“Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people” -Luke 2:10

This week I’d like to highlight Focus On The Family Canada. This is an excellent free online resource for all things parenting, but it also has links to relevant articles and audio clips on everything from marriage to movie reviews. I recommend you take a look.  For this Marshmallow Madness, we’ll create a yummy gift idea- Candy Nativity Kits that you prepare and give away with a note for families to build and eat together. I love that not only are we enjoying spending time talking about Jesus’ birth as a family, we are planning to share the gospel with others.  This project requires a few more items than I usually allow, but I think in this case it’s worth it! The kids will be excited to build their own Nativity scene,  and while you admire them I suggest you read together the Scripture account of Jesus’ birth in Luke 2:1-20 I chose the New International Readers Version to link to, because I find it is written the easiest for children to understand. If you want to read the King James Version for the old school flavor than click here.
You can link directly to the article on Focus on the Family (you’ll need to scroll down to the bottom) or read it below:  Focus on the Family Candy Nativity Scene

Pack a kit of supplies to make this candy Nativity scene, and your gift is sure to be a hit with kids! Below you’ll find a list of essential supplies, but you’ll want to include plenty of extra candy to allow for mishaps (and children who can’t resist “taste testing”).

Let your youngsters help by counting out supplies and packaging them in baggies. Most likely though, they’ll be hankering to build their own Nativity scene instead!

Complete your kit with a card of instructions, including the image above. Here’s some text you can use:

Candy Nativity craft kit

This bag of treats
Looks good to eat
But first, enjoy some fun;
Make a sweet Nativity
And rejoice that Christ has come!

 

Your kit contains:

4 chocolate Reese^® Bells (to make four torsos)

4 Reese Miniatures Peanut Butter Cups^® (one each for Mary’s and Joseph’s lower halves; remove wrappers from two more cups for “kneeling” shepherds)

7 coloured jellybeans (6 for heads, and one wrapped up to form baby Jesus’ body

4 black jellybeans (slice these lengthwise to make the sheep’s heads)

1 roll of Fruit By the Foot^® (for head coverings)

1 snack-size Snickers^® bar (hollow it out a little to make the manger)

1 Hersey’s^® Kiss (for the angel’s body)

3 miniature marshmallows (for the sheep’s bodies)

1 package of Chocolate Ice Wafers (to build a stable)

aluminum foil (for the angel’s wings and halo)

1 pack of toothpicks

Instructions: To hold each figure together, insert a toothpick into the base of the figure and push it up through the middle of the torso and partway into the jellybean “head.” Push toothpicks into the wafers to stabilize the stable, if needed. Take 12 toothpicks and colour the wide ends black on both sides to make the sheep’s legs.