I recently found a wonderful group of moms who get together once a week to chat, bond and let their kiddos run off some excess energy. I was lucky enough to meet one of these moms at swim lessons and was invited to join them. I of course, jumped at the chance. As luck would have it, a fun holiday craft was planned for that day. Kudos to the mom who planned it, she was 9 months pregnant with two little girls in tow! I was so impressed with how much effort she put toward planning. I would have been sitting on the couch, tired, crabby and fat if I was 9 months pregnant. Oh wait, that was me, almost 2 years ago. 
We had so much fun, and we’ll be going back whenever we can. That, unfortunately might be a challenge with my new job. Hopefully it won’t interfere too much, since I was looking forward to some serious mom/pregnant/no-holds-bared bonding.
Now for the real reason for this post, the candy train craft! And by candy train, I do mean candy. Three whole candy bars, gummy bears, M&Ms, peanut butter cups, red hots, frosting, and more. Much more. It was a sugar explosion. It was a ton of fun and something that the kiddo could help with and feel proud about. Days after the train was gone (yes, we ate the entire thing in 2.5 days, no judging!) he was still asking about it or proudly declaring that he had “fun candy train!”. If you are feeling up to the sugar meltdown, or just need an excuse to buy some candy, here are step-by-step instructions.
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Holiday Candy Train
Parts Per Train
3 Full candy bars – milky way, 3 musketeer and snickers work well
2 Gum drops
1 Candy orange slice
1 Hersey kiss
18 Red hots glued to 18 peppermint candies
1 Resse’s mini peanut butter cup
3-5 Pieces of black licorice
8-10 Gummy bears
3-5 Starbursts
A handful of M&M’s
1 Lifesave
1 Red hot
2 Pieces of rope licorice
White frosting (from a can or homemade) in a Ziploc bag with a tiny corner of one end snipped off
Simply assemble the train according to the diagram below (click to enlarge), using the frosting as the “glue” to hold everything together.
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Hint 1: Glue down the train track first, then assemble the train cars on top.
Hint 2: To create the wheels, glue the 18 red hots to the center of the 18 peppermeint wheels and let them dry while you put the rest of the train together.
Hint 3: Have a younger kiddo help “glue” everything together. They can hold the bag and squeeze while you aim.
Feel free to take more candy than is outlined above, you just might find yourself getting hungry as you work.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Oh that is just adorable! My daycare kids (and me!) would LOVE this project and I guarantee we will eat it all!
.-= Kasey @ All´s last blog ..Lil’ Sugarplum Baby & Girl’s Hair Clips =-.
@Kasey @ All, Have fun with it! Let me know how it turns out.