Well APPARENTLY this is how to preserve a real snowflake...

Take one piece of glass (yes, I know, not exactly a child friendly activity, but they will hopefully appreciate the results!) - it was suggested you use a slide from a microscope, but I didn't exactly have one of those handy, so I took the glass out of a postcard sized picture frame!
Place the piece of glass in the freezer for at least 24 hours (making sure you tell everyone it's in there before they go in grabbing for the frozen peas!)
Place a tube of superglue in the freezer too (making sure the lid is securely fastened of course!)
When it snows, remove the items from the freezer, and attempt to catch a few snowflakes on the glass! (:rotfl:)
As soon as you have a few good snowflakes on the glass, place a blob of superglue over each one.
Place the glass back in the freezer asap, keeping it as level as possible so that the glue doesn't run.
Leave the glass in there for 4 weeks yes, 4 weeks!
Take glass out of freezer, and there you should have some beautiful little snowflakes preserved forever! If the glass was from a frame, place it back in the frame with black paper behind it! The patterns of the snowflakes are amazing, and the superglue kind of magnifies them!

(At some point remember to place the lid back on the superglue and remove it from the vicinity of small children! )

Well, of course, I had to have a go, only.... 1) when it snowed, I immediately went to get the glass from a picture frame without freezing it first, 2) left the glass on a wall outside to collect snowflakes on its own (well, it was too cold to be standing out there!) 3) went back out half an hour later only to find that I had a piece of wet glass on the wall!
Well, I should have known! But it was worth a try. Maybe if it's done properly it will work. It really did look good when they did it on the telly!
If anyone succeeds in this, please let me know!!
I now have a piece of glass and some superglue in the freezer on standby! It probably won't snow any more til next winter! :rotfl: