edible igloos and tacky penguins

Okay. I'll admit it. I am NOT a fan of winter. I do not like the snow. I do not like the cold. I do not like the ice. I do not like months of gray. I am STILL not used to it after all these years. Eight to be precise. There. I said it.

Having said that, I am always trying to come up with wintertime fun. Since we are not outside for very long periods of time, I am trying to keep things creative inside so it doesn't turn into the Shining around here. One of the ways I do this, is with books and food. I like taking a book the kids like and relating it to the activities we do throughout the day, even with our food.

Today we read Tacky the Penguin by Helen Lester. She is one of my favorite children's authors. I found a book called Princess Penelope's Parrot, which is hilarious. Another well-known book of hers is Hooway For Wodney the Wat. The books are very funny and Lynn Munsinger's illustrations are darling. Anyway, here's what we did after reading Tacky the Penguin: We made edible igloos.

All you need to make these is small apples (we used gala), miniature marshmallows, peanut butter, or honey. When looking online, I saw that most people were making their igloos entirely out of marshmallows and using frosting or marshmallow cream to stick them together. I wanted this to be mostly healthy, so we are using natural peanut butter, or honey.
To make our igloo shape, you cut an apple in half and core it. Place it flat side down on a plate. See, there's even a hole for the igloo's entrance.
Then the fun part for the kids. Smearing on the goo of choice to cover the entire surface of the apple. Daisy used peanut butter. Luke had honey because of a minor peanut allergy. The honey worked great. We just used our finger to spread it evenly around the apple. That worked great.

Press the marshmallows on in a design of your liking to make your igloo. Consume.
I think it turned out pretty cute. What do you think?

Luke refused to make his igloo, but he loved the apple, which I cut into pieces. The added honey made it taste extra sweet and he happily stuffed his mouth full of marshmallows.

This was definitely a fun activity. It helped pass the time, the kids got to be creative, and it was a mostly healthy snack/treat to tide them over until dinnertime. Tomorrow we will learn about real igloos and the people that built them and lived in them. Do people still build them and live in them? I guess we'll find out tomorrow.