Art That You Can Eat

Kids love to eat sweets.

Kids love to do art.

Why not combine the two?

This idea requires minimal assistance from you, the parent, so it allows children to play while you get a bit of free time to clean house, do some work, or visit with me.

What You Need:

A bag or two of marshmallows. You can buy as many different varieties as you want. There are small white ones, small multi-colored ones, large white ones, shaped ones....well, you get the idea.

A box or two of toothpicks. Again, you can get plain ones or colored ones. The kids will probably prefer the colored ones.

What You Do:

Nothing at all. Okay, that isn't entirely true.

You need to set your child up in a spot that has enough room to spread out. You can pour marshmallows in bowls or just leave them in the bags. Show your child how to insert a toothpick into a marshmallow. Then let your child go wild building marshmallow toothpick houses - or walls - or whatever their imagination decides is needed.

You should know ahead of time that your children will be eating some of their "bricks" while they build. It's impossible to prevent, so just plan on a bit of sugar overload afterwards. A trip to the park might help work off some of that sugary energy.