Shepherds and Candy Canes

We had a fun & festive day!

In preparation for candy cane and shepherd day, 

Last night I made candy cane play dough.

To keep baby H occupied I got out a little bowl full of flour,

and some measuring cups and let him go to town!

M. also had a great time playing and pretend cooking.

She could have done that for hours!

The Recipe for Candy Cane Play dough found here

And the trick is to mix it on the stove until it looks like play dough:

Then you take it off the stove and knead it.

I made play dough a couple of years ago for valentines day activities,

and I didn't let it get solid enough on the stove,

and it turned into a gooey nightmare!

So once we had our sweet peppermint smelling candy cane play dough,

We rolled it out into "snakes" and twisted it around its self to make a candy cane shape.

Three year old hands needed help to get it just right!

Then we painted the letter C like a candy cane.
We used tape and peppermint scented tape.

We put on the tape, painted the C traced on the paper,
and blotted it try, and pulled off the tape.

It sure smelled good!

Then we read The Legend of the Candy Cane
By Lori Walburg

This "sweet" little story was about a man who mysteriously opened a candy shop in town, and a little girl helps him unpack all of the candy.  She finds a candy cane and asks what it is and he tells her all of the symbolism behind it.  My little girl loved it!

Then we made mangers with shepherds out of gram crackers,
and other yummy candies!

It was super fun to make a manger scene instead of a gingerbread house.  The children connected way more with it, and had their own ideas of where the angels should be, and where the shepherds should be standing.

To prep I put frosting to make their stables,
but in hind-sight, I wish I would have just glued it with a glue gun.
(no one ever eats the walls any ways.)

I had royal frosting in snack bags for them to use.
(The mess free method.)

I gave them some ideas and then let them jump into decorating.


It was a fun happy and meaningful mess!