I needed a fun Christmas porch decoration the kids could help me make, they’re addicted to helping with projects. So we decided to make this fun DIY wood snowman. It’s an easy build, that is not only cute but is surprisingly sturdy. The kids loved putting his little scarf on and have already made it a habit to tell him goodbye on the way to school every morning! So funny.
They’re just so super proud to have helped and I couldn’t be happier with this kind of Christmas craft. Not only that but, because it’s not overly difficult to make or time-consuming, if the kids wanted to, we could make these as gifts for grandparents to decorate their porch. On this wooden snowman, there’s not much to wear out or break, so they’ll last forever. Definitely longer than one of those big snowman blow-up yard decorations.
If you’re ready to get your Christmas porch decorations made, let’s get started making this easy DIY wooden snowman.
Wood Snowman Supplies
- 3 Pieces of Fence Planks or Pallet Wood
- Orange Paint
- Black Paint
- White Chalkboard Paint
- Grey Wood Stain
- Decorations (as desired):
- 3 feet of 2.5 inches wide red and black buffalo check ribbon
- Few sticks from yard 2-3 feet long
Three fence planks, not the fancy wide ones or anything. Just the cheapest ones they have at your local hardware store. They’re 3 ½-inches wide and very thin, although, sometimes they’re rough-cut. If they’re rough, you’ll want to start by planing them down or sanding their length, because the rough-cut does not finish well.
And then you’ll need some paints. I used White Chalkboard Paint as well as a grey wood stain I had on hand. Then, I painted the eyes, mouth, buttons, and hat with black craft paint and the nose with orange craft paint I found in the kid’s playroom.
To finish off the snowman, I grabbed a couple of sticks from the yard that were 2 and ½ feet long. Then I hit the craft store for some red and black buffalo check ribbon.
If you are enjoying this DIY Project you will also enjoy our Wooden Pumpkin DIY as well.
Tools
A miter saw, scroll saw or jigsaw, sandpaper, hot glue and glue gun, paintbrushes and a pencil. Basically everything you have in a typical workshop, so nothing fancy.
Now, you don’t have to use a scroll saw or jigsaw, you can certainly use a hand saw, but it’s going to take quite a bit longer, so just be aware. Regardless of which saw you use, you’re going to want to be super careful of the tips of your DIY wood snowman’s hat. When you’re using softer wood like pine, the small cuts weaken the wood, so be careful when you make the narrow cuts. Also, be gentle when you’re sanding the narrow areas. But, if you break one-off, don’t panic. You can just hot glue it back in place.
Now, onto the actual snowman project.
DIY Wood Snowman
You’ll want to start with your miter saw by trim all 3 fence panels to be about 42-45 -inches long. Save the cut off pieces, you’re going to want them. Cut one of these cut off pieces into several 6-8 -inch length pieces. Cut one of the original cut off pieces in half (so you have 2 pieces of about 21-22 -inches long).
Line the three longest fence panel pieces up how you want them to stand on your porch. Meaning, line up the bottoms and line up the sides. Place the two half fence panel pieces on the outside edges of the 3 larger ones.
Hot glue the cutoff pieces from step 1 onto the back of the fence panels in 4-6 different places, spanning all of the pieces. This will hold the snowman together. Try to keep in mind that you will be cutting off a good portion of the outside edges, so attempt to cluster these structural pieces in the center and down low, if possible.
On the flat side of the sign, using my photos as your guide, draw the following:
Hat shape on the narrower end of the fence panels
“Small” Circle (about 8-inches in diameter) under the hat shape, with a portion overlapping the bottom of the hat. I used a large funnel as my circle guide for this.
“Medium” Circle (about 10-inches in diameter) under the smaller circle, with a portion overlapping the bottom of the small circle. I used a ½ gallon paint bucket as my circle guide for this.
“Large Circle (about 12-14 -inches in diameter) under the medium circle, with a portion overlapping the bottom of the medium circle. I used a 5-gallon bucket as my circle guide for this.
A wide “snowbank” shape that spans the entire width of the 5 fence panels, under the large circle and overlapping the large circle a bit, to be the base of the snowman porch sign.
Cut out this snowman shape with your scroll saw or jigsaw. When you are done cutting out the shape, if you have any pieces that are not attached well, add scrap pieces to the back of the snowman shape with the hot glue to help with structural integrity.
Now, for anyone who’s ever used a scroll saw, you’ll know it’s not as easy as it looks. For me, the trick is moving slow, feeling free to move the wood, and not pushing too much because that makes the blade bow and not go where I want it to.
But, even if you make a few minor cutting mistakes with the saw, I have good news! You can fix it in the next step by just sanding the DIY wood snowman. I invited the kids to help me with this step, but they lost interest quickly.
Once everything is as smooth as you can sand it, paint the entire snowman shape with the white paint (including the hat). Be sure to paint the sides because you’ll see that, but I did not feel the need to paint the back, if you plan to have the back showing, be sure to paint that. Now, when I invited the kids to help me with this step, they were all in. So much so that we all had to have a shower afterward to scrub off the extra paint. Fun times.
Allow your paint to dry fully.
With the black craft paint, paint the entire hat shape black. Additionally, paint two eyes, a smile, and buttons on the front of the wood snowman, as desired. Allow this coat of paint to dry fully.
Cut a piece of your scrap wood with a 1-inch base and a 15-degree angle on one side. To do this, I actually cut the end off of a scrap piece of fence panel at 15-degrees, then with the larger piece, cut the 90-degree angle on the other end. That way I protected my fingers from the saw as best as possible.
Paint this small triangle orange. Allow the paint to dry fully again.
Hot glue the orange triangle in place on the face.
Dry brush the entire DIY wood snowman with the grey wood stain. Take care to add some shadowing with the dry brush around each connection between the circles, under the hat, and on the snowbank. It doesn’t have to be perfect and it will add a little character if it is not perfect.
Allow the stain to dry.
Cut a length of your buffalo check ribbon about 2 ½ feet long and wrap around the snowman’s neck and tie in a bow. Hot glue in place.
Cut a length of your buffalo check ribbon long enough to go across the entire hat, just above the brim, and wrap around the back by at least 2 inches on each side.
Cut this piece of buffalo check ribbon in ⅓. Discard the section of ⅔ wide ribbon. Hot glue the ⅓ wide ribbon onto the hat, just above the brim of the hat.
Hot glue the sticks to the back of the snowman porch sign, sticking out to each side, then place it on your porch.
Enjoy your DIY wood Snowman for your porch or yard! One of the things I like best about this project is the fact that the kids can get involved. Yeah, sure paint is messy with little kids, but how else are they going to learn how to paint? And although they might not be strong enough to work the trigger on the hot glue gun–and I certainly don’t want them getting burned, they can tell me where to place the braces on the back, they can help me tie the scarf on and put the sticks on for arms.
This is a great Christmas craft project that the kids will definitely be proud to put on the porch every year. If you loved this idea, but you’re not quite ready to break out the saw just yet, be sure to pin this to your favorite DIY Holiday Decorations board on Pinterest so you can find it again.
Wood Snowman
Make an adorable wood snowman for your porch or front yard. Simple step by step tutorial to add a little Christmas to your yard with this wood snowman project.
Materials
- 3 Pieces of Fence Planks or Pallet Wood
- Orange Paint
- Black Paint
- White Chalkboard Paint
- Grey Wood Stain
- 3 feet of 2.5 inches wide red and black buffalo check ribbon
- Few sticks from yard 2-3 feet long
Instructions
- With your miter saw, trim all 3 fence panels to be about 42-45 -inches long. Save the cut off pieces, you’re going to want them.
- Cut one of the cut off pieces into 6-8 -inch length pieces.
- Cut one of the cut off pieces in half.
- Line the three longest fence panel pieces up how you want them to stand by your porch. Meaning, line up the bottoms and line up the sides.
- Place the two half fence panel pieces on the outside edges of the 3 larger ones.
- Hot glue the cutoff pieces from step 1 onto the back of the fence panels in 4-6 different places, spanning all of the pieces. This will hold the snowman together. Try to keep in mind that you will be cutting off a good portion of the outside edges, so attempt to cluster these structural pieces in the center and down low, if possible.
- On the flat side of the sign, using my photos as your guide, draw the following:
- Hat shape on the narrower end of the fence panels
- “Small” Circle (about 8-inches in diameter) under the hat shape, with a portion overlapping the bottom of the hat. I used a large funnel as my circle guide for this.
- “Medium” Circle (about 10-inches in diameter) under the smaller circle, with a portion overlapping the bottom of the small circle. I used a ½ gallon paint bucket as my circle guide for this.
- “Large Circle (about 12-14 -inches in diameter) under the medium circle, with a portion overlapping the bottom of the medium circle. I used a 5-gallon bucket as my circle guide for this.
- A wide “snow bank” shape that spans the entire width of the 5 fence panels, under the large circle and overlapping the large circle a bit, to be the base of the snowman porch sign.
- Cut out this snowman shape with your saw. When you are done cutting out the shape, if you have any pieces that are not attached well, add scrap pieces to the back of the snowman shape with the hot glue to help with structural integrity.
- Sand the entire snowman shape shape, taking care to round the corners and edges.
- Paint the entire snowman shape with the white paint (including the hat).
- Allow paint to dry fully.
- With the black craft paint, paint the entire hat shape black.
- Additionally, paint two eyes, a smile and buttons on the front of the snowman, as desired.
- Allow paint to dry fully.
- Cut a piece of your scrap wood with a 1-inch base and a 15-degree angle on one side. To do this, I actually cut the end off of a scrap piece of fence panel at 15-degrees, then with the larger piece, cut the 90-degree angle on the other end. That way I protected my fingers from the saw as best as possible.
- Paint this small triangle orange.
- Allow paint to dry fully.
- Dry brush the orange triangle with the black paint, horizontally, to create lines like a carrot.
- Allow paint to dry fully.
- Hot glue the orange triangle in place on the face.
- Dry brush the entire snowman with the grey wood stain. Take care to add some shadowing with the dry brush around each connection between the circles, under the hat, and on the snow bank. It doesn’t have to be perfect and it will add character if it is not perfect.
- Allow stain to dry.
- Cut a length of your buffalo check ribbon about 2 ½ feet long and wrap around the snowman’s neck and tie in a bow. Hot glue in place.
- Cut a length of your buffalo check ribbon long enough to go across the entire hat, just above the brim, and wrap around the back by at least 2 inches on each side.
- Cut this piece of buffalo check ribbon in ⅓. Discard the section of ⅔ wide ribbon. Hot glue the ⅓ wide ribbon onto the hat, just above the brim of the hat.
- Hot glue the sticks to the back of the snowman porch sign, sticking out to each side.
- Enjoy your Wood Snowman!
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