How to make the perfect Snowboy in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Winter has arrived in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, making one of the best Nintendo Switch games even more fun! In addition to the blanket of snow on the island and lights on the trees, the winter update brings with it fun winter activities, including building Snowboys. If you want to learn how to make the perfect Snowboy to get the most winter DIY recipes, you're in the right place.

Do you want to build a Snowboy?

Snowfolk are made of only two snowballs, and it's a pretty sweet deal: build a Snowboy, get a special winter-themed DIY recipe, and a large snowflake. Plus, if you talk to them every day until they melt, Snowboys will gift you a large snowflake every time — you can only get these from Snowboys, by the way, and they're required for the winter DIY recipes.

But it's not just about building a Snowboy. Nope, the Snowboy has to be perfect. The ratio of the two snowballs needs to be exactly right, and if you don't get it, Snowboy will send you on your way without any presents.

The good news is, you'll have the opportunity to build Snowfolk from December 11 to February 24 in the Northern Hemisphere and June 11 to August 24 in the Southern Hemisphere. So here's everything you need to know about how to make the perfect Snowboy and get all the DIY recipes for the winter in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

Find your snowballs

Every day, you can find two snowballs on the ground around your island. They'll be more or less near each other, but you'll want to roll them towards each other as you're creating them to be most efficient. The snowballs will be found where your island has open space.

If you can't find them, make sure the gate is closed and try removing some decorations or pathing. Also, a snowball may be hiding in a patch of flowers or behind some fencing, so be sure to check thoroughly. You can also tilt the camera using the right analog stick to get a better ground angle.

Roll the snowballs

When you first find the snowballs, they'll be a little bigger than a piece of fruit, and they may even be getting pushed around by a dung beetle (don't forget to capture one for the museum!). Start kicking it around. After about 13 kicks, you'll be able to push it with your hands, at which point you'll have more control over it. Then, start directing it in the general direction of the other snowball.

You can keep rolling a snowball for a while, and it'll eventually be as big as it's going to get. You can tell when it's at the maximum size when it takes a moment to get the ball rolling. Maximum size is important for a couple of the methods for how to make a perfect Snowboy below, though all Snowboys take four days to melt regardless of size.

Make a Snowboy

The basic idea is that the body snowball should be larger than the head. Create snowballs to your desired size, then push the smaller snowball against the larger one. It'll hop on top of the other snowball, and your Snowboy is alive!

The first time you make a Snowboy, he'll just be happy to see you, so he'll give you the rewards regardless of the ratio or proportions. Any subsequent Snowfolk you make need to be perfect to get the rewards, though. Since you only get one chance per day to make Snowfolk, you want to get this right every time to collect all the exclusive winter-themed DIY recipes and large snowflakes.

How to make a perfect Snowboy

You have three options for making a perfect Snowboy. Remember that making the perfect Snowfolk is about the head to body ratio, not about the actual size of the snowballs.

As soon as you start rolling the snowball, starting counting. Count about 17 seconds for the body and 12 seconds for the head. Make sure to account for the time it takes to get the snowballs to each other, too. Kicks don't count for this method, so only start counting when you're actually rolling the snowball.

This method's benefit is that you can do it anywhere on your island in a relatively small amount of space since you can roll around in circles. This worked well in my tests, but it does produce a smaller Snowboy; if the aesthetics matter to you, that's something to keep in mind.

For this method, you'll need a lot of open space horizontally without trees, decorations, or anything like that. You'll also need the Island Designer app unlocked to lay down a path.

1. First, create a path that is 10 squares long by 2 squares wide. Any pathing works for this, except grass.
2. If you have trouble keeping track, dig holes next to the space or lay down a path every other square to start.
3. Fill in the blanks once you've got the right length.

4. Roll your two snowballs to the maximum size and place them at either end of the path, about a half-square away from the edge.
5. Roll one of the snowballs towards the other on the path.
6. When you reach the end of the path, the resulting Snowboy would be a perfect ratio.

The drawback of this method is that it's a bit labor-intensive. Once you create the path, you have to get your snowballs to it every day and remove the path, or lay it out again the next day since the prior day's Snowboy will be in the way. I also tried this method with flowers instead of pathing for a somewhat more mobile version, but it doesn't work.

Roll one snowball to the maximum size for the body, then roll the other snowball so that it is the same height as the bottom of your in-game ears. The best way to check the height is by using the right analog stick to tilt the camera. Roll the smaller snowball on top of the larger one, and you should have a perfect Snowboy.

This method isn't location-specific, but you need open space and time to roll a snowball to the maximum size. It also may need some fine-tuning since you may end up over-or under-rolling your smaller snowball. If you're in a hurry, try the Counting Method instead.

Make snowballs smaller

If you went a little overboard with your snowball and it got too big, that's okay! Just roll it over pathing or the beach, and it'll slowly shrink. Make sure to stay close to the edge of the path so you can get back onto the snow when it's gotten to the size you want.

Recover a snowball

If your snowball fell into the river or accidentally rolled into a tree, you can go inside any building, and a new snowball will spawn in a random location when you come out. You'll have to find both snowballs again, even if you'd already started rolling the other one. Going into buildings only resets the snowballs if one gets lost or broken. If you go into a building when your snowballs are intact, nothing will happen.

Keep trying

If you don't quite get the perfect Snowboy, you can tell immediately by what he says to you. If you want another try that day, press the Home button on your Nintendo Switch console and then press Y to close the game without saving. Any unsaved progress will be lost by exiting the game this way, which means you'll be able to try making Snowfolk again.

However, resetting didn't work 100% of the time in my tests. If you finish the dialog with the Snowboy or even let the dialog box be open for too long, the reset won't work. So, if you want to try again, exit and reset immediately.

Enjoy your perfect Snowboy!

Now you have everything you need to build perfect Snowfolk every time! You'll get all the exclusive winter DIY recipes in no time. Don't forget to talk to your Snowboy (even when he's melting) every day to receive a large snowflake for your DIY crafting recipes.

If you're new to the island life, check out our Animal Crossing: New Horizons — The ultimate guide for even more tips and tricks.