Please understand that I have good intentions when it comes to crafting with my kids; it’s just that I really suck. I believe Martha Stewart should still be in jail if only for making mothers everywhere feel inadequate. Who makes their own marshmallows for hot chocolate?!
Anyway.
Thankfully, I’ve met some super creative ladies via blogging, and they’ve inspired me, shown me, and/or pointed me in the direction of Craft Heaven. And by heaven, I mean a craft that has less than 5 steps and doesn’t make *that* big of a mess. Suck it, Pinterest.
I got the idea I’m sharing below from the beautiful (and pregnant! Squeeeeee!!) Anka; you can read about it HERE., and I’ve seen a lot of cool things (that I probably can’t manage) on the innately creative and talented Melissa’s blog HERE.
I would now like to share a secret with you. Come closer.
A little closer…
I despise dying Easter eggs.
I know, I know. SHUN HER! So this year we opted to plant a lollipop garden. EXCEPT that because our winter has lasted a little longer than we anticipated, so we cultivated lollipop plants instead. See below for a how-to step-by-step guide on making a pretend plant that will leave kids buzzing with a sugar high all day.
Materials:
As many pots/planters (your choice of size) as you have children. You will thank me later.
Soil/dirt (spoiler alert: you’re not really growing anything so the dirt is inconsequential)
1 bag of jellybeans
1 bag of lollipops as per your kids’ preference
Your camera–super cute photo opps
Instructions:
1. Toss jellybeans into planters
2. Cover tossed jellybeans with soil
3. Recruit help as needed, i.e. if your child (or dog) attempts to eat jellybeans or soil, have an extra adult standing by for clean-up because you will be busy taking pictures if you’re a good parent.
4. Water (do not saturate) soil.
5. Optional–wear bucket on your head and then stare at soil for adorable picture.
6. Put kids to bed, cultivate lollipops. Ta-da!
7. Also optional–get a shot of the first glimpse of sugar crop.
P.S. If you add too much water or put lollipops in directly after watering, the sticks will be flimsy and gross.
Happy Easter, everyone!
Steph, your lollipop plants turned out amaaaaaaaazing! What a crop of yummy those magic seeds yielded! And just look at the expression on your little man’s face–he’s one happy kiddo!
I’m getting ready to head out the door for church, but I couldn’t leave without saying thanks for sharing the LOVE! Have a fantastic day!
I couldn’t NOT share–you gave me the great idea! And you’re right–the kids were ecstatic! THANK YOU!
awww…making notes for the future 😉 The expression on your son’s face is priceless.
Hahaha!! This is definitely a “do-able” craft, especially if I can handle it 😉 I don’t know if it even falls under the category of “crafting,” oh well!
My kiddo was pretty excited about the lollipops!! 🙂
Oh Stephanie, the photos are adorable!! Also, thank you for the shout out my way and yes, you can absolutely manage the stuff I throw together! I also saw this on Anka’s sight and was totally going to do this but then I got to thinking about it and because I over analyze everything and I know my kids very well we did it tonight with the jelly beans the Easter Bunny left them instead. I decided that if they thought they could do this with any old jelly bean they would be planting them all the time, all year long so I told them that only the jelly beans from the Easter Bunny grew into lollipops…apparently those contain some magic!
Thanks, Melissa!! The kids were so pumped for this! I also thought about them wanting to plant lollipops every day and told them it only works on Easter; they have to plant on Saturday and it’ll sprout on Sunday. Period. Here’s hoping they buy it 😉 Hope you and yours had a great Easter!!
Sounds like and awesome craft and easy (so my kind of craft!!). Thanks for sharing Stephanie!! 🙂
Don’t thank me, thank moms who know how to craft 😉