Holiday S'mores

This is just like making regular S'mores (graham cracker, chocolate squares, marshmallows and another graham cracker) but you use holiday Peeps (snowmen, in this case) for the marshmallows and just microwave for about 10 seconds.

Have you ever watched Peeps in the microwave? They puff up wonderfully. The boys love to watch them.

The ingredients in a small gift bag (my kids recieved these as take-home bags at a dance) would also make a nice addition to a food gift basket.

Chocolate Spoons

This needs plastic spoons, chocolate chips (or Wilton melting chips), and decorating sugar and/or pieces. It can only be done with children old enough to understand how to be safe with hot melted chocolate.

Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave or on the stove and bring to the table. Have them dip the spoons in and then add decorations. Place on a piece of wax paper. Refrigerate for about 15 minutes, until hardened. These are great in hot chocolate or coffee, or to give as gifts (especially with a jar of hot cocoa mix.)

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer Snack

To make this treat, take a rice cake and spread a layer of caramel syrup on top. The eyes are Hershey's Kisses, the Nose is a Maraschino Cherry and the antlers are pretzels.

Inchworm or Snake Breadstick Snacks

We used store-bought refrigerator breadsticks,

but a homemade recipe or pre-made breadstick would work too. They need to bake and cool before you can decorate them.
Tint some cream cheese green and spread some on each breadstick. We used a can of Cheese Product to make the stripes to mark off the inches and black olive slices for the eyes.

Octopus Hot Dogs or Octodogs

To make Octopus Hot dogs or Octodogs, take a hot dog and slice the bottom half into 8 slices, keeping the top part intact with the rest of the hot dog. Boil in a pot of water until done. They come out with the bottom cut part curled up into tentacles. Add mustard eyes and a ketchup mouth. Cute, aren't they?

Candy Hats

Take a marshmellow and dip in melted chocolate.

Put it on a graham cracker.
A candy Top Hat!

Decorate with sprinkles, if you wish.

Fingerpaint

Original Fingerpaint
1/2 cup cornstarch
3 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups cold water
food coloring

In a medium pan, mix all the ingredients together to make the finger paint. Cook over low heat 10 to 15 minutes. Keep stirring the finger paint mixture until it is smooth and thick. After the finger paint has thickened take the pan off the stove and let the mixture cool.
After cooling, divide the finger paint into storage containers depending on how many colors you would like. Add a few drops of food coloring to each container. Stir the coloring in to the paint to determine the shade of color. You're ready to finger paint! Cover tightly when storing.



Cornstarch Fingerpaint
3 cups water
1 cup cornstarch
food coloring

In a medium saucepan, bring water to a boil. Dissolve cornstarch in a separate bowl with water. Remove boiling water from heat and add cornstarch mixture. Return to heat, stirring constantly. Boil until the mixture is clear and thick (about 1 minute). Remove from heat.
As the mixture is cooling, divide into separate bowls and add food coloring. Let the children carefully mix in the coloring.
Add 1 tbsp of glycerin to make the mixture shiny. You can find glycerin in most drugstores or pharmacies.

These recipes are from here.

Oobleck

2 parts cornstarch to 1 part water
food coloring as desired


This is a wonderfully fun substance to play with. It acts like a solid when you add pressure and a liquid when you don't, but don't tell them that; let them discover it on their own! Ask them "When does this seem like a liquid? When does it seem like a solid?"
Older students may be interested in exploring Non-Newtonian fluids as a way of describing Ooblek. Adding the cornstarch to the water changed the reaction time of the liquid. Usually liquids move so quickly we do not notice how long it takes them to move. Oobleck has a finite reaction time. We can see how long it takes for it to react. We can make oobleck act like both a solid and a liquid. A liquid like this is called a non-Newtonian fluid because it does not follow the rules that Newton discovered most liquids follow. A non-Newtonian fluid has properties of both a solid and a liquid and reacts to stress with increased viscosity. Cornstarch (amylose) and water can be considered a colloidal suspension. A colloidal suspension is a two-phase system in which the starch and water are not dissolved but simply mixed into a permanent suspension that will not settle on standing.
For younger kids you can read them Bartholomew and the Ooblek by Dr. Seuss
You can let this dry out and put it in a baggie to reconstitute again later.

Zebra Parfaits

Make two packages of pudding, one vanilla and one chocolate. Layer the puddings in a parfait of other tall glass. Top with animal crackers.

Sunflowers Snack

These are made of a rice cake for a base, spread peanut butter on it. Line the edges with bananas and sprinkle sunflower seeds (sans shells, of course.)