www.bentley.sciencebuff.org

Born in 1865, Wilson Bentley grew up in a small town in Vermont, where as a teenager he became fascinated with snowflakes. Not only did he photograph them using a camera mounted on a microscope, but he also studied how flakes formed. Bentley became a snowflake expert, and his photographs of these icy wonders are now part of the Buffalo (NY) Museum of Science collection. The Web site provides information about “Snowflake” Bentley, his scientific studies, and more than 150 of his snowflake photos. Detour: In 1999, the book Snowflake Bentley (Houghton, 1998), by Jacqueline Briggs Martin, won the Caldecott Medal. It’s a great read for elementary school kids.

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Cutting out paper snowflakes is a fun activity, but how about making three-dimensional ones? Here you’ll find detailed, illustrated instructions (complete with an online video) demonstrating how to create truly awesome-looking flakes. Detour: Kids of all ages, from tots to teens and beyond, will love this wintertime craft. Go to “How to Make a Paper Snowflake.”

snowflakes.barkleyus.com

This online snowflake maker will appeal to mostly tweens and teens. Elementary-age kids may find the scissors tool a bit confusing to use. Choosing among the many features of this flake maker, users can preview their creation, undo a mistake, or redo something they just undid. Once they finish cutting, they can save, email, print, or download the snowflakes. Students can also visit the gallery to view thousands of snowflakes made by others. Detour: Ready for something a bit more active? Kids will also enjoy fashioning their own online toboggan run—and trying it out. Have a go at Toboggan Hill.

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Ever wonder about how snowflakes form and why they have those incredible, unique shapes? This site, created by snowflake researchers at the California Institute of Technology, focuses on the science behind snow crystal formation. Older students will find the scientific content fascinating, and the color snowflake photographs are truly breathtaking. Don’t miss: “Guide to Snowflakes” and the information about how scientists are now able to create snowflakes in the laboratory. Detour: Looking for more snowy science stuff for tweens? Visit “A Winter’s Tale.”

www.popularfront.com/snowdays

Appropriate for teens and tweens, this online snowflake maker lets users create unbelievably intricate and lace-like flakes. One of the nicest things about this site: kids can email their snowflakes to friends as well as print them. They can also search for flakes they or their friends have created and view tons more made by others (more than eight million). Detour: Tweens will also have fun rolling virtual snowballs at ice skaters and knocking them down at the site “Snow-Bowling.” 

bit.ly/4JDMYt

Super simple, this project site is easy enough for primary grade kids to use. All you have to do is click on one of the “scissors” boxes, then drag your mouse over the wedge of virtual paper. A preview of your flake immediately appears on the left. Meanwhile, older kids can attempt more complex designs by using the “Eraser Mode” button. Detour: The click-and-drag flake maker Create Your Own Snowflakes is appropriate for elementary school kids, but sophisticated enough to fascinate tweens/teens who will love the three-dimensional animated renderings of flakes, which constantly move and change.

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Geared for elementary school kids, this online flake maker has enough added features to work with tweens, as well. Once kids make a flake (those with 10 or 12 edges work especially well), they can color, spin, and rotate it, even melt or explode it—which is really fun and noisy! Detour: Tweens might also try their hand at breaking virtual ice blocks. Yup, there’s a site for that, too: Ninja Ice Chop.