How To

Make Snowshoes

Making a pair of snowshoes isn’t a quick project. But when you get tired of sledding, snowball  fights, or building a snowman, it’s a great way to pass time inside on a cold winter day. You’ll need to cut lots of cord and tie lots of knots, so it’s smart to ask a grown-up for help.

Here’s what you need

• Handsaw to cut the branches
• Two straight green branches about 1 inch in diameter and 5 feet long. Willow, maple, or birch branches work well.
• Four short green branches about 1 foot long
• About 100 feet of cord or thin rope
• Pocketknife
• A grown-up to help with the project

Here’s what you do

• Bend each 5-foot branch into a teardrop shape. Soak the branches in bathtub water overnight to make them bendier.
• Lash the ends together.
• Pick one side of the teardrop. Tie cord from this side diagonally across to the other side. Keep the cord taut.
• Work your way down one side of the teardrop, tying diagonals to the other side. The more diagonals you tie, the better the snowshoes will work.
• From the other side, weave cord over and under the diagonals you tied in Step 4. This will form a crisscross pattern.
• Lash two sticks across the middle of the teardrop. The ball of your foot will rest on one crosspiece, and your heel will rest on the other.
• Tie two lengths of cord to each crosspiece (four lengths in total). These will be the laces you use to secure the snowshoes to your boots.

Lace Up

Wear warm winter boots. Tie the laces from the front crosspiece over the toe of your boot. Tie the laces from the back crosspiece around the point where your foot meets your shin.