Cookie Collage

What You Need:

• Assorted small cookies in different shapes and sizes such as animal crackers, wafer cookies, vanilla wafers, etc.
• Large cookies such as graham crackers or Matzos (these will be the base of the collage)
• Small colorful candies such as M&M's, gumdrops, jelly beans, gummy bears, etc.
• Marshmallows
• Tube of icing in any color
• Any other edible cake decorations you might have in your store cupboard

What You Do:

1. Before starting, wipe down your work surface and have your child wash her hands.
2. Gather all the cookies and confections together and arrange them on a tray so it's easy for her to see all the materials at her fingertips.
3. Give her a large cookie. This will be her ‘paper’, or the base of her collage.
4. Invite her to use the cookies and candies on the tray as collage scraps to make a picture or design, using the icing as glue. Here are some ideas to get her started:
   • Use fortune cookies as rabbit ears.
   • Use mini marshmallows to make rabbit feet and tails.
   • Make a car using rectangular cookies as a base with round candy wheels and square candy windows.
   • Use a quarter of a round cookie to make a great sail for a cookie boat. Use a square cookie for the boat and a candy string or licorice as the rigging.
   • Make a cookie farm. Create a farmhouse using square cookies and place animal crackers around it.
5. If you're giving the cookies away as gifts, allow the icing to dry so the collage pieces are firmly stuck together. Place them on a cardboard cake base and wrap with clear wrap or cellophane, then finish with a ribbon.

Try a savory collage by using biscuits, nuts, and cheese slices instead of cookies and candy, with cheese spread in place of icing.