Authentic igloos are constructed with snow blocks cut out of deep, hard snow drifts. The igloo blocks are laid down, one course upon another, in circles of ever-decreasing circumference. The igloo blocks are sloped so as to incline towards the center. As you get closer to the top of the igloo, the igloo blocks that you use will be both smaller and fewer in number, until the dome-shaped igloo structure is finally closed.
The "fun" igloo in the photo above was built in a similar manner, but to see an authentic igloo being built I highly recommend the documentary classic, "Nanook of the North" (Robert Flaherty, 1922). In this film you'll witness a genuine igloo-builder building an igloo in the time-honored manner, including Nanook's cutting a block of ice out of the frozen sea to be used as an igloo window. But building igloos of this sort is often not feasible in areas with milder winters: the deep, hard snow drifts are simply lacking. Instead, it will generally be better to opt for building snow houses.
Family Craft for the Kids: Snow Houses
Are you concerned that your kids aren't enjoying enough good clean fun outdoors? Do today's kids spend too much time indoors in front of a television or computer screen? Well, maybe you need to give them some ideas, while occupying them with a family craft activity at the same time. Wouldn't you be interested in initiating a fun outdoor family activity that also provides decoration for an otherwise drab winter landscape? Oh, and it's also free....
If so, and if you live in the snowy north, why not take your kids out on the lawn and begin building a snow house? You needn't build anything as fancy as an igloo. But the simple family craft idea described below is a great way to make the winter go faster. As you wait for the weather to get consistently cold enough for such an activity (so your snow "building material" doesn't melt), you'll find the early part of the winter passing quickly. For once, you'll find yourself craving Jack Frost's daily arrival -- and being disappointed when he fails to keep his appointment.
By the time Jack Frost does make it apparent that he's here to stay for a while, Christmas and the holiday season are already history and you're skating through January. Time to begin construction. When you've finished building your snow house, you'll hope (again, uncharacteristically) that this year there will be no January thaw -- which would take a toll on your snow house. But even should there be a thaw, after a bit of repair work and a return to colder temperatures, the snow house will survive until late February or early March. And by then it's time to put winter games to rest and anticipate the arrival of spring.
You might question, though, how building a snow house to decorate your landscape is worth the work, since it is so ephemeral. But the blossoms on perennials are ephemeral, too. Does that mean perennials aren't worth the work? Certainly not; and your snow house will be worth the work, too.
You need a box made of hard plastic to serve as a mold during this project. Spray the sides of the plastic box with Pam spray to make it easier to remove the finished snow blocks. Snow will be shoveled into this mold and tamped down, forming the necessary building blocks for the snow house. Besides tamping a powdery snow down firmly in the mold, pour some water evenly onto your snow as it lies in the mold. The water will freeze to become ice, giving you a more solid building block than you'd have with the snow alone. However, if the snow in your yard is not powdery, but is sticky instead, you don't need to apply water. Just tamp it into the mold, remove it from the mold and use your newly-formed blocks immediately.
If you can get your hands on more than one mold, so much the better, when dealing with powdery snow. Otherwise, you have to wait for one block to harden before you can begin to mold another. In a 24-hour period during which the daytime temperature is in the 20s, you can make about 5 snow building blocks in this manner. The longer you can keep a powdery snow in the mold, the more solid the resulting building blocks will be. Rushing the blocks out of the mold will leave you with a weaker building material than if you are patient. If you plan on building a snow house of any significant size, obviously it will be slow going with only one mold (again, if the snow is sticky, this won't be a problem). But then, teaching children the virtue of patience is as important as showing them how to have fun!
Speaking of teaching the kids something..... Continue on to Page 2 to learn about the basic architecture lessons you can teach kids through building a snow house together as a family craft activity....
