I saw these adorable snowman treats on The Amazing Mess blog - so I made a bunch for myself and bagged them up as small gifts. But then I thought - this was so easy and fun ... the kids would LOVE this! And even though making these are fun (and tasty) - there were other ways to extend this activity so that the children learn a little something along the way, too!

So first, here's how to make the edible melting snowmen. Take a marshmallow and make a snowman face using food coloring markers (these are very easy for adults AND children to work with - and it's edible). Then, place it on top of one striped cookie (you can substitute other types of cookies, like graham crackers or nilla wafers if you do not wish to have any chocolate on the cookie - but for me, it's ALWAYS about the chocolate! Ok, I digress!).

As I was making my snowmen I thought ... what BOOKS could I use to go with these? Maybe a little backwards in my usually thinking (usually the book comes first, then the activity). But the main concept is the melting of the snowman, and there are lovely children's books that go with this theme and can lead to further discussion. A few books I liked were The Smiley Snowman, Where do Snowmen go?  or Snowmen at Night. You can have a discussion about what happens to snowmen when the weather gets warm (they melt) and talk about why that happens.

Allow children to make their own marshmallow snowman and put it on top of one cookie. Then, ask them what they think will happen to THEIR marshmallow snowman if you put them in the microwave or oven. If their snowmen get hot, what will happen to them? And there you can touch upon the scientific concept of melting (properties of matter) and have them make predictions.

Next, SHOW them what happens by putting their cookie/snowman in the microwave for 10 seconds. When it comes out - it will be like a melted snowman! (They will really get a kick out of this!) . Top off with another striped cookie, and it's time to enjoy!

You can also see how I bagged these up as little gifts (including printable tags) by clicking on the picture below.