Easy Melting Snowmen & Sparkly Santas: Simple Christmas Cookies Kids Can Make

Today’s post is part of a series we’re doing on Easy Christmas Cookies Kids Can Make. The first two are Easy Melting Snowmen & Sparkly Santas.

You’ll need 2 cookie cutters: a star and a circle. (Which are part of a basic cookie cutter set like this one.)

If you want to give these cookies as gifts, little cellophane bags, gift labels and stickers are nice.

So. Much. Fun. (More on this in one moment.)

We made basic sugar cookies (there’s a recipe included here) and cut them into stars and circles. It was great for reinforcing skills like listening/following directions and fine motor work.

 

Then it was just about decorating.

3 Tips for Decorating cookies with Preschoolers

1. I like to put all the supplies into ramekins so they’re easy to see and hard to spill.
2. The kids usually get their own tray or cookie sheet as a work space.
3. I ALWAYS have a wet rag on hand for the kids to wipe sticky fingers or clean up small spills.

Decorating these cookies is easier than you think. Here’s what we figured out.

How to Make Easy Melting Santas

What you need: Sugar Cookies, Star Cutter, White Frosting, Mini Marshmallows, Red Sprinkles, 1 Tube Black “Writing” Gel, Red Hots or Other Small Red Candies

Instructions:

1. Roll out and bake sugar cookies in star shapes.
2. Use white icing (you can even buy a can) at room temperature.
3. Your FINGER is the best tool. Smear it around the 5 ends of the star leaving a small circle in the middle WITHOUT frosting.
4. Cut a mini marshmallow in half and “glue” it to the top tip, a bit to the side.
5. Pour red sprinkles onto the same top tip. Use a small spoon to pour the sprinkles on instead of shaking them from the dispenser. Do this on top of a paper towel so you can pour the all the unused sprinkles BACK into the container.
6. Draw two eyes in the middle of the unfrosted part and glue a Red Hot underneath.
7. Allow to dry completely before handling.

How to Make Easy Melting Snowmen

What you need: Sugar Cookies, Round Cookie Cutter, Mini Peanut Butter Cup Candies (Cut in Half), Orange Sprinkles (I used some from our Halloween collection), 1 Tube Black “Writing” Icing

Instructions:

1. Bake round sugar cookies.
2. Again, use your finger, or a zip-top bag to just swirl the white icing around and around until you have a mound on one part and a pool around it.
3. Set the “hat” on the mount, then use your black icing to make 2 dots. Slide the orange “carrot” in place.
4. Again, allow to set up completely before handling

Video Tutorial

packing up our cookies for gifts

We packed ours up and took them to two neighbors who’d recently helped us with two hundred-year-old trees that fell down on our property. There were chainsaws and tractors here before I even noticed the trees were down myself. So, the least we could do was offer a few of our practice round Christmas cookies.

I love this kind of thing because even though there were strains of, “But aren’t we going to keep any for OURSELVES?” to be heard, the kids were still proud of themselves and psyched to ride out to our neighbors’ places with gifts in hand.

There’s more where these cookies came! Just try our Reindeer Snickerdoodles!