Arts and snacks

Once a year I take break from apple slices and granola bars and decide to make a fun, creative snack with the kids.

Did you catch that? ONCE A YEAR. So before anyone goes all "Super Mom" on me, keep in mind that this is not the norm around here. The norm is apple slices or Goldfish crackers or string cheese. Once in awhile I might pair an apple slice with a slice of cheese to up my game. That's when my kids know I'm in a wild and crazy mood.

We signed up to supply snacks for Addie's preschool class today, so yesterday we made fun snacks for her to bring. She loved it and was so excited to bring such a fun snack to school for her friends! I found this clever idea for "crayons" on the glorious internet last week and thought they'd be a fun follow-up to last year's "pencils."

These were very easy to make, although I admit they took a little more time than I thought. It was very worth it though, because Addie loved doing this project together and they were YUMMY! The end result is worth the time. And honestly, if you don't have little hands helping you, it will go much faster.

First, break a bunch of pretzel rods in half. The more even they are, the better. If you have some really long ones and really short ones, it might mess you up later.

Melt candy pieces to dip the ends of the pretzels. I bought vanilla candy pieces that I melted in the microwave according to the directions, and then added the candy coloring. You can also buy colored candy pieces and omit a step. I might do that next time.

Dip the ends! Put them in the fridge to harden.

I made my own wrappers, although the link I posted above has a .pdf of the wrappers you can use. The reason I said earlier that it helps if the pretzels are broken into even pieces, is because if they're not, the wrappers can either be too big or too small and part of the pretzel might show. But it's really not a big deal.

They look like the real thing, huh?

The left overs! They were a hit and Addie was so proud to take them to class.

As a bonus, here's the "fun" snack of winter 2008. (You thought I was kidding about that once a year thing, huh?) Emma brought these for her preschool class. NEVER AGAIN. They had to each be assembled on their own paper plate (try balancing 20 paper plates that must lay flat and can't be stacked on the way to school...) and involved bananas. BANANAS. That means we had to do it in the morning before taking her to school. I must've been out of my mind.

And if you're wondering, it's banana slices, raisins, pretzel sticks, fruit-by-the-foot pieces, a tiny pointed carrot, half of an Oreo part (without the white stuff) and broken piece of Hershey chocolate bar. Can you say INVOLVED? Can you say NOT WORTH THE EFFORT? Can you say that my kids loved making and eating them? Okay, maybe a little bit worth the effort, but I'll never make those again. Sorry, Chloe.

If you're a TRUE friend of mine, will you remind me next time I sign up for preschool snacks that bringing in a box of Nilla Wafers is sufficient? Thanks.