If there is ever a moment during a kid’s winter break, when they need a little something to do and enjoy, I have an idea. (This post is a classic and originally posted in 2015.) I came up with a super-cute and super easy craft that kids love – to build and eat their own edible snowman-pop. It’s a craft and a snack and you can guarantee a “nailed it” every time.
I have taught art class for a number of years, as a docent for my children’s school. I absolutely love being with the kids and seeing what they accomplish through art. Sometimes I give them a challenging project or a more challenging medium, so that they can discover how awesome they are at something new. Love and encouragement to set the tone, can really help to build a child’s confidence. If they are already confident, they will find this fun and memorable.
This school year, I didn’t sign up to be an art docent, but I did sign up to be a room parent. For our Christmas party before school let out, I tried this craft. The 7-8 year old second graders absolutely loved this! The bigger kids in my world loved this one too. Let’s give it a whirl!
Building a Snowman-Pop
Here’s what you’ll need:
a straw – plastic or paper
1 large marshmallow
1 small/standard size marshmallow
2 pretzel sticks
plastic sandwich bag
chocolate ganache, prepared
other tools: scissors, teaspoon, rubber band
Here’s what you’ll do:
First, you’ll want to have the ganache prepared. I had some in the fridge/on hand, so all I had to do was microwave scoops of it for 10 seconds at a time, until I achieved a flow-consistency. If you are making a chocolate ganache recipe from scratch, then you’ll want to allow it to cool to warm or room temperature.
For my ganache recipes, you can try the quick-version from my S’mores Brownies recipe, or the classic recipe for making chocolate ganache, shared with my Milano-Cookies.
Next, it’s time to prepare the world’s smallest piping bag. It needs to be small, in case you have a hungry or ultra messy child on your hands. A little goes a long way and the only way that they can turn their snack into art, is by allowing for a very small amount of the chocolate to come through at the corner of the bag. I’ll show you how.
I had the craft all set in production-mode for the cute bunch of 2nd graders.
First, cut plastic sandwich bags in half, so that there are two corner bags. Next, place one corner bag into a small glass jar (a cup would be handy too) to hold the bag. Then spoon in about one teaspoon of chocolate ganache into each bag. Then, use a rubber band to close each bag. Small scissors are used to cut a tiny hole at the corner, but only when your crafter is ready to play.
Next, ask your little crafter to start assembling their snowman!
I told you this was easy and fun!
After this is done, you can slide the two pretzel sticks into the bigger, bottom marshmallow. Now it’s time to get really creative. Cut a tiny hole at the corner of the chocolate pipping bag and tell the kids to go for it.
The children were not shy and LOVED sharing their creations with me. I was really proud of them and super impressed with their creativity and piping skills! I’m glad I took a photo of some of them, since the kids made their creations disappear only moments after they were made. They were so precious!
