When there is a lot of snow, you can do many things. Snowball fights, snowmen building, ice carving, sledding, and more! One common favorite is building a snow fort! Here is how to do it:

1. Choose what kind of fort you will make! You can make tunnels, igloos, caves, and more! Here, I will tell you how to make a tunnel fort.

2. Find a good snow drift. If you don’t have one, make it! Use shoveled snow from the driveway and snow from anywhere else. Make a huge pile, or find your own.

3. Make sure the snow is strong and not loose. You will need to dig a tunnel through, and if the snow is loose, it will cave in easily. If you can’t get strong snow, either pat it all down well with a shovel, or pat it and then pour cold water over it, to make a layer of ice. Make sure to leave a space with no water poured over it, so you can easily start your tunnel.

4. Start your tunnel. Use a shovel or your hands. Try making a circle shaped tunnel, for square ones can cause people to get stuck, and then you may need to destroy the fort to get them out. Make sure your tunnel doesn’t go too far as to leave no space for your room area. Make sure your tunnel is tall and wide enough so visitors can fit in.

5. Once your tunnel is finished, crawl in and start clearing out your room area. To do this, dig in a little further, and then dig on the sides. Sometimes, you may have trouble fitting a shovel in when doing this, so you may have to use your hands. Continue to dig for a little while and then check how close you are to your walls. (See below)

6. To check if you are too close to the outer walls of your fort, do the following. Get a wooden stick or use the end of your shovel. From inside or out, make a horizontal hole with the stick, just simply jab it through. Do this until you get into your fort. If you are close to the inside or outside of the fort, you may need to settle with where you are. If you have different amounts of snow in different places, you may have to do this a few times. You can also use these as ventilation holes, which you will need to help circulate air.

7. Finish your clearing.

8. There you have it, your very own snow fort! But wait...does it seem like something is missing? Well, there may be! You can add extra rooms, snow or ice sculptures and decorations, and even a chimney if you have good snow! Beware though...you may break a hole with really complex structures added onto it!

Another tip is when you need a good, stable roof, find a good quality umbrella and pile snow on top of it. Chances are if it is good, it will hold well.

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