A Fun Halloween Crafting Idea

One of my favorite places in the world is our local library.

We are so Blessed to have, not only tons of free brooks to read, but also tons of free programs for people of all ages and interests.

I take my son to the library for an Impromptu Inventor Hour every week and he LOVES it!

Occasionally I'm feeling kind of tired and not really motivated but my son always insists we go and I'm always glad we did.

This past week our amazing librarian, Jennifer, had another great idea.

She took expired marshmallows, graham crackers and frosting and let the kids make their own Halloween Houses.

I even decided to participate.

She had expired hazelnut spread and peanut butter to use to bind the graham crackers together.

There was also old fruit roll ups and chocolate pieces for doors or whatever you could imagine.  

A hot glue gun was also available.  

I found it was pretty difficult to get the graham cracker walls to hold together with food products but the hot glue worked very well.

The above pictured house was mine.  

My son, who forever has to do anything and everything different than everybody else, decided to let the chocolate bars melt in his hands and then use that to hold the graham crackers together.

Was it messy?

Yes.

Did he have fun doing it?

Yes.

Was it unique?

Absolutely.

Do hands wash up?

You bet.

Part of the fun of being a kid is making a little mess and if we don't want our kids to be afraid to cook or experiment they have to be allowed a little messy creative leeway for expression.

Here's my son's house.  I said it was Frank Lloyd Wright inspired ;)

He used the fruit roll ups as some binding material too.

I used them as faux stained glass windows, in part because we were running low on graham crackers.

You know what?

This was really fun!

Too often we adults sit back and let the kids have all the fun.

I personally think it's more fun for EVERYONE if we get in there with our kids and play.

They love it when their parents or grandparents play WITH them.  

And you know what else?

Often times we inspire them too!

They love to see what we're up to and we can share all of our good ideas.

My son inspires me and I inspire him.  

And doing things together is where memories are made.

So if you have children, grandchildren or favorite nieces, nephews or Godchildren you might try this little project.

It's a whole lot of fun!