 - The title slide
Slide 2 - A brief set of directions
Slide 3 - The blank snowman. This is where you will build your snowman (or snowwoman) and where you will write about them.
Slides 4 through 10 - Items for building your snowman. These slides contain images that you can copy and paste onto your blank snowman. The items are grouped on the slides by topic including Eyes, Mouths, Arms, Feet, Hats, Hair, and Extras.
Building your snowman
To build your snowman, simply
copy and paste images from the items slides onto your blank snowman. You can copy and paste in several ways.
To
copy an item:
- Click on the picture and press “Ctrl” and “C”
- Or click on the picture and click “Edit” then “Copy” in the top menu bar.
- Or right-click on the picture and choose “Copy” from the pop-up menu.
To
paste an item, go to the snowman slide and:
- Press “Ctrl” and “V”
- Or click “Edit” then “Paste” in the top menu bar.
- Or right-click and choose “Paste” from the pop-up menu.
Once your item has been pasted in you can adjust it in many ways:
- Drag and drop it to move it around.
- Press the arrow keys on your keyboard to move it around.
- Hold down the “Shift” key and press the arrow keys on your keyboard to move it one pixel at a time.
- Click and drag the blue circle on top of the image to rotate the image if needed.
- Click “Arrange” in the top menu bar, then “Rotate” and “Flip horizontally” or “Flip vertically” if needed.
- Click and drag the corners of the image to change its size if desired.
- Click “Image options” in the top menu bar, and then “Recolor” to adjust the color (works better for lighter colors).
Adding your own images
Although the template provides a large variety of items to use for your snowman, you may still want to add some more of your own. You can add more images as follows:
- Click “Insert” in the top menu bar, then click “Image”.
- You can add an image in several ways including “Upload” or from your “Google Drive” or with a “Search”
- If you use the “Search” option, you may want to choose “Clip art” from the “Any type” drop down menu to limit your results to clip art style pictures.
Writing about your Snowman
When you are done creating your snowman, now you will want to write about him (or her). You can
type in the textbox to the right of your snowman to enter your own writing. This could include:
- A description of your snowman.
- A story about your snowman.
- An explanation of who your snowman is and/or what he does.
- Be sure to include your name at the bottom of your writing.
Downloading your Snowman
When you are completely done, you can
download a picture of your snowman and your writing as follows:
- Make sure you are on the slide that has your completed snowman and your writing.
- Click “File” in the top menu bar.
- Choose “Download as” from the drop-down menu.
- Choose “PNG image” from the sub-menu.
- This will download an image of just the slide you are on and not any of the rest of the slideshow.
You can now share your image in several ways:
- Email it to someone.
- Turn it in through Google Classroom.
- Post it on your class website.
- Share it through social media.
- Combine it with others to make a new slideshow with everyone’s creations.
Conclusion
The “Build a Snowman” Google Slides activity can be a great way to let kids be creative and to improve their writing at the same time. One of the great things about creativity, is you never know what students will come up with. Below are a few examples of what my boys and I created.
Feel free to email me images of your students’ creations. I would love to see what they make and will be glad to share some examples here to inspire others.
