Homemade snow cones made with real snow is an easy winter recipe or fun kids activities for snow days! If you love snow cream (old-fashioned snow ice cream), then you definitely need to check out this easy snow recipe — including how to make shave ice syrup at home if you don’t have snow cone syrup!
How To Make Homemade Snow Cones Made From Real Snow
To make DIY snow cream snowcones, you’ll need:
- Fresh, clean snow
- Snow cone syrup (like this or use our homemade recipe for shave ice syrup below)
Before we get to the DIY snow cone recipe, I want to cover a question I always get when I talk about recipes made with snow…
Snow Cone Recipe Tips
Is it safe to make snow ice cream?
Many people wonder is fresh snow ice cream safe to eat and is snow edible.
All I can tell you is that we’ve been making these recipes in our family for years (see my list of family snow recipes below), so it never bothers us.
But, you definitely need to gather fresh, clean snow.
(Yes, even from the first snowfall!)
We do this by putting a bowl outside and collecting the snow while it’s falling fresh or we gather a clean patch of snow off the top of something (like our backyard table) right after it has fallen.
You’ll have to decide for your own family and eat snow at your risk.
If you see dirt or other particles in your snow, discard it and don’t eat it.
If you don’t want to use snow for your snow cone recipe…
You can use a shaved ice machine like this or try to use your blender or food processor with regular ice. You just want to make sure you process the ice really fine to get that snow cone texture.
How much snow do I need for snow cones?
For each snow cone, you’ll need about 1-2 cups of snow (depending on how large your snow cone cups are).
Fluffy snow will condense down once you pour the syrup on it, so pack it down into each snow cone container and then add more on top.
We use these cute snow cone containers that have spoon straws so you can drink the melted ice syrup after, which was always one of my favorite things to do as a kid!
You can also use sno cone cups like this, individual ice cream bowls, or even coffee mugs and spoons.
Send the kids out to play in the snow and then have them gather fresh clean snow in their own ice cream bowl.
Recipe for Snow Snow Cones
Snowy Day Snow Cone Ingredients
- 2 cups fresh snow
- Snow cone syrup: we use these, but we’ve also made our own homemade snow cone syrup. I’ll put that easy recipe after the instructions. (My daughter didn’t want the flavors we had for Koolaid drink mixes and wanted the pre-made snowcones syrup flavors we already had, so we used those on the day we took pics for this recipe.)
Instructions To Make Snow Cones From Snow
1. Gather fresh, clean snow in each individual snow cone holder or individual single serving bowls.
Lightly pack down the snow into each individual container and then add more fresh snow on top.
Shape into a dome shape for the top of your snowcones.
RECIPE TIP: The snow will melt down a little once you start pouring the syrup on it. (See our main snow cone picture above.)
2. Over a bowl (to protect counters/table/clothes because snow ice syrup is sticky because of the sugar), pour desired snow cone syrup flavors over the snow cones snow. You will need more than you think because the syrup will sink to the bottom.
RECIPE NOTE: Depending on how dense / icy the snow is, you may want to layer the syrup and snow to make sure your snow is covered in syrup all the way to the bottom.
My daughter used two flavors and just layered a lot of syrup on top and it was still just snow when she got to the middle. (See the snow cone image above.)
Don’t forget that there’s a DIY snowcone syrup recipe after this!
3. Enjoy your snow cone made from snow immediately!
These are a make and eat recipe because you really can’t make them and then freeze them for later. (The snow just basically becomes icy snow if you try to do this and isn’t as much fun.)
MORE SNOW RECIPES TO TRY!
TRADITIONAL SNOW ICE CREAM RECIPE (SNOW CREAM)
SNOW MILKSHAKE CHOCOLATE FROSTY RECIPE
HOW TO MAKE OLD-FASHIONED SNOW TAFFY
How To Make Homemade Snow Cones Syrup From Scratch
If you want to try making your own sno cone syrup, it’s really easy!
DIY Snow Cone Syrups Recipe:
- 2 cups of white sugar (maybe less, depending on how sweet your drink mix is or how sweet you like it)
- 1 cup of water
- 1 small package of flavored drink mix (like the regular size Koolaid packs) – any flavor you like!
1. Stir together sugar and water in a small pot. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for 1-2 minutes, stirring so that sugar dissolves.
2. Remove from heat and stir in flavored drink mix package until dissolved.
3. Cool before pouring over snow cones.
4. Store in air tight container (I usually use a mason jar with lid) in the refrigerator.
*I’ve never tried to make a sugar free shaved ice syrup recipe. If you have, let me know!
MORE IDEAS FOR SNOW DAY FUN: 48 Snow Activity Ideas for Fun Winter Bucket List And Snow Days
Winter Recipe And Read For Kids: Snowy Day Snow Cones
If you want a recipe and read activity for winter, pair this recipe up with the book The Snowy Day by
You can even make the snowcones orange and yellow like the colors in the book for a fun book themed craft you can eat!
I hope you enjoy the homemade snow cones from snow recipe!
