Marshmallows & Toothpicks

This activity is so simple.  It's Summer List item #69:  Build stuff with marshmallows and toothpicks.  I found this idea somewhere in the midst of my endless hours of searching the internet for activities to do with my kids.  But I have to confess that I can't remember where I first saw this idea (and I didn't bookmark the site).

I bought regular marshmallows and mini marshmallows from Deals, and I found these gigantic marshmallows at Walmart.

I had the toothpicks on hand, but you can buy them at any grocery store or dollar store.

The kids sat at the kitchen table.  I gave each of them a handfull of toothpicks and put the marshmallows in the middle of the table.  I gave them no directions at all, just told them to build stuff.

Nolan made two types of snowmen:

In other news, Nora lifted her 6-month ban on ponytails.  I'm one happy mama!

Griffin kept doing funny stuff with his tongue while he was super focused on building stuff.

Nolan made Joshua and the wall of Jericho:

Nolan said this was a duck in a pond:

Griffin built the Great Wall of China:

Griffin said this was a big fire (the marshmallows were logs):

Nolan said this was Jesus on the cross:

Griffin made the sun:

Nolan said these were 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place podiums and the toothpicks were the people receiving their medals:

Wolverine claws:

A sleeping snake:

The snake is awake!

Do you wonder what Nora was doing while the boys were building creative things?  Well, most of Nora's "creations" were suckers, popsicles, or something else that she could eat...

This was super fun and super easy!  I highly recommend this activity.  My favorite part was that I didn't give the kids any direction, and I got to see their imaginations at work.  It wasn't messy (slightly sticky) and wasn't complicated.  We will definitely do this one again!

Jessica