We had lots of fun yesterday making a Punjabi Desi Snowman. The best part about this craft is that it uses supplies lying around your house! This snowman is all Desi, has a Punjabi pagri on his head, khussas on his feet and is flying a kite! He is pretty much ready for winter to end and spring to start! So let’s put on some Punjabi beats and make this Punjabi Desi Frosty the Snowman!
We got the main idea of this craft from Jamie Dorobek’s book Creating Really Awesome Free Things which was a gift by our lovely friends Nataliya Khan and her daughter Anya to Zeynab and I. We love making crafts from this book because all the supplies are always on hand!
This is a second version of the Punjabi Desi snowman we made with a bit more bling!
These are the instructions from the book and we gave our snow man a Punjabi and Desi touch on top of this.
Below are the supplies we used. For dressing up the snowman use any leftover crafting supplies you have in the house!
We had seen pictures of the Punjabi snowman in Brampton and had found it really funny. This craft gave us an option to make a Punjabi Desi snowman inside at home!
My daughter and I both chose two separate pieces of paper for our snow people. To make the body of the snowman mix equal part shaving cream with equal part white glue. Give it a quick 30 second whisk and it’s ready! Now scoop it out with a plastic spoon and give the snow man three round shapes, one on top of the other. Keep the base bigger. You will need to smooth out the mix. Another idea in the book was to put the glue/shaving cream mix in a sandwich bag, make a hole and pour out like icing.
Once the body of the snowman is done you can decorate it! Anything will stick easily on the body since it has lots of glue! Unleash your creativity! Keep lots of wipes handy.
Use buttons or beads for eyes. And make the arms with twigs. I gave the Punjabi snowman khoosas made from paper and pom poms. The pagri is made from wool and the moustache is taken from leftover party supplies. You can make the moustache out of card stock. Just draw it out and cut it, the more dramatic the better!
To set the scene for the snowman, I gave him a kite and a festive banner in the background. The kite is made from different pieces of paper cut in shapes and glued together. And the banner is made from triangular shapes cut out of washi tape.
We made another version of the Punjabi Desi snowman with more bling! I used left over cloth to give him a bright scarf and a belt.
While I worked on the Punjabi snowman, my six-year-old daughter made a friend for him. In the spirit of true multiculturalism in Canada, the friend in called Isabella and is wearing a dress (cut out from leftover fabric). Her choosing to make a female snowperson did make me realize how the word snowman is so not gender neutral and relevant anymore!
The hair are cut up woolen strings and a bright sun shines over Isabella made from pom poms. My daughter decorated the rest of the scene with stickers.
The major objective of crafting is not conformity but creativity. I always prefer when children come up with their own end products while we build the story as we go. So yes, here are the two friends from Canada: Punjabi Desi Snowman and his friend Isabella!
We had so much fun we are going to try a few more dress ideas for our snowpeople! Let us know how you enjoyed this craft! Enjoy winter and stay warm!
I loved your Desi Snowman. In the process of making it you learn the Urdu word Pagri , Patang, Mooch etc. it is so much fun with the younger kids to do hand on activities and do the learning at the same time. Thanks for sharing. Nakhat.
Thanks for your feedback! Yes, my aim is to bring back the fun in Urdu 🙂 my daughter and I had a great time yesterday with this craft and I shared it so that other kids can have the same fun while learning! Loved hearing from you! Stay in touch!