Leftover Peeps, anyone? Craft with Kids

Peeps coming out my ears!  Is this your typical post-Easter experience? Watching as the opened package-minus-one slowly hardens into concrete blobs, since I don't know anyone who can eat more than one Peep in a sitting.  I might be in the minority, as I happened upon #wheremypeepsat and found a million-and-one darling ideas to do with Peeps, by people who actually buy them for the purpose of eating.  I think.

I finally tried this fun and simple idea to use my leftover Peeps for a spring craft activity. 

I started with Peeps, chocolate candy that looks like eggs, butter, pretzels, marshmallows, coconut, crispy rice cereal, and green food coloring.  Notice the store-brand options. Save $. 

(Laugh at my photo.  It's okay.  Yes those are my shoes and apron.  Call the blurriness my filter.)

Add a few drops of green food coloring to your coconut.  This will be grass for the nests.  Mine is  only slightly green, but go ahead and make yours brilliant!

Mix up a batch of Rice Krispy Treats.  Your marshmallows should have  a recipe on the bag.

It's reeeaaalllly hard.

2 Tbsp butter (real, please)

1 pkg large marshmallows

6 cups crispy rice

Melt the butter over low, then add marshmallows and melt over low.  Pour over rice cereal.

Sometimes I get over-anxious and pressed for time and I speed-melt my butter (browned) & marshmallows (browned).  This makes for a hard and dry finished product.  Slow down, woman.

To make nests press a small handful of warm mixture into muffin tins, leaving a well in the center.

The rest is kid-friendly fun and creativity!  Make a small pile of supplies on a paper towel for each child (to avoid the spread of germs) and let them have at it!

We did this on our family ski trip to Grand Targhee.  It was crazy fun!

The sheer concentration, engineering, & interpretive design made me smile in wonder!  

Kids are so amazing!

The finished products were as varied as the artists themselves.

And believe it or not, most of the Peeps are gone!  We did microwave a few.  

If you haven't done that yet, you should.  Think of it as a science experiment.  

What?! Science AND crafts in one day?! It's an Easter miracle!