Gingerbread House: What's outside the window? Penguin and Snowman Peanuts, Popcorn, and Marshmallow Edible Holiday Craft Snack fo Kids

How to make a fun Gingerbread House with Marshmallows and Popcorn and Cute Penguins and Snowmen

Mayhem and I had a yummy, crafty time making this edible Christmas scene with candy cane sleighs and peanut snowmen and penguins. Enjoy!

Marshmallow and popcorn Christmas snow scene.

Candy cane sleigh with holiday characters including
peanut penguin and gingerbread marshmallow man.

 Materials:

  Halloween candy

  Christmas candy

  Popcorn

  Marshmallow shapes

  Unsalted peanuts

  Waffle cones

  Ice cream cones

  Icing

  Edible Glue

  Gel food coloring

Popcorn snow scene.

I made peanut snowmen magnets/pins a few years ago. This prompted me to come up with an edible version for the holiday.  These snowman peanuts are coated with our edible glue, the eyes are Wilton's icing coloring.

How to make a cool Gingerbread house scene.

We glued a cheerio on the bottom of the penguin and snowman to serve as a base. The penguin's hat base is also a cheerio, but the snowman sports a circle cut from Fruit Stripe gum.  The noses are made by dipping a toothpick into gel food-coloring.  Use a pair of scissors to cut the top hat and scarf from gum.

The sleigh is made from two candy canes glued together with icing.  The base is a leftover Almond Joy from Halloween with a big, round gum drop as the back of the seat.  Santa's bag is made from the base of an ice cream cone and filled with jelly beans.  The little mouse atop the sleigh is just a peanut sitting sideways. Did you see that little gingerbread man and those Christmas tree reindeer?  Those are store bought mini-marshmallow shapes.


Recommended Reading:

Best Christmas Party Ever

Bear Stays Up for Christmas Book*






ADS DISCLOSURE: We've partnered with some wonderful advertisers who may sponsor blog posts or send us samples to test. Some companies pay us to review their products.

*We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Tapinfluence, Google Adsense, SoFab, and Izea ads here. Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)

Reuse Cardboard Toilet Tubes Holiday Party Favors or Christmas Decorations: Treat Baskets

Treat Baskets Ornaments for Christmas Tree

How to Reuse Cardboard (Toilet ) Tube rolls to make Treat Basket Ornament Decorations for the Christmas Tree or a Classroom Party Gifts.These little Christmas Tree Decorations from Toilet Paper Rolls are fun to make.  Enjoy!

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.*

Update: This post was created in the days of flip phones. Our apologies for the photos, but it is such a rewarding project, you'll enjoy creating something beautiful to hang on the tree and fill with goodies! If you do, share a photo in the comments.


I saw a post on toilet tube crafts. They look like they were made by a professional. I thought we'd try it out. Here are our kid versions. We added a mouse, penguin, tree, and an angel.

Easy Toilet Tube Cardboard  Holiday Ornaments.

Cut your toilet or paper towel tubes in half. I cut up the middle and then cut in half. Your cut won't show. Tape together. Cover the cardboard with felt, fabric, or construction paper and decorate to your hearts content!

What great Christmas tree decorations and ornaments to fill with goodies from Santa, but they also make good party favors or table placeholders too!

\

Santa made by 7 yr.old boy, Angel by teenager.

Snowman Angel.

Christmas Tree.

Mommy's Penguin.

Mommy's Snowman.

Made by 5 yr. old.

Reindeer with Harness.

Mommy's Mouse with Pipecleaner tail.

Whiskers are wires from bread twist tie.

More Holiday Crafts for Kids:

Reindeer  Sausage Business Card Snowman Felt Scraps Cream Cheese Peanut Tree Puppet Waffle Cone Pipecleaners Buy Felt and other supplies for this project at Amazon: Felt* Googly Eyes* Recommended Reading: Little Christmas Decorations to Knit and Crochet* Holiday Crafts from Cardboard Tube Rolls

ADS DISCLOSURE: We've partnered with some wonderful advertisers who may sponsor blog posts or send us samples to test. Some companies pay us to review their products.

12 Patriotic Crafts and Games for the Fourth of July: Independence Day Activities for Kids

Hey Kids! Celebrate with these Games and Patriotic Activities for the Fourth of July

America likes to celebrate her Independence. We celebrate many holidays with fireworks and patriotic activities. If you like to craft or need activities for summer camp or a family reunion party, you've come to the right place. We are sharing a round-up of our favorite Fourth of July holiday activities for preschoolers, school age, teenagers, and adults too. Enjoy!

Fourth of July games for children from Better Homes and Gardens.

Some of the best Summer Games from the list below include an Uncle Sam Patriotic Hat competition. This is fun for a family reunion.

Lay out the supplies needed to make a paper hat: Construction Paper, Paper Plates, Tape, Glue Sticks, Scissors, Glitter, even Cheap Birthday Hats to decorate, and Star Stickers. Then, have the party guests (at their own leisure) sit down at the crafting table and make a cool hat for the Fourth of July. Explain it is a decorating contest.

Guest wear the hats while playing games, eating barbecue, and enjoying the party. Pass out squares of paper (post it notes work great) and have everyone vote for their favorite hat. For example, "Uncle Mike's hat is the best" or ""I like Johnny's hat". The winner of the "best patriotic hat" gets a tiny flag to celebrate the win. Don't forget to share all the fun hats on Instagram and Pinterest!

• Patriotic Fruit Kabobs from Pinterest
• Fourth of July Games for Preschoolers
• How to use Sparklers and other Fireworks Safely
• Patriotic Games for Kids to play Outdoors
• Simple Fourth of July Projects for Preschoolers
• Independence Day Games to Play at Summer Camp
• Make your own Firework: Candy Rocket from Cardboard Tube
• Patriotic Party Games for Adults
• How to Make a Patriotic Hat for Independence Day
• Make a Star Spangled WhirlyGig to Hang from the Ceiling
• Free Printable American Flag

Click the image for Patriotic Party Games for Adults from Reader's Digest.

Recommended Reading:

Other Holidays in July

History for Kids: The Fourth of July for Kids - The Incredible Story of Independence Day - Including an Interactive Fourth of July QUIZ! (History for Children)

A Catered Fourth of July (A Mystery With Recipes)

Easy Edible Easter Crafts: Things to Do with Marshmallow Peeps

Cute Edible Craft Things to do with Marshmallow Peeps for Easter

Who doesn't love Peeps? Well, besides me. I don't like the tingly feeling on my tongue, but Peeps are oh so cute and perfect for preschoolers crafts. I found these 8 adorable things to do with marshmallow Peeps. Did you know they even have an entire store dedicated to these cuties? You can make all of these Edible Peeps Crafts at home with your kids.

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.

I was inspired to surf for recipe ideas for easy edible Easter crafts after visiting an old-fashioned candy store selling chocolate covered Peeps. Everything in the store was decorated in pastels for Easter and the store windows were straight out of Wonka's factory. The Peeps from Your Home Based Mom pictured below are similar.

Decorative Peeps Dirt Pudding Cups for Place Setting

Things to do with Peeps for Easter

Chocolate Covered Peep Chicks Recipe from Your Homebased Mom.

An M and M's Peep casserole! 


Yes, we're gonna try this Peep's Casserole from The Party-Animal Blog.

Did you know you can make a chocolate Peeps casserole? This one from The Party Animal-Blog looks fantastic even to me. I'm going to try to make the recipe for Easter this year.

The Soccer Mom has an awesome, adorable Peeps Cupcake recipe. Check it out!

Peeps Easter Cupcakes from Soccer Mom.

Painting with Peeps is the perfect activity for preschool kids. This one from It Mom is super cute, but I'd do it with edible paint. We have lots of different recipes here just search in the browse us bar for "edible paint."

Painting with Peeps from It Mom Blog.

Inspire Me Crafts offers up "dressed up" Peeps dipped in chocolate and looking like a bunny bride and groom. Wouldn't they be cute wedding party favors for a spring bridal shower? Pair them with the Peeps topiary below for a fun, spring theme bridal shower.

Make S'mores with Peeps like Electic Recipes did.

Peeps Smore's is an easy, fun edible craft for kids. They can construct them and you can pop them in the microwave. This idea came from Electic Recipes.

Peeps Crafts for Easter from CraftsnCoffee.com

Finally, this home decor idea for Easter is perfect for a kid's party. The Peep's Topiary from CraftsnCoffee is easy to make with kids. 

What are you crafting up this Easter? You better hurry, if you are wondering when is Easter this year? Easter is April 16, 2017.

Recommended Reading:

Peep, Peep, I Love You! (Lift-the-Flaps)

Easter Story - Give a Mouse

Adam Rubin Author Books

Books by Adam Rubin, Author

Who is Adam Rubin? He is an author who writes fun books for kids. You might remember his story, Those Darn Squirrels. With the release of his most recent children's book, Robo-Sauce, Mr. Rubin has quit his day job to become a full-time author. Jealous. His other jobs were pretty cool too. He once pitched interactive games, t.v. commercials, and brands. Now, he is just awesome sauce. Enjoy this review of his newest book releasing October 20, 2015.

Adam Rubin Author Books: Robo-Sauce.

Robo-Sauce is the perfect book for boys who don't like to read. Tweens and Teens alike will enjoy the flourescent orange graphics and lively illustrations by Daniel Salmieri. The book is interactive and takes a fun twist at the end.

You mustn't just read the story. You'll want to become a robot too. What's a squishy human boy to do? Create your own recipe for robo-sauce, of course. Robo-sauce will turn you into the exact robot you've dreamed of becoming, but Mr. Rubin's recipe ingredients are hard to find. Good luck, trying to make that sauce!

Eating Robo-Sauce preparing to turn into a robot.

Since, it is all about pretending, we've come up with the best robo-sauce recipe for kids who love to eat sweets. Just in time for Halloween too! So, grab your treat bucket with all that ooey-gooey candy and create a recipe that is sure to activate your robot resources.

Halloween Candy Leftover Robo-Sauce:

1 Pint of Vanilla Ice Cream or Yogurt
1 batch of M and M's or 1 batch of Halloween Candy Bars
1 batch of Smarties or Skittles Candies
1/2 C. Fruit
Chocolate or Caramel Syrup
1/2 C. Almond Milk
Plastic Sandwich Bags
Orange Food Coloring Gel

• Remove ice cream from Fridge.  

• Unwrap your favorite candies and place in sealed plastic sandwich bag. To become a robot you need to show superior strength. You might want to pound the candy flat with your robo fists.

• Get ice cream. Take a plastic butter knife and run it around the edge of the container to make it easier to pour or scoop out.

• Pour or Place into a large bowl. Use a wooden spoon or plastic spatula to mush up the ice cream.

• Stir in Almond Milk.

• Add three-five drops of orange food coloring gel.

Yellow plus Red makes Orange.

Looking like Robo-Sauce.

• Fold in (Add) Robo squishy candies

• Stir gently with spoon or spatula.

Your Robo-Sauce is ready to eat and share with friends! Once you take the first bite- start moving like a robot. As you eat more of the cold sauce, notice how it feels when you eat it. Your body is getting colder- just like a metal robot. Now, walk and talk like a robot for the rest of the day.

Want to win your own copy of the book? Leave a comment by October 31, 2015. We'll choose one person to win!

Recommended:

Those Darn Squirrels*

Robot Crafts and Costumes

Recipes for Kids from Kids Creative Chaos

Robo-Sauce Free Printables

Dragons Love Tacos*

Things to do with a Box

Secret Pizza Party*



ADS DISCLOSURE: We've partnered with some wonderful advertisers who may sponsor blog posts or send us samples to test. Some companies pay us to review their products. *We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Chitika, Google Adsense, TAPINfluence, The Blogger Network, IZEA, Sverve, and Social Spark ads here. Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)

Fall Funtastic! Fun October things to do for Halloween in Indianapolis Indiana

Fun Fall things to do in October for Halloween in Central Indiana

At last... In the Fall of 2009, my kids suffered with the launch of my "Fun Kids" business. For them it was more like torture. This year, we were determined to find and do all of the fun things in October for the Halloween season.

Mayhem on a preschool hayride at Beasley's Orchard.

We only visited "Waterman's Farm Market" in Greenwood, Indiana to watch the pumpkin eating dinosaur, race big trikes around a track, pet a few goats, get swallowed up inside a stack-of-hay maze, and follow the trail in a field of corn on a very cold day during Fall-Break.  Oh what fun!  Waterman's is great, don't get me wrong; the kids love it.

This year, determined to make it up to them, I scheduled fall-fun into every spare minute.It started with a trip to "Trader's Point Creamery" during Oktoberfest; although the event seemed well received by others my kids gave it six thumbs down. It was crowded, hot, and we walked a lot.


However, it is a lovely fund-raising event for adults. Vendors sell their wares in a cozy farmer's market.  The farmer's offer crafts, fruits, jellies, jams, and warm, seasonal specialties.  If you come hungry eat here first.  The restaurant is closed while they serve gourmet burgers and organic items in the barn.  While these items were healthy and delicious my hungry kiddos didn't find anything appetizing (hot dogs ran out early) and my significant other spent around $40 on himself alone walking away in need of "real food".  Luckily, the dairy had cheeses and organic milk.

The kids did not enjoy the hayride thru the farm's hilly landscape to see the non-existent cows. The cows had come home for milking.  Nor did they dance a jig to the happy, live Polka Band.

Calves cried at the door to see their Mamas who were standing on the other side in line for the milking machines. The real pitchfork my son used to grab the hay was a big hit as was the tour of Milking time.

Not a big hit $13-40 pumpkins that were grown elsewhere. These were our first pumpkins of the season so the kids were overjoyed at the sight, but I bribed them with mega pumpkins two for $6 at Meijer. While they were kicking and screaming on the way out, I did notice a farm vendor selling little pumpkins for $1 each. C'est la vie.

Awesome, educational corn maze at Jacob's Orchard in New Castle, Indiana.

Needless to say, I had some fall-fun making up to do! On the next outing, I took them to a tiny apple orchard in my hometown, New Castle, Indiana. Previously known as Anderson's, the new owners renamed it "Jacob's Orchard" which made for a nice photo op for my son (and the 90 million others) named Jacob.

Unfortunately, Jacob had no desire to attend the event. He complained profusely until he spotted the inflatable tunnel. Success! Goat's, fortune-telling corn-maze, cider doughnuts made while-you-wait, apple slushies in apple-shaped bottles, and if you feel like it, You-Pick apples, sealed the deal. The price is right too.

He got hurt the first time but went back for more.

The angry faces say, "Let me go play".

Hay tower at Jacob's Orchard in New Castle, Indiana.

On a "No Pre-school Friday", Mayhem and I visited "The Old Farm Market" in Avon to purchase old-fashioned pumpkins and giant gourds. Bummer, the have gone out of business!

Mayhem with Fall Pumpkins and Gourds for Halloween.

Mayhem with a Pirate, Arrgh!

Fall Break called for a trip to our local Zoo Boo and the world famous "Indianapolis Children's Museum" for trick-or-treating, pumpkin bowling, and a scare-free haunted house entitled, "Skeletown". My little one tired out after the first treat-post preferring to be carried and then tip-toed timidly thru the haunted house expecting a fright at every corner. It hadn't occurred to me that, at four, this was the first haunted house she would remember.

Vampires, Indians, Scouts, and Racecar Drivers oh my!

Class field trips took us to  "Country Pumpkins" in Zionsville and "Beasley's Orchard" in Danville for hayrides to pumpkin patches topped off with a free mini-pumpkin. You might want to start logging a pumpkin tally about now.

Preschoolers and pumpkins.

Finally, Halloween weekend arrived.  The kids enjoyed our trip to "Westside Retirement Village" for a safe treating experience. The residents were sitting in the lobbies handing out candy and we were pleasantly surprised by a haunted garden on the way to more candy-giving seniors, six thumbs up here.  


My teenager appreciated the duality of the elderly enjoying the children. Such a cute idea transforming a pathway into a spider garden- a giant spider waved happily at the end of the trail to lull visitors into a sense of well-being just before a friendly, smiling ghost popped out to say, "boo".  Unfortunately, the happy boo had my littlest jumping out of her skin.

Now, we aren't known to be a greedy family but while we were waiting for Daddy to complete his projects at work we needed to pass the time, so, we stopped off at "Church of the Master American Baptist" for trunk-or-treat before meeting up for "Ghoulish Garfield" . Forget about icing, Indy Park's Garfield Park, put the cherry on top of the cupcake. Picture perfect.   


The haunted conservatory is scary. My teenager let go of her six-year-old brother's hand  to grab her Daddy's! Daddy carried the shaking little one with one arm and held Sam with the other arm while I led the way with Jake. Seconds after telling a witch he wasn't scared at all some 'air' caused Jake to stick to the floor. The same 'air' that had Sam unglued (go figure, it was literally just air from a blower of some sort). Kudos to the spookmaster.  

The exit led directly to the hayride. "I'm never coming to this park again," exclaimed Jake!  "I know, I got worried when it said, 'not suitable for small children'," winced Sam. No one wanted to take a hayride but the clown taking our tickets (literally) assured us it was only a means of transport so off we went. Unfortunately, we were short on time. The ride leads to the Arts Center to decorate pumpkins and then to the Burello Family Center for refreshments and such. Time was running out so we opted to stay on the wagon.  Neither of us felt the need to walk back to our car toting frightened children through a dark park. An amazing ride thru the park with the full-moon and stars above made for the perfect ending to a fall-fun evening.

I question my sanity, as I remember my first haunted house at the age of six. My uncle was playing Frankenstein. It must have been a scare-free time for everything was well-lit. The coffin and vampire are burned into my psyche forever. Dracula chased us into the next room as my aunt shooed him away with her purse. I recognized my uncle right away - he's well over six feet tall - still I worried about Dracula.

Could Frankenstein stop him from sucking our blood? Could he pry the casket open if the venomous vampire tossed me inside? I have no idea what treasures the other rooms held.  While the smell of alcohol wreaked from the vampire's fangs the smell of fear drenched my aunt's persona. I could not be consoled by their trifling claims otherwise. Isn't it odd that Halloween is my favorite holiday?  

Thanks to that fateful day, I've never met a Creep I've liked since.  To be sure, we're going to have three kids who have an irrational fear of air.

Trick or Treating in Avon's Washington Township Park.

Trick or Treat.

Then, I took the kids to "Washington Park" in Avon for the non-scary, trick-or-treat trail. It's a nice hike thru the woods. Candy stations are sprinkled along the trails, cute, carnival-style games abound, and the kids enjoy a costume contest and $1 pumpkins all before dark.  This one is perfect for even the littlest tykes unless they discover an urgent need to potty. (Don't worry Jessica, we made it back to the public restroom, but I overheard one little boy who had to go behind a tree.)

Super easy Halloween Costumes: The kids were done with puppies, ladybugs, clones, hulks and pumpkins. So we went with comfortable costumes; that's a ghost puppy and a skeleton kid.

Halloween Party Activities: Bobbing for Rubber Duckies!

Tomorrow I present, "The Princess and Wanda Witch" at Garfield Park Arts Center, 2:30-4:30 p.m.

Wanda Witch, lead actress in our skit.

Join us but don't dawdle; I have to hurry home to take my kids trick-or-treating, hand out candy, and visit the festivities at "Spirit of Life Church" in Clermont. 

It's hard work making up for lost time. Mayhem has had several different costumes to celebrate the season.



Recommended Reading:

Five Little Pumpkins (A fun Halloween book for children)

A Ghost Went Trick or Treating