Kids Cuisine

Do you have leftover Easter candy tempting your family? We tried to take it easy with the candy this year, but we still have more than enough. Eating it… well, that will just pack in the calories. What if you got a little more creative?

When he was in college, my husband bought a case of Peeps because he was planning to make a stop-motion war epic film with them. Then he found out that the project would take endless sticky hours of careful positioning, and he gave up. This was probably a good decision. But the problem with that plan was really just a matter of scope, not intent. It’s fun to play with food!

The Washington Post agrees with me. This year they sponsored a Peeps diorama contest! People were invited to send in “shoe box size” dioramas featuring Peeps, and the results were spectacular. Not all are kid-friendly, but my favorite family dioramas include Peeps Simpsons and Peeps Batman and Robin.

If you don’t have an overabundance of Peeps, you could try one of these other projects:

- Make a jellybean mosaic

- Build little sculptures out of shiny candy wrappers

- Use chocolate or candy bunnies, ducks, etc. to act out a story

Why not give this a try yourself? Making candy art is definitely healthier than actually eating it!

(Photo courtesy of Flickr user midiman under a Creative Commons license)