Family Fun Day
Ginger bread houses are great but they are a lot of possibly frustrating work for most toddlers and preschoolers. So this craft is a great downsized activity that young kids can do with little help. We spent Saturday morning making these as a family, our trees turned out well and are displayed in our kitchen. You can totally tell which one was done by the man with an engineering degree can’t you!
- Gather your materials. You will need sugar cones, a tub of icing, green food coloring, a plate for displaying , candy and a foil Santa !
- Start by putting half the icing in a bowl and adding green food color to it.
- Spread the green icing on your sugar cone , I was shocked at how well my little man did. Ironically he didn’t eat the icing at all, it must not be as appealing as paint.
- Once it’s all over the cone, add the candy. Mini m&ms work the best! These my son did eat, but he managed to get some on the tree.
- While my boys were ading the last of the candy to their trees,
I spread the other half of the white icing on a rectangular plate, and added some sanding sugar to make it look like snow.
- Add your trees to the snow and the foil Santa !
- Find a place out of reach of kids and pets and show off your handiwork!
Books!
“Little Tree” by Chris Racshka is another awesome find. I love this book, it’s another visually amazing book and my son was much more into the pictures that are so packed full with fun details that they steal the show. The story inspired by the E.E. Cummings poem by the same name the story follows a little tree who has big dreams of becoming a Christmas tree . I think this book is great especially for children who want to know where the trees in the lots in a city come from.
Posted in 11 Responses to “Family Fun Day”
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Your projects are such a inspiration to me! I would love to do even a fraction of all the fun things you do with your little guy. One thing that inhibits me is the storage of craft supplies. Have you ever posted about your storage system? The other is the energy/time to set up a project that my son will likely only enjoy for a few minutes. I get really discouraged sometimes. Is this ever an issue for you?
we do those too! they are fun and add a few powder doughnut snowmen and your all set!
My storage area looks like a bomb went off in it lately- I have been so busy with the holidays. However I took pictures when I organized it originally and will post that soon!
As far as getting things ready, I usually do art in the early morning and I will prep it the night before, or while my son is eating breakfast if it takes some prep time.
Now as far as art time only lasting a few minutes, that’s just reality with little guys. Sometimes art take 5 minutes here, often times it’s about 15-20 but remember my son has been doing it for almost a year, so we worked up to that. Oh and I have had days where my son doesn’t want to do anything, and that’s fine too.
Try not to get too discouraged, even if a project takes a few days to complete your child will benefit from seeing that they made something.
Shannon- Are you doing doughnut snowmen on your site? Send me a link and I’ll link to it, it sounds adorable!
I love these! We will have to make them they are so cute! We did the gingerbread houses w/ graham crackers last year and these will be fun for this year!
You always have such great ideas! My daughter is going to love this… thanks!
Valerie
Frugal Family Fun Blog
Good times on a budget!
Very neat craft, will definitely be doing that with the boys soon.
I stumbled across your blog, saw this project and knew it was for me. I have a 3 1/2 and 1 1/2 year old. So doing a Gingerbread House is out of the question. When I head to the store today I will be picking up the items to make this. Thank you so much for all your creative work.
Oh how fun, I love this! I love doing crafts with candy-so delicious. I’ll be linking.
Love the trees! I’m trying that this weekend.
Thanks for the encouragement!! I’ll look forward to the organization pictures, and to working art time in to our loosely structured routine :0)
Thanks so much for this great idea! My daughter is 3 and we decorated 2-dimensional gingerbread houses (rather huge cookies) together and had so much candy left over … What a nice way to use it! My daughter made one tree today and I am hoping to get her to make a few more tomorrow. It really doesn’t take long and you don’t need many supplies! Really great! The ones on your page look so cute!
I will post about this on my blog and put a link to your page. Hope that is alright with you?
Have a very nice christmas!
Ulli