Alyssa Brown, 5, of Chattanooga, stares up in amazement as faux snow falls from above Saturday at the Creative Discovery Museum.

In the Creative Discovery Museum in Chattanooga, crowds of boys and girls drank hot apple cider and danced in snow all Saturday afternoon.

Amy Barrett, a manager at the museum, decided to kick off the holiday season by having Snow Day on Saturday after the museum waited until January to host its Snow Day event last winter. Coming after a real snowstorm, fake foamy snow seemed less exciting, she said.

But when it's the first snow of the year, the kids jump right in and play.

"It brings a smile to the kiddos' faces," Barrett said.

Until Jan. 3, the Creative Discovery Museum will host winter-related exhibits and activities on igloos and hockey and ice-skating (where socks replace blades).

On Saturday, kids ate microwaved s'mores. They went upstairs to the holiday shop where they paid $6.40 for a glass sea turtle to give to Mom. They beat each other on the head with plastic hockey sticks. And they waited for the bubbly faux snow, which fell about every 30 minutes from noon to 4 p.m.

Michael Reardon, normally the café manager, was appointed one of the Jack Frosts who operate the Antari Silent Snow Machine.

"They needed a Jack Frost, so I'm Jack Frost," he said. "I put on this hat and become Jack Frost."

Spencer Tate, 8, ran around trying to catch the snow in his mouth.

"It's really just soap," he said after tasting it.

Bryce Sanders, 6, and his not-quite-2-year-old sister Dakota grabbed handfuls of fluffy fake snow and showed it to their mom, Jerilyn.

Jerilyn Sanders figured the kids liked this snow better than the real stuff because they didn't have to be cold to play in it.

After the snow bubbles popped, they turned to dandruff-looking flakes that covered Bryce's and Dakota's heads.