Tidy Victory - Even thought it would be considered some "cyber-tidying", I got all of my other social network accounts linked up to the blog. FINALLY!
Because my husband and I were out snowmobiling, oh wait I mean trying to figure out why my sled suddenly wouldn't start when we stopped to pick someone up and I ended up riding on the back of his but I'm still alive don't worry, and enjoying a nice Valentine's day dinner at Scallion Bistro (which I HIGHLY recommend) and a movie, we did not have much time for actual DAY OF Valentine activities with the boys. It's okay to do a holiday activity after the holiday is over, right? OF COURSE IT IS!
So, I ran to Tiny Tops quickly and picked up a few items to have a "baking" activity for the toddler. I use the word "baking" in quotes because thinking about a toddler actually "baking" something is quite frightening, so we just pretend he's "baking" and make sure he doesn't touch the hot cookie sheets.
Take a look below for this fun & delicious activity!
Chocolate Valentine Buttons
Ingredients:
- Small shaped pretzels - I bought the square kind that rather look like a grid
- Chocolate kisses - any kind will do!
- Candy-coated chocolate pieces - we used Valentine's M&M's
Other Items:
- Large cookie sheet
- Parchment paper or baking mat (to help contain any mess)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 200 degrees - basically just enough to soften the chocolate kisses.
Line baking sheets with parchment paper or baking mats to make clean up that much easier, since you KNOW no on is going to help you with that! ;)
Line up small pretzel pieces on the baking sheets, no space between is necessary just cram as many as you can on there.
Place a chocolate kiss on top of each pretzel piece.
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| Chocolate kiss unwrapping |
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| Chocolate kiss placing |
Put in the oven for about 6 minutes to soften the chocolate.
Remove baking sheets from the oven and place a candy-coated chocolate piece on top of each melted chocolate kiss. Press down on the chocolate piece to smoosh the chocolate kiss down.
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| These were a gift for the toddler from Nana Patti for V-day, too cute huh? |
Let cool for a few hours until the chocolate has cooled and hardened (or if you are like my husband, make sure they are not poisonous and try some immediately while the chocolate is still gooey).
This is an EXCELLENT activity for toddlers because they can participate in almost all aspects from unwrapping all of the chocolate kisses, lining up the pretzel pieces, placing the chocolate kisses on top of the pretzel and putting the chocolate candies on top and pressing them down. They may get slightly messy, and you want to be sure the kids do not touch the cookie sheet after taking it out of the oven.
It's also fun to make these for any holiday when the different colored M&M's come out. Just make sure not to give them away as gifts after the toddler has sneezed all over them during the candy-placing-and-pressing part. We've also used Rolo's instead of chocolate kisses and those were AMAZING, too.
I hope everyone had a lovely Valentine's Day and enjoy this activity with the ones you love!
Katie
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