Wikipedia reports that making snowmen is an ancient activity, dating back to at least the Middle Ages. Old diaries and chronicles recount how townspeople would build snowmen in the streets after every new snowfall. The best snow for building a snowman is when powder snow comes near its melting point, making it moist and easily compacted. Just roll a small ball of snow in the snow until it grows the desired size. In Europe and North America, snowmen are typically built in three spheres containing a head, torso and lower body. Common decorations include rocks and coal for the eyes, wood sticks for arms and carrots or cherries for the nose. In East Asia, they are built with two spheres.
If you want to preserve a snowman so it doesn't melt quite so fast, dress it. The clothing insulates the snowman by keeping out the heat, notes Wikipedia. The world's largest snowman was built in 2008 in Bethel, Maine. It stood 122-feet, 1-inch high and was named in named in honor of Olympia Snowe, a U.S. Senator representing Maine.
