Ingredients:
Pretzel sticks
Chocolate
Eggs (Mini Cadbury Eggs, Jelly Beans, etc.)
Directions:
1. Place a handful of pretzel sticks in a plastic
bag and let the little ones crush away! Kids always love this part!
2. Melt your chocolate in the microwave, carefully
following the directions so you don’t burn it. Chocolate can be tricky, so keep
an eye on it and stir frequently. I like this brand…no mess, no fuss!
3. Pour the broken pretzel pieces into a bowl and
mix in the melted chocolate, making sure that everything is covered. You can
add in additional handfuls of pretzels as needed to get the perfect
chocolate/pretzel ratio. It doesn’t have to be exact.
4. Plop spoonfuls of the chocolate mixture onto wax
paper and shape into nests (making sure to leave a slight indentation in the
middle).
5. Let cool. Top with a few candy eggs.
6. Enjoy!
I love including my kids in cooking activities (and they
love it too!). This treat also gave us a great opportunity to do some learning
(this helps me feel a little less guilty about serving not-so-healthy snacks
once in a while). We looked at pictures of the bird nest that adorned our front
door most of last spring and admired the cute little chicks that we were able
to watch hatch, grow, and eventually fly away.
We checked out
some books from the library about birds and nests.
We then
went on a nature walk, which was a great opportunity to connect some of our
learning. We listened to nature sounds and the little ones told me what they
heard (called auditory discrimination in the therapy world). I asked questions
(Is that a bird? Is that a truck or a duck? What do you hear?) to help expand
their language.
We looked for materials that birds could use to build their
nests (sticks, grass, string, etc.) and even found a few nests in the bushes
and trees around the house. We all enjoyed eating our treats AND learning more
about some of what nature has to offer!!
