Colored Snowflakes

by Nancy Garber

One day when I looked out the window, I said,

“If snowflakes were colored, I’d like to see RED.

Red snowflakes could drop on the earth in the fall

And mix with the leaves on the ground like a shawl.”

My sister said, “BLUE’s good for snowflakes, I think.

I’d like to have blue ones; they’d look like some ink

Was covering the ground and the housetops with blue.

I think blue would be better. Come now, don’t you?”

My brother said, “I’d like the snow to be GREEN.

Then I could pretend when I look on the scene

That spring is here. Then green grass will grow

And summer will come soon—if we had green snow.”

“But YELLOW,” my mother said, “yellow is nice.

It’s sunny and bright—not so much like the ice

That we see all through winter. I tire of that so!

I’d like to have yellow—yes, yellow snow.”

My father said, “What about mixing them all?

How about colors for snowflakes that fall?

They’d look like confetti or maybe like lace

And wouldn’t be what you’d call ‘commonplace.’”

“I’m sorry to say this,” I said, “after all,

But I really like WHITE snowflakes the best of all.

They make sparkling icing on houses and trees,

And white is the color you should have for freeze.”

Snow Mobile

You will need: thread, thin cardboard, construction paper, and scissors.

Cut three snowflakes from construction paper (instructions are on page 46).

Snowflakes will stay smooth if you carefully press them with a warm iron after they have been unfolded.

Tie threads of different lengths to each snowflake.

Cut two narrow cardboard strips, making one strip two inches longer than the other. Punch a hole in each end of strips.

Tie a snowflake to one end of longer strip and both ends of shorter strip by pulling thread through hole and making knot.

Tie a thread through free end of longer strip and make knot. Loop thread around center of the shorter strip and tie knot. The loop should be loose enough to move along strip (see illustration).

To hang mobile, loop thread around center of longer strip and tie knot. This loop must also be loose enough to move. Tie end of thread to light fixture or attach to ceiling.

Carefully slide each loop along strips until mobile balances. Leave room for snowflakes to turn with movement of air.

Illustrated by Julie Fuhriman