• Snow day fun The weather of play

SNOW CAN BE TRANSFORMATIVE – TO LANDSCAPES, OUR MOOD, OUR PLANS FOR THE DAY. SALLY COULTHARD, AUTHOR OF THE LITTLE BOOK OF SNOW, CELEBRATES ITS STRENGTHS

My parents have a photograph of me as a child. I’m about eight in it and next to me is my best friend. We’re in the doorway of our old house and, behind our heavy fringes and freckles, we’re grinning from ear to ear. I can remember that picture being taken; we’d just found out that school had been cancelled, torn off our itchy uniforms and hurriedly dressed in the warmest clothes we could find. I’m wearing mismatched gloves, a tatty bobble hat and dungarees. My friend has grabbed a thin coat and her sister’s wellies – she’s holding two empty feed bags from her dad’s farm. We look cold and impossibly cheerful. It’s snowed heavily overnight. And we’re going plastic bag sledging.

Waking up to a world covered in snow still has that effect on me, more than 30 years later. The unexpected white blanket has an extraordinary power – the quality of light, the peaceful muffling, the way snow can cloak familiar objects into new shapes. No other weather can transform a grubby office building or a shabby street into a pristine wonderland.

Snow might mean broken routines and traffic delays but it’s also the weather of pure, unadulterated fun. Snow means speed, exhilaration and toppling laughter. Snow gives us the freedom to play fight, slide, crash and make a mess. It doesn’t care if you’ve got an expensive wooden sledge or a black bin liner; snow is democratic – everyone is entitled to its pleasures.

Snow is the weather of play – it brings out the mischievous child in us all, the wet-nosed kid that lurks just underneath the surface, who is itching to

chuck a snowball at a passerby or rattle down a hillside shrieking with exhilaration. Who hasn’t wished for a snow day, just once in a while? So, the next time you wake up to a white blanket of snow, here are three ways to make the most of it:

BUILD A BRILLIANT SNOWMAN

At the risk of sounding like Network Rail, the wrong kind of snow won’t work for the building of snow people. That dry, powdery stuff just won’t stick together. You need slightly wet snow that tumbles in large, fluffy flakes around temperatures just a degree or so above freezing. Do a quick test – press the snow together in your hands; if it stays in a compact ball that can be thrown in the air and caught, you’re good to go.

Choose the right ground surface for your snowman. Build it in a shaded spot, away from the melting effect of direct sunlight. Pick a relatively flat surface but avoid asphalt as it absorbs more heat from the sun than other hard surfaces or grass, causing snow to melt more quickly.

Pack a large snowball by hand first – try and get it to about a ruler’s width (30cm), densely packed together, before you put it on the ground and start rolling.

Decide where you want your snowman to sit and have enough space to roll the snowball so you end up in the right place. Start the ball rolling. You’ll notice that you’re creating a cylinder not a sphere, so you’ll need to keep turning the snowball through 90 degrees.

Get the ratio right. The optimum snowman ratio in feet is 3:2:1 from bottom to top. The base needs to be strong enough to support the combined weight of the upper body and head, but after a certain size snowballs can lose stability as you can’t apply enough pressure to pack the snow tightly enough. If you’re struggling to lift the body on top of the base, prop a plank against the base and roll the body up into place.

START A SNOWBALL FIGHT

The same kind of snow that’s good for snowmen is also good for snowballs –not too powdery – although the heat of your hands can help melt the ice crystals and stick them together.

Knitted gloves are better for snowball fights than mittens. This is because you can exert more packing pressure with your fingers kept separate and gloves tend to lose more heat than mittens. You can also grip the snowball more tightly with a glove, allowing for a more accurate throw.

Don’t try and create your snowball in one squeeze. Gentle pressure and constant turning of the snowball ( like making meatballs) give you a rounder, more compact shape and lessens the risk of it exploding in your hands if you squeeze too hard.

Before throwing, take a few tips from baseball pitchers. Stand with your feet a shoulder’s width apart. Turn ‘side on’ to your target and grip the ball with your fingers not your palm. At the start of the throw hold both hands in front of your chest. When you throw, turn your chest to face your target. As you release the snowball, point your fingers towards your target – it’ll improve your aim.

MAKE A COSY IGLOO

Here’s a simple, pared-down version for your back garden – just for fun, not for survival. You need two

“No other weather can transform a shabby office block or street into a pristine wonderland”

people – one working from inside the igloo, and one to pass over the blocks.

You want deep, compacted snow to create blocks. If you struggle to find suitably dense snow, you can pile the snow into a huge mound and leave it overnight to bind together – a process called ‘sintering’ – or trample the snow underfoot.

Create a circle. An igloo that’s 2.5 metres or less across is safest if you’re a beginner – use a string and peg to mark out an exact circle of the right diameter.

Use a bread knife or handsaw to cut out rectangular blocks. Traditional Inuit igloos are made from huge blocks about 90cm long x 40cm high x 20cm thick – but local snowfall in the UK will probably only allow for smaller ones. Lay one complete circle of blocks.

“Snow brings out in us the mischievous child, itching to chuck a snowball at a passerby”

Cut a gentle slope around a third of the circle. This allows you to start building the rest of the blocks in an upwards spiral. Work from the inside of the igloo; get the other person to pass you the blocks over the wall.

Using your saw or a knife, shave off the bottom of each block so it tips slightly forwards when it’s positioned on the block below. This is how you create the dome shape. Make the blocks slightly smaller as you get nearer the top. At this point, break off and cut an entrance hole. Close the final gap in the roof with a block cut to shape. Pack snow into any gaps between the blocks, inside and out, to create a smooth finish. Then squeeze inside and admire your handiwork. The Little Book of Snow by Sally Coulthard is published by Head of Zeus.