How Snowflakes Form

Are you ready to learn how snowflakes form? Whether you’re teaching at home or in the classroom, studying the formation of snowflakes with your students is a fun winter learning activity. In this post, we’ll follow the journey of a snowflake as it forms high in the atmosphere and then falls to Earth! Snow is frozen precipitation; snowflakes are made of ice crystals – water in the solid phase.

Since every snowflake takes a slightly different path to the ground, each snowflake runs into unique conditions along the way (temperatures, wind currents). These different experiences impact the way each snowflake forms. Because of this, every snowflake looks different! However, each snowflake has six sides because of the properties of water molecules.

If you live in a place that receives snow in the winter, studying snow and snowflakes can be a fun activity to do with your class or homeschool. If you’re an educator planning a lesson, be sure to check out my snowflake lesson materials that go along with this blog post. You can also read my post about how to measure snow as a hands-on classroom activity for learning about snow and the water cycle!

Now, let’s see how a snowflake forms, in six steps…

One

The formation of a snowflake begins with a dust particle high in the earth’s atmosphere with temperatures below freezing.

Two

Water vapor from the air is attracted to the dust particle.

Three

As water from the air freezes around the dust particle, it begins forming a six-sided prism.

Four

As more water from the air freezes on the snowflake’s surfaces, branches may form on each of the six sides.

Five

As the snowflake becomes larger, additional branching may develop off each main branch.

Six

If temperatures at ground level are below freezing, the frozen snowflake will reach the ground.

Learn about snow with Wild Earth Lab:

Are you putting together a snow lesson plan for your science classroom or homeschool? Be sure to check out my snow learning materials! I have options for various grade levels, and best of all you’ll save time planning your lesson while supporting my blog with your purchase!