Cold hands, quick aim, and a pile of snow – that’s all you need to turn winter weather into your next Minecraft weapon. Here’s how to craft a snowball that packs more fun than frostbite.
How to Get Snowball in Minecraft
To get a snowball in Minecraft, find a snowy biome where snow layers cover the ground. Equip a shovel and break the snow layers to collect snowballs directly. Each block of snow usually drops several snowballs, which can be stored or crafted into snow blocks. You can also gather them using a Silk Touch enchanted shovel to pick up snow blocks and then break those blocks later for more snowballs.
If it isn’t apparent, a snowball is a white spherical item you can throw at other players or Minecraft mobs, causing a small knockback. However, it won’t cause any damage if it hits the mobs and is therefore completely harmless.
While you can get 0-15 snowballs by simply killing the Snow Golems, there are other ways of obtaining them as well. So, follow the given steps below to make a Snowball in Minecraft.
1. Mining Snow Blocks
Head over to any snowy Minecraft biome where snow blocks will be readily available. Now, all you need is a simple shovel without any silk touch enchantment, and start digging. Once you break the ground enough, 4 snowballs will appear from each block. However, do pick them up quickly before they disappear! Furthermore, you won’t even need a silk touch enchanted shovel for snowballs in the Bedrock Edition.
2. Exploding the Snow
The second way of getting snowballs is by blasting off the snow layers using TNT in Minecraft. However, this can only give you 1-8 snowballs for each layer of snow removed. Place the TNT near Snow blocks and light it up using a redstone signal, fire charge, or a flint and steel.
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3. Using the Ravagers
Next is the method of using the Ravagers from a Pillager raid in Minecraft. If you happen to be inside a snowy Taiga village with the Bad Omen effect, a raid will start with Ravagers spawning during the end waves.
So, if these Ravagers start charging up and ultimately hit the snow blocks, they can destroy them to drop snowballs. However, the snowballs appear in lesser numbers, and this method can take quite a while.
4. Destroying Snow with Pistons
The final way is only for the Bedrock edition and doesn’t work as intended in Java. Here, you’ll require a piston in Minecraft and a way to activate it, either using a redstone signal or a simple Lever. Placing the piston in front of a snow block and turning it on will destroy it and drop Snowballs in the following manner:
- For 1-3 layers of Snow: 1 Snowball
- For 4-5 layers of Snow: 2 Snowballs
- For 6-7 layers of Snow: 3 Snowballs
- For 8 layers of Snow: 4 Snowballs
All Uses of Snowball in Minecraft
Snowballs in Minecraft can be thrown to push back enemies such as Blazes or Ender Dragons, making them useful for combat in certain situations. Players can also use them for fun snowball fights with friends or as triggers in Redstone contraptions involving dispensers. Additionally, snowballs can be used to craft snow blocks by combining four of them in a crafting grid, providing a renewable source of building material in snowy areas.
The Snowballs didn’t have much use in Minecraft before, but with the introduction of ghastlings in the upcoming Minecraft Summer Drop of 2025, they have gained a bit of importance. Apart from making a snow block by placing 4 snowballs in a Minecraft crafting table, here are a few situations where you can use them:
- Feed Ghastlings: Snowballs can be fed to the Ghastlings to increase their growth rate. Feeding them 64 Snowballs will instantly turn them into a happy ghast.
- Combat: Snowballs can be thrown at mobs or other players. However, they deal no damage to anyone except Blazes. They cause knockback to players in Bedrock but not in Java.
- Destroy the End Crystals: Snowballs can be thrown at the End Crystals to destroy them while fighting the Ender Dragon, the final boss before you can beat Minecraft.
- Distract Warden: You can throw a snowball to distract the Minecraft Warden from your location.
What items can be crafted using snowballs in Minecraft
Snowballs craft only one item in vanilla Minecraft.
Place four snowballs in a 2×2 square on the crafting table grid to create a snow block, which is useful for compact storage (since snow blocks stack to 64) or building snowy structures.
Crafting Recipe
Fill the crafting grid’s top-left 2×2 area with snowballs:
| Snowball | Snowball |
|---|---|
| Snowball | Snowball |
| This yields one snow block. |
Additional Notes
Snow blocks can be broken with a shovel (without Silk Touch) to retrieve four snowballs each.
No other vanilla items use snowballs in crafting; modded packs may add recipes like smoothies or powders.
How to build a snow golem using snow blocks in Minecraft
Snow golems in Minecraft are built using two snow blocks and a carved pumpkin or jack o’lantern. They spawn immediately once assembled correctly and serve as passive mobs that throw snowballs at hostile creatures.
Materials Needed
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Two snow blocks (crafted from four snowballs each).
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One carved pumpkin or jack o’lantern (use shears on a regular pumpkin).
Building Steps
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Stack two snow blocks vertically on the ground to form the body and legs.
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Place the carved pumpkin or jack o’lantern on top of the upper snow block last-this triggers the spawn.
The pattern works horizontally, upside-down, or sideways as long as the pumpkin is placed last.
Tips and Behavior
Snow golems throw snowballs to distract mobs (no damage except to blazes) and leave snow layers in cold biomes.
They melt in warm biomes or near heat sources like fire or lava, so build in snowy areas.
