Simple Snowman

Do you recall marshmallows sticking to paper without glue?  Well there was a very vague memory of that for me.  I vaguely remember the magical qualities/abilities marshmallows have to be able to stick to paper with just a lick of the tongue.  Magic I tell you.  

I decided to do something with that vague memory and introduce my kids to something great.  My kids were born in Arizona.  I am not an Arizona native, and I absolutely love all things related to snow.  I love seeing snow fall.  I love the hyper-drive look you get when you drive in the snow at night (though driving in the snow is a bit stressful).   I love making snowangels and snowmen and having snowball fights.  I love shoveling the driveway.  It's true, I love shoveling.  Snow is my friend.  I love snow.  

However, living in Arizona means I do not see snow very often or at all.  Therefore, my kids don't know the awesomeness of snow.  Therefore, I pulled out this vague memory of marshmallows and snow and introduced my kids to the only snow I could.

If my toddlers can make these (well, my son opted to "play" differently by eating the marshmallows) than any age can make them.  Plus, I had fun doing it too.  Therefore, I'm thinking you could probably push this activity to elementary school aged kids (let older kids make entire villages) since I'm about at their level. :)

Making marshmallow snowmen was a lot of fun.  It was super easy.  Plus, you can throw a little education in there about shapes and seasons if you want to get crazy.

Marshmallow Snowmen 
What you need: 

• Small marshmallows to eat and make snowmen with.
• Water/juice to keep your saliva up
• Construction paper (with a snowman drawn on it if your kid is young and needs the outlines as a guide)
• Straight pretzels if you are advanced aka older. 

How to do it: 

1- Get a piece of paper, with a snowman drawn on it if you need.  You can barely see the drawn snowman here in the picture of my son destroying the paper.  Destroying is what he does best.  I used cups and cookie cutters for my circle outlines, but a compass (oh remember those math tools) would be oh so handy right about now.  Hey, you could even have a lesson on how to use the compass.  Seriously, you can stretch this activity for lesson value... kind of.    

 2- Fill a bowl of marshmallows.  I had a separate bowl for the kiddos to be able to eat a few so they wouldn't want to eat the ones to go on their snowman.  This worked gloriously for my 2 1/2 year old daughter, but my 18 month year old son just wanted to eat them all.  I am not sure if that is an age thing or a boy/girl thing.  However, it could be just a "my son" thing.    

3- Lick the bottom of the marshmallow nice and good and then push it down (wet side of course) onto the paper.  My daughter did so great to follow the lines... until her snowman lines were all filled with marshmallws.  Then she went the free-sticking route.  She stuck those marshmallows inside the snowman to fill the snowman's body and then proceeded to give the paper a white out appearance.  She must love snow... or she just enjoys sticking marshmallows onto paper. Either way, she loved this activity!

 4- Drink juice or water for more saliva, or hot chocolate for a purely magical snow experience even in 70 degree Arizona.  

5- Display your work on the fridge to admire for weeks... or maybe that is just my daughter. 

6- After you can use a marker to make a face, or even use straight pretzels to attach arms.  We decided to go the simple route and not worry about the arms.  However, with older kids you can get more complex and use straight pretzels and marshmallows for your snow village.  Those pretzels could be housing structures, or anything.  I'd attach the pretzels with school glue or scotch tape; as far as I know they don't have magical sticking abilities.  

Hopefully, this snow activity can make your winter, and even your holiday break if you need an activity for the kids, a bit more fun!  Happy Friday!