The winter season is a great time of year to really focus on some fun crafts for the kids as it tends to be too cold to be outside all day. Of course, that all depends on where you live, but many of us have low temperatures, snow, and ice. So, what better way to keep those little ones occupied than with a fun craft for them to do. Plus, you can use these for school treats or gatherings as well. The kids will love these, and in the end, they can even eat them! How awesome is that!
To begin, you will need to gather your supplies. Some items you may have at home while some you may need to run to the store and grab. This is an inexpensive project so no worries there.
Here is what you’ll need: some small goody bags, big marshmallows, pretzel sticks, mini chocolate chips, 10 gum drops, 10 orange tic tacs or candy corn, licorice string (the pull apart type), and toothpicks.
First, you’ll want to determine how many kids you are making them for. Then, you’ll want to begin by sorting your items out. If you are doing it for say 5 kids, then you’ll want 5 baggies, 15 marshmallows, 10 pretzel sticks, 10 licorice strings, 10 gum drops, 10 orange tic tacs or candy corn, 10 tooth picks, and 40 mini chocolate chips (2 eyes, 4 for mouth, and 2 for buttons). You can increase the number of items by increasing kids. So, if you had 20 kids you had to do baggies for, then just portion your items based on that. I will include a break down at the bottom of this for those who would like know total of each item per snowman, so you can time that item by number of kids.
Next, you’ll put each item into a baggy. This puts all the children’s craft pieces in a safe place so that you know they have everything that they need. Now, if these are younger kids doing this craft you can opt to hold toothpicks until ready to do the project so that no one accidentally gets hurt. Sometimes, one must take precautions based on age range. The toothpicks are used to hold snowmen together. So, keep that in mind.
Once the baggies are put together, you can attach a cute printable to each that shows that these are snowmen, and directions on how to put them together. Basically, it comes down to taking the toothpick and inserting it through one large marshmallow. Then, take the other two marshmallows and insert onto ends of toothpick. From there, they can wrap their licorice string around the neck and gently tie in place for his scarf. Then, push the pretzel sticks into sides of body for arms. From there, you can push the mini chocolate chips into place for eyes, mouth, and buttons. Next, take the tic tac or candy corn and insert for nose. Then, take the gum drop and use for hat. *Sometimes a little icing helps with the chocolate chips and hat (or cut bottoms of gum drops off so it’s a little sticky. So, if you wanted to include a small tub of it for them you could and add a small spoon to bag*
Disperse to the kids to enjoy building their snowmen and they can eat it as well. All the kids that I’ve done this project with have enjoyed it, and always ask if we can do it again the following year. Even my own kids whom are 11 and 12 still enjoy this craft as well. It’s a great way to build a snowman without being out in the cold, no worries of him melting (though he may get eaten), and no worries of catching a cold.
I hope you enjoy this project, and will share it with friends and family who may enjoy it as well. Have fun!
Breakdown of items needed for an individual baggy –
1 baggy, 3 large marshmallows, 2 pretzel sticks, 1 licorice string, 8 mini chocolate chips, 1 gum drop, and 1 orange tic tac or candy corn, and 1 toothpick.
Misty is a mama of 2 special needs kids, one of which she virtual schools. She is a wahm (you can check out one of her sites HERE) who enjoys being involved in her kids’ lives both in and out of school. She enjoyed writing and crafting, being outdoors but especially being at home snugging her babies.