16 Snowflake Templates

Almost every snowflake has six sides or six arms. That pattern comes from the way water molecules link together as they freeze into ice crystals. Wilson Bentley, a farmer in Vermont, photographed more than 5,000 snowflakes in the late 1800s and early 1900s and never found two exactly alike. These templates borrow that six-part symmetry. Some arms end in feathered points, ornate trident tips or tiny hearts. Others branch like ferns, form ladders and flowers, or look like folded paper cuts. A puffy bubble snowflake and an easy chunky one give little kids big shapes, and the outline, simple and cute versions round out the set. Several pages stack more than one snowflake from top to bottom. Snowflakes look great in cool blues, purples and silver, and kids can color each arm the same way to see the symmetry. Cut them out and tape them to a window for a frosty display, or glue them onto dark blue paper and add white crayon dots for falling snow. Easy shapes suit preschoolers.