Do you want to build a snowman? Well, this little Olaf snowman will never melt, in fact he glows! He makes a great Christmas night light, & would be a great companion for reluctant little sleepers or those who are afraid of the dark. Simple & quick to make, he's a cute buddy for any Frozen fan too.
To make our glowing Olaf we used:
2 recycled polystyrene cups
Sticky tape
2 brown pipe cleaners
Googly eyes
Sharpie marker pens
Small sections of orange & black card
Battery operated tea light
To make a basic body shape we stuck the two cups together using sticky tape.
As we wanted our snowman to glow we needed to add a battery tea light, so we carefully cut the base out of one of the cups & pushed the tea light in. The tea light we used fitted perfectly & the cup held the base of the light firmly in place.
Now to make our snowman look like Olaf! We cut one pipe cleaner in half & pushed each section through opposite sides of the top cup. (The bottom cup has the night light in.) To make the hair/twigs we cut 3 small sections from the other pipe cleaner & gently pushed these into the top of the cup. The polystyrene cups are perfect to use for this as no holes need to be made prior to threading the pipe cleaners, making this an ideal craft for little hands to make independently.
For the details on Olaf's face we used a sharpie pen, googly eyes & triangle of orange card that we attached with a glue stick. We then cut three rough circles & attached these to the bottom cup with more glue.
Even when he's not illuminated this little fella still looks cute, & makes a neat decoration just as he is.
But at night he radiates a warm glow. You can tell he likes warm hugs!
Our glowing Olaf has been warming the living room with his light, & has been regularly taken into Minnie's room to sit by her bed at night time. She's recently had a cold & been waking several times in the night & this little fella has offered her a welcome light & reassurance when she wakes. She's even had him sitting up on her pillow! He's clearly been a big hit with my girl.
Costing very little to make, this night light / DIY toy has inspired some wonderful imaginative play, creative thinking, & magical moments, both during the day & evening. Who'd a thought two recycled coffee cups could create so much magic!