12 Tips to Make the Perfect Snow Angel


It’s a lovely snow day and your children have asked for help making snow angels. You know the basic maneuvers, but you want to get it perfect this time. How do you do it?

Here’s how to make the perfect snow angel:

  • Use powdery, deep snow
  • Choose a flat expanse 
  • Fall into the snow
  • Lay down flat
  • Move your arms up and down and your legs from side to side
  • Stand up carefully
  • Decorate the snow angel
  • Label the snow angels
  • Take lots of photos

As the list above shows, making a snow angel can be a fun, inclusive activity for the entire family to enjoy. Keep reading for more information so your snow angels can come out perfectly!

1. Use Powdery Snow

What’s the best type of snow for making snow angels? That would be light, powdery snow.

If you’ve read this blog enough, then you’ll recall how powdery snow isn’t good for many wintery activities. You can’t make snowballs or a snowman in it, and you certainly cannot build a snow fort or snow igloo.

The snow lacks enough free water to act as glue, so these snow structures will crumble in your hands.

However, when it comes to making snow angels, powdery snow is perfect. It’s light and fluffy enough that dropping into it will be easy and painless. 

You’ll also be able to move the snow with your arms and legs easily, which is especially important if you’re making snow angels with young kids or older members of the family. 

All the details of your snow creation should come through well in the powdery snow too! 

Click the link for more things you can make out of powdery snow.

2. And Moderately Deep Snow 

Besides the type of snow, how deep the snow is also matters when making snow angels. 

You need deep snow. If you only got a couple of inches, then while the snow might cover the ground otherwise, as soon as you begin moving the snow to make a snow angel, you’ll see patches of grass or dirt underneath.

Your snow angel will not come out right at all.

If the snow is too deep, however, then it’s a lot easier to get stuck in the snow when trying to make a snow angel. The young’uns especially might find themselves unable to get out.

They’ll scramble up to their feet, accidentally ruining their snow angel in the process. 

That’s no fun for anyone!

Moderately deep snow is best then. Even if you got a lot of snow, you can always take a little off the top with your shovel so the kids can easily work in the snow.  

3. Choose a Flat Expanse of Land

Where do you make your snow angel?

You need a flat area of your lawn, so no hills or slopes underneath, please. The snow angel won’t come out properly, otherwise. 

Since you and the kids will make snow angels as a family, there should be at least a foot of space from one angel to another so no one gets in each other’s way. 

It’s okay if the snow angels have to be a little closer than that, but you do need enough space for everyone to stretch their arms to full length without bumping into each other. 

4. Fall into the Snow

You’ve selected the perfect patch of the yard for making a snow angel. How do you begin?

Don’t walk right up to the area, get on your knees, and then lie down. Rather, you want to fall into the snow.

The kids will have no qualms about this, but you, as an adult, might. 

Just think of it as a trust fall, except instead of another person catching you, the snow will. The snow is powdery and deep enough that you should be fine.

You don’t want to just jump into the snow, so make sure you instruct the kids not to do that either. 

Instead, they should fall back-first into the snow with their feet together and their arms outstretched on either side in a T-pose. 

5. Lay Down Flat

Before you start flailing your arms and legs around, make sure you’re lying down completely flat on the ground. Feel free to press parts of your body a little deeper if you need to level yourself.

Now you’re ready to begin the fun part, which is making the snow angel itself! 

6. Move Your Arms Up and Down

To make the angel’s wings, keep your arms straight out on either side of your body. Begin waving your arms up and down. 

The best way to get the motion right is to imagine you’re doing jumping jacks in the snow. You want to raise your arms toward your head but not over your head, as then the angel wings will be too tall. 

Lower your arms close to your side but don’t touch your sides. 

There’s no need to repeat the motions more than a couple of times. You’ll be able to tell you’re making the angel’s wings correctly if you can feel the snow piling up at your arms.

Continuing to repeat the motion beyond that point is overkill, so be sure to supervise the kids when making snow angels so they don’t overdo it. 

7. Move Your Legs from Side to Side 

At the same time as you’re moving your arms up and down, you also have to move your legs. This motion is not up and down, but rather side to side.

Compared to your arm motion, your legs don’t move nearly as much when making a snow angel. You’re only trying to form the angel’s skirt or gown and not wings, so there’s a lot less to it.

Move your legs out at the same time at maybe a 60-degree angle from their starting point. Do this a couple of times just as you move your arms a few times, and then you’re done with the base of the snow angel. 

8. Push Your Head into the Snow 

A snow angel needs a head since she’s an angel, after all. 

Your own head might have made enough of an indent into the snow, but to be doubly sure, it’s not such a bad idea to push your cranium into the snow.

You’re not slamming your head or forcing it, just gently indenting it into the snow. Be sure to emphasize that to the little ones especially. 

9. Stand Up Carefully 

The next part is arguably the most difficult, as you have to stand up on your own two feet again without crushing or otherwise marring the snow angel with your hands and/or feet.

We just published an article full of actionable tips on how to stand up after making a snow angel while leaving your wintry creation intact.

This section will serve as a recap then.

When you’re done making your snow angel, sit up. Keep your legs together and your hands in your lap.

If you have someone who can help you out of the snow, grab onto their hand and step out from the side of the snow angel one foot at a time.

Should you get up on your own, then put your hands several inches outside of the snow angel’s perimeter and then move one leg out at a time until you’re away from the snow angel.

Use a snow shovel to flatten or cover your footprints nearest to the snow angel. 

Now you’re up! 

10. Decorate the Snow Angel

If you wanted, you could leave your snow angel as is, but we think decorating her is such a fun proposition. We’re sure the kids will agree.

Besides, decorating the snow angel is a good way to occupy some time, as making a snow angel doesn’t take nearly the same amount of time as making a snowman does. 

As we recommended in our post about getting up after making a snow angel, you can decorate your snow creation by spraying the angel in food coloring.

You can make the snow angel a single color, two colors, or a rainbow of hues. 

You can even color each part of the angel differently such as her skin tone, her wings, and her gown.

You might take some wire hangers and make a halo that you can affix atop the angel’s head or use googly eyes or even glitter for decoration.

Have fun with the process, as there’s no wrong way to decorate a snow angel! 

11. Label the Snow Angels

By now, the family will feel impartial to their own snow angels. To tell them apart, make sure you label them.

You might have each kid take turns writing their names in the snow, or they can print their names using food coloring in a spray bottle. 

12. Take Lots of Photos

As much as we wish they would, snow angels do not last forever. 

Do you know what can last forever? A photo! 

Once you’re done with your snow angel, take your camera or your smartphone and snap some shots of each snow angel in your family of angels. 

If you can, take a photo of all the snow angels together. 

The photos will be something that you and the children can look back longingly on for a long time to come, not only after the snow melts this winter but even during the spring or summer! 

Visit Our Winter/Snow Page for More Great Content!

Final Thoughts 

Making the perfect snow angel needn’t be difficult. It only takes some powdery snow, a good patch of snow (preferably undisturbed), and the correct motions. 

Remember to take your time when standing up, as this is an important part of maintaining your snow creation for posterity.

Speaking of posterity, be sure to take many photos so your snow angel can last forever! 

Geoff Southworth

I am a California native and I enjoy all the outdoors has to offer. My latest adventures have been taking the family camping, hiking and surfing.

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