How to Make Snow Fortresses for a Snowball War

Size Wisely

Whether you’re building a four-walled fort or a smaller structure for taking cover, your first step is to measure out the space you’ll need. Using a shovel, branch, or broomstick handle, trace the perimeter of the fort in the snow. If there’s plenty of snow for building, trace out all four-perimeter walls. If snow is limited, think one wall with short wings, a shield for you and your teammates to take cover. Be sure to consider the size of your team (how many will use the fort), their sizes (the space they’ll take up and the tallest member), and the size of your arsenal when designing the perimeter of your fort.

Build Bricks

Snow bricks are best constructed using beach buckets, plastic storage boxes, or anything with a uniform shape that’s easy to fill. The best snow for creating bricks and snowballs is moist packing snow—not powder. This kind of snow will form easily into blocks, much the way wet sand works for sand castles.

If, however, powdery snow is all you’ve got, look for snow that’s closer to the street or house, or what has accumulated around landscaping. It will be warmer and wetter, and so better for snow-fort bricks. If time is short, grab that Igloo cooler out of storage and use it for making large bricks quickly. Keep yardsticks or old paint stirrers handy to separate the snow from the bucket.

Construct and Fill

Start construction by following the perimeter you outlined in the snow. Think like a bricklayer, spacing bricks a few inches apart, then stacking the next layer with a brick straddling two bricks below. Have another teammate follow behind the bricklayers, filling in the gaps with packed snow. Otherwise, you run the risk of the structure collapsing. As you build, make the inside of the wall or walls perpendicular, for durability. Aim for a wall height that’s tall enough to crouch behind yet allows plenty of space for throwing. Four feet is a good height for full-grown snow warriors.

Sculpt the Walls

Smooth and sculpt the walls of the fort with additional snow, using the smooth side of a snow shovel, a hand trowel or even the top to a plastic bin. The idea isn’t to make the snow fort look pretty, but for its outside walls to slant slightly for durability. Think pyramid shape. It worked for the Egyptians.

Ice, Ice Baby

The finishing touch for any snow fort is a coat of ice. Dump some buckets of (cold) water over the walls, inside and out, being sure to work from the bottom up so the weight of the ice doesn’t cause a collapse. With an icy finish, your fort will weather the most aggressive assault the neighbors can bring.

Bonus: Tips for Making a Great Snowball

It sounds simple: Grab some snow, form it into a ball, throw it at your opponent. But in reality, to make a good snowball there are two must-haves.

First, you need wet snow, as powdery snow won’t form into a ball. If you’re faced with powder, then man up and take off your gloves, using the heat from your hands to create some moisture for packing. Or, as described above, work with snow that’s closest to the house, street, or landscaping. Then, use gloves—not mittens—for better handling and throwing.

Snowball Science

It’s not just a myth: No two snowflakes are alike. Ken Libbrecht, a physics professor at Caltech, became obsessed with the physics of the snow crystals that constantly covered the ground during winters in his native North Dakota. He tells PM that snow is a lot more complicated than you might think–humidity, temperature, pressure and particulates all affect crystal formation. The crystals forming the fluffy powder that experts skiers crave are thin plates only a few microns thick. According to Libbrecht, they form leafy branches that don’t want to stick together, which is why snowballs made of powder disintegrate before you can throw them.

The ground temperature has the most to do with making a good snowball fight. You may know that wet snow packs better than dry snow, but the scientific reason is that melting snow can help to form “ice bridges” that join two crystals together, while snow at very cold temperatures remain separate. So the best temperature for a snowball war is just below freezing–you can’t make snowballs out of slush, and you can’t make them when it’s 20 below either.

However, you’re not totally beholden to nature’s whims–there are ways you can still engage in some friendly snowball-throwing competition even with less-than-perfect packing snow outside. First off, use your head: figure out places where the temperature might be a few degrees warmer, and you might find better packing snow than your competitors.

Then, use your hands: If your snowballs aren’t forming particularly well because it’s particularly frigid, you can use your own body heat to help the formation process. That’s not to say you should go bare-handed and exchange freezing fingers for better snowballs. Simply choosing gloves over mittens can make you a deadlier snowball-flinger. Not only do gloves allow you to grip your projectile much better, they also don’t keep your hands quite as warm as mittens do, and that little extra escaping heat can help snow crystals form those ice bridges they require to pack together, Libbrecht says.

Weapons of Mass Domination

Even with good packing snow, stockpiling a horde of snowballs takes time. But new toys can speed up the process. Flexible Flyer sells a snowball maker that can form nicely rounded snowballs with one fell scoop–it’s basically two long spoons, crossed like a pair of salad tongs. Of course, a nice ladle and a hand for packing will probably get the job done just as well.

If you need tools not only to make snowballs but also to throw them, there’s the Snofling. This long plastic implement has a round hole in the end in which you can scoop snow–you then throw it at your friends as though you were playing lacrosse. However, the snow fighter who needs a little bit more power can get the Snowball Blaster, a gun that packs and shoots snowballs. This blue plastic monstrosity features a press on the top that instantly forms three perfect spherical snowballs from the snow you pile on. Anyone hoping for automatic firing will be a little disappointed, though–you can only load one snowball at a time into the slingshot cannon, and in our tests it was a feat of strength to pull back and fire the Snowball Blaster, severely limiting how far it can shoot. If that doesn’t quench your thirst for power, you could always go the potato-gun route and just substitute snow.

If you’re old-fashioned, or if suffering through midwinter brings out your inner medieval warrior, there are other ways to enlist technology in your wintry warfare. For Halloween, PM covered pumpkin-launching catapults, so why not build one to launch snow assaults on your enemies? And then there’s the ultimate weapon–a homemade trebuchet. Just make sure you have enough space to fire your snow-flinger, and that you use snow and only snow–bombardment by ice balls or snow packed with gravel is no fun for anyone.

Build an Impenetrable Fort

Slightly wet snow is best for an old-fashioned front-yard snowball fight. But if you’re going to get serious this season and take winter warfare to the next level, the obvious choice is to build a fort and organize your forces. Anybody can pile the snow in his yard into a makeshift wall or barrier, but serious building with snow requires a little forethought, says Bert Yankielun, author of How to Build an Igloo and Other Snow Shelters.

Yankielun is a veteran of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, and according to him, you can make a killer snow fort even without the tightly packed and homogenous snow that’s best for buildings. To help nature along, pile up all the snow that you want to use–the weight will help it pack closer together. Stamping on the show can congeal it even more, but doing that with regular boots can give the snow an uneven density, Yankielun says, sort of like stone with weak veins in it. To get the homogenous snow that’s best for building, he recommends trampling it with snowshoes, which spread out the force over a greater area.

Once you’ve compacted the snow on your own, let it sit. If you’re constructing a simple wall to shield you as you fire snowballs, building it the day before the snowball war can help sintering, the process in which the crystals bond together. For a bigger structure like the igloo, Yankielun builds a “sheet cake” about 10 x 10 ft and 18 in. deep. After letting it sit and solidify, he cuts the snow into bricks. He says he often uses a snow saw, which is widely available, but you don’t need a fancy saw for a one-time build–you can use a cheap old carpentry hand saw. Just make sure to grab one from a garage sale or flea market rather than using the nice one from your shop. According to Yankielun, “one pass through the snow and ice, and it’s no longer good for specialized carpentry.”

To revist this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories.

To revist this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories.

Winter is upon us. And though you may find yourself whiling away these cold months with nothing more than hot cocoa and stories around the fire, it may be that you are called to battle. Perhaps you will be drafted into a snowball fight, in which case, you had better be prepared. Maybe, like so many cold warriors before you, you’ll find yourself in want of fortification. Maybe you and your hapless team will cower behind trees or dig trenches in the snow. The most ambitious among you will take it upon yourselves to make a snow fort.

Will it have walls? Maybe there will be a igloo portion with tunnels for safety? Will there be battlements and ramparts? Are you sketching out plans right now, as you read this? Would you like to make the best snow fort?

If so, we’d like to humbly suggest that you consider pykrete for all your snow fort construction needs. Pykrete is a composite material made of a mixture of wood pulp and ice. Named for its inventor Geoffrey Pyke, pykrete was an experimental material developed during the mad science heyday of World War II.

At a time when steel was starting to run into short supply, Pyke looked at ice, a material that can be formed for a fraction of the energy cost of steel, as a potential building tool. Early experiments ran into problems — ice is prone to being brittle — but they came across research that showed that if you mixed in cellulose with pure water, that the resulting stuff, when frozen, turned out to be quite durable.

How durable? Let’s put it this way: Would you like a snow fort that is bullet-proof?

Pykrete’s stopping power is similar to that of brickwork, except that when it comes to building with it, you can mold it like concrete and then you can carve it like wood. This makes is really versatile for construction, opening up all kinds of possibilities for the grand hall of your awesome ice castle. Amazingly, because of the reduced heat transference between the two component materials, it even melts more slowly than regular ice.

So what happened to this wonder material? The project that led to its invention, called Project Habakkuk, lost favor. Its goal to create an unsinkable aircraft carrier for the northern theater became less important as airplanes developed longer and longer flight ranges. Which is too bad, because a self-repairing ice island armed with freeze-rays still seems like a pretty amazing idea.

Instead, pykrete has fallen by the wayside as an offramp to materials history. Every now and then visionary architects, futurists, myth-busters, and libertarian dreamers resurrect the material, but so far no one has taken it seriously enough to test it at the large scale required to find out if it’s worth using. Except for you, and your amazing snow fort.

All the Scouts must join in building the fort, selecting the highest point of the grounds, or, if the camp is level, the corner of a wall or fence. Supposing the top of a mound has been selected as the place where the works are to be built, the first thing to do is to make out the plan of the foundation.

The dimensions depend upon the number of boys. A circle twelve feet in diameter, or a square with sides of ten feet, will make a fort that will accommodate a company of ten boys. It is better to have the fort too small than too large. The chief engineer must set his men to rolling large snowballs; the smaller boys can commence them and the larger ones take the balls in hand when they have gained in size and become too heavy for the younger Scouts.

Make these balls of snow as large and dense as possible then roll them in place upon the lines traced out for the foundation. We will suppose it to be a square. In this case, care must be taken to have the corners of the square opposite the most probable approach of the enemy. This will leave the smallest point possible exposed to the attack, and the inmates of the fort can, without crowding each other, take good aim at the foe.

After the four sides of the square are covered by large snowballs, as in Fig. 164, all hands must pack the snow about the bottom and fill up each crack and crevice until a solid wall is formed. Then with spades and shovels the walls should be trimmed down to a perpendicular on the inside, but slanting upon the outside, as shown in Fig. 165.

Fig. 165.
Snow Fort Finished

The top of the wall may be two feet broad and the base four feet. When the wall is finished, prepare a mound of snow in the center of the square for the flag-staff. This mound will be very useful as a reserve supply in case the ammunition gives out. A quantity of snowballs should next be piled up, inside the walls, at the four corners. This done, the fort is ready for its defenders, and it only remains to equip the attacking force.

The building of a fort generally uses up all the snow around it, making it necessary for the besieging Patrols to carry their ammunition with them upon sleds made for that purpose. One boy can haul snowballs enough for a dozen companions.

If you’re going to win a snow battle, you’ve got to have a snow fort. Here’s how to make the best one

It’s winter, and in some places that means the beginning of snowball-fight season. If you’re going to win a snow battle, you’ve got to have a snow fort. Here’s how to make the best one. It will withstand the craftiest of assaults. It may even be bullet-proof.

First, you need the right kind of snow. It’s got to have some moisture in it—super powdery stuff isn’t great. What you want is the kind that sticks together under pressure. Test it by balling some up in your hand and seeing if it sticks.

Then, you need to lay out your fort. Figure out how big it is and how much building material you’ll need. Okay, now you can start building. Snow bricks are key. Here’s the Art of Manliness on how to make them:

You have a few options when making snow bricks. The first method involves rolling big snowballs as if you were going to make a snowman. This method requires no outside tools, just your hands and a strong back. Another option is to form bricks using an empty cooler or plastic tub. Just pack as much snow as you can in the cooler, turn it upside down, and presto! Instant snow brick. I find this method much more efficient than the snowball rolling method.

Only amateurs build these snow bricks out of snow. Real snow fort builders know the secret. Rather than just using snow, you make those blocks out of pykrete. Wired explains:

Pykrete is a composite material made of a mixture of wood pulp and ice. Named for its inventor Geoffrey Pyke, pykrete was an experimental material developed during the mad science heyday of World War II.

At a time when steel was starting to run into short supply, Pyke looked at ice, a material that can be formed for a fraction of the energy cost of steel, as a potential building tool. Early experiments ran into problems — ice is prone to being brittle — but they came across research that showed that if you mixed in cellulose with pure water, that the resulting stuff, when frozen, turned out to be quite durable.

When they say durable, they don’t just mean “will withstand a few teenagers throwing snowballs at you.” Pykrete is so durable that it can stand up to bullets. That’s right—it’s bullet proof.

Here’s how you make pykrete at home, according to some dudes on the internet:

I’m making pykrete in milk and orange juice cartons. They hold 64 ounces, so 9 ounces of sawdust is about 14% by weight. I weighed the carton — 2 ounces — and set the balance to 11 ounces. I had to keep mashing down the sawdust to get the balance up to 11 ounces. Then I added water. There was room for 7 cups in addition to the sawdust.

You’ve made your bricks out of Pykrete, and you’re back to assembling your snow fort. You assemble the walls out of your bricks and fill in the gaps with extra snow. Finally, douse the whole thing with some water so it freezes up and stays sturdy.

With that, you’re ready to fight throughout the winters, while your opponents’ forts will constantly need to repair. Good luck, snow warrior.

More from Smithsonian.com:

About Rose Eveleth

Rose Eveleth is a writer for Smart News and a producer/designer/ science writer/ animator based in Brooklyn. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Scientific American, Story Collider, TED-Ed and OnEarth.

Haley Pierson-Cox

Haley Pierson-Cox from Red-Handled Scissors is a maker of crafts, a lover of cats, an avid swearing enthusiast, a cross-stitch book author, and a general purveyor of quirk. She’s also sometimes an irritable cartoon named Tiny Cranky Haley.

By Haley Pierson-Cox

Haley Pierson-Cox

Haley Pierson-Cox from Red-Handled Scissors is a maker of crafts, a lover of cats, an avid swearing enthusiast, a cross-stitch book author, and a general purveyor of quirk. She’s also sometimes an irritable cartoon named Tiny Cranky Haley.

@haleykscissors

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Building walls, forts, igloos, and other favorite snow structures just got a whole lot easier and much more impressive. This weekend, take your personal winter wonderland to a whole new level and previously unseen heights with this DIY method for making perfectly-shaped stackable snow bricks for all your cold weather construction needs!

As a kid growing up in Michigan, I always spent hour upon snowy hour outside with my trusty labrador, carefully transforming my backyard into a sparkling village of structurally sound snow forts and dog mazes. I probably spent way more time on the actual building process than I ever did playing in my creations, but that’s exactly how I liked it! I think it’s safe to assume that tiny snow perfectionist me would have loved this DIY wooden igloo block mold from Jenn at Build-Basic! (Heck, if I had a backyard, I’d even make one for grownup me!)

Perfect for building anything that requires a brick—assuming the snow is cooperating—this quick woodworking project can be completed in an afternoon plus drying time, and is sure to provide a whole winter filled with creative family-friendly fun!

“SNOWBALL FIGHT!” Relive your childhood by building forts & waging epic snowball fights in VR! Unlock tools to protect your fort and deliver a fury of snowballs at your opponents!

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Snow Fortress is a room-scale Virtual Reality snow fort building & battle game. Relive your childhood by building snow forts as you prepare for epic snowball fights! Unlock tools to protect your fort and deliver a fury of snowballs at your opponents!

– Build your snow forts and destroy the snowman’s fort in 20 unique levels
– Throw snowballs or use your slingshot to do some real damage
– Build and maintain a fort while protecting it against waves of attacking snowmen in Survival Mode
– Play against friends in online multiplayer
– Unlock a shield and other tools to protect yourself and your fort
– Compete in global leaderboards
– Build a miniature snow fortress and defend it by placing your own snowmen on it’s walls

Snow Fortress is created from the ground up for room-scale VR and supports both HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. It takes full advantage of tracked controllers to let you build the perfect snow fort … and then watch it get trashed by an army of angry snowmen.

Oculus Rift support requires touch controllers, but does not need full 360 room-scale, 2 forward facing cameras are sufficient.

Other awesome Let’s Plays you may enjoy:
Totally Accurate Battle Simulator –

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These forts are totally DIY, and you don’t have to be a professional carpenter to build them. Some don’t even require a big sturdy tree. So get to your local hardware store and start building! Bonus points if you convince your little one to build with you.

Castle Fort

This fort is straight up magical.

Pirate Ship Fort

Turn the backyard into the Seven Seas with this fort that’s perfect for your little scallywags.

Ropes Fort

Your kid will probably be the next American Ninja Warrior champion if you build them this fort.

Bridge Fort

If you have two trees, why not use them!

Double Decker Fort

Other kids need to get on your kid’s level because this fort is stacked.

Basic Fort

Building this basic fort together is the perfect bonding experience–and the kids will love it even without the bells and whistles.

Basic Fort 2.0

It’s like a tiny house!

Rustic Fort

This fort is roomy, safe and downright adorable.

Adventurer Fort

This fort is perfect for little climbers and provides amazing shade for hot summer days.

Teepee Fort

The teepee fort is ideal for parents with limited building expertise–and the kids will love it all the same!

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Watchout! Snowballs! You’re outside. You’re getting pummeled with snowballs. Time to build a snow fort and set-up teams. The snow war is on!

Step 1: Get dressed
Get fully dressed in your winter attire, including durable waterproof gloves.

Step 2: Find a spot
Head outside and scope out a strategic area for your fort. Natural barriers – like fences or walls – are good places to set up your fort. Determine where the front of the fort will be. If you’re using a fence or wall, let it serve as your back wall, and build the fort in front of it.

Step 3: Mark out the fort’s dimensions
Mark out the area of the fort by drawing a line in the snow with your foot or with a plastic food container or shovel.

Step 4: Clear away snow
Clear the snow off the floor of your snow fort, and collect it to one side. Pack snow on top of the line you drew to establish the foundation of your fort’s walls.

Step 5: Build the front wall
Begin by building the front wall of the fort. Use the plastic food containers to shape bricks of snow.

Step 6: Build the side walls
Build brick by brick, or pack by pack, until the front wall is tall enough that you can hide successfully behind it. Use the same technique to build the side walls. Depending on your angle, you may not need to add significant length or height to the side walls. Remember, you’ll need all the snow you can collect for snowballs.

Step 7: Scoop out gunner’s turrets
When you’re happy with your structure, scoop out gunner’s turrets into the front wall so you can keep your opponent in sight.

Step 8: Sprinkle walls with water
If it’s below freezing outside, sprinkle the walls with water, which will help to freeze the fort, making it impervious to oncoming snowball attacks. Now, duck behind it, start making snowballs, and prepare for battle!

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Published: Nov 14, 2019 · Modified: Dec 30, 2019 by Emily Stones · This post may contain affiliate links · Leave a Comment

Have you ever had an indoor snowball fight? If not, you don’t know what you are missing out on! Marshmallows, games, fun snowballs, and a great time with is had by all! They are the perfect way to have fun indoors without getting too cold. It’s also a great way to add fun into your routine if you live in an area, unlike me, that doesn’t get much real snow each year.

Indoor Snowball Fight

This idea is perfect for either inviting others over for a party, or to “hit” a neighbor with a snowball party. I made this little basket to share with my neighbors who were feeling a bit too cooped up. It was fun to add to their porch and get the note later saying they had a blast playing in the “snow” indoors.

I used Oriental Trading for grabbing the supplies for my party. You can pick up most of these items at any local store, on Amazon, or even your local craft stores. Make sure when shopping for supplies that you grab what you need to decorate your porch with these great snowman porch decorations. If you are throwing a snow party, you need a full snow theme! For even more fun, invite your kid’s friends moms over and have a crocheting party while the kids play. You can make this cute crochet snowball motif in no time.

How to Make an Indoor Neighborhood Snowball Fight Kit

I tried to include a little bit of everything, tasty treats, gum, crafts, and activities to get the family together for some fun. You may not be able to find exact matches for what I used, but you are likely to find similar items that are perfect for your party. I add this cotton thread snowman to my tables as a fun decoration, and you can make some of these snowman candles to add around the room.

Supplies Needed

• Basket, Box or Gift Bag for your Goodies
• Fake snowballs (these can be large pom poms or plastic ones you find in the store)
• Snowman shaped candy, chocolate, suckers, or other snacks
• Notepads, pens, markers, and stamps in white and blue or with snowman themes
• Winter themed activity book
• Snowman themed game (I found the simple peg game at Oriental Trading)
• Snowflake stickers
• Plastic Shopping Bags
• White Bag Stuffing
• Tissue Paper
• Foam Snowflake Stickers
• Snowball Fight Instruction Printable (printed and cut in half)
• Craft idea like these stuffed sock snowmen
• Supplies to make this 3-ingredient fake snow

Make sure to serve up yummy treats at your snowball party or fight. My yummy snowman Twinkie treats and snowman sugar cookies are wonderful and kids love them. Of course, alongside these white chocolate peanut butter snowmen, you need to have some of this slow cooker white hot chocolate on hand to warm everyone up.

How to Make an Indoor Snowball Fight Kit

I used an old shoebox and wrapped it with tissue paper. Then the kids added some fun snowflake foam stickers to the front.

Use balled up plastic bags to fill your box or basket if it’s too deep.

Sprinkle some paper bag stuffing onto the top of the plastic bags.

Place the taller items in the back of the box and the smaller ones near the front.

Sneak it onto your neighbor’s front porch and leave this fun activity at their front door.

More Winter Snowmen Activities

Now, what do you do if YOU get one of these awesome indoor snowball fight kits at your door? You find fun candy, food, and activities to stuff into a bag or box. You download and print a copy of the instructions and you leave it at another friend, neighbor or co-worker’s door! Oh and don’t forget to hang your “We’ve Been Hit” sign so you don’t get hit twice!

If this isn’t enough winter fun for you, check out how to make a snowman sensory jar, mason jar lid snowman ornaments, a cute snowman out of a bottle, or these pasta snowflake ornaments.

Make this great indoor snowball fight kit to throw your own fun winter party. Use this for yourself or gift it to a neighbor to encourage fun this winter!

Materials

• Basket, Box or Gift Bag for your Goodies
• Fake snowballs (these can be large pom poms or plastic ones you find in the store)
• Snowman shaped candy, chocolate, suckers, or other snacks
• Notepads, pens, markers, and stamps in white and blue or with snowman themes
• Winter themed activity book
• Snowman themed game (I found the simple peg game at Oriental Trading)
• Snowflake stickers
• Plastic Shopping Bags
• White Bag Stuffing
• Tissue Paper
• Foam Snowflake Stickers
• Snowball Fight Instruction Printable (printed and cut in half)
• Craft idea like these stuffed sock snowmen
• Supplies to make this 3-ingredient fake snow

Instructions

1. Choose a box and wrap it with blue or white tissue paper;
2. Add snowflake or snowman stickers to the box;
3. Next, you will ball up plastic bags to fill the box if it is deep, so you can set your toys and activities on top;