Merging an assembly-line idea with a popular February holiday, we have finished this year’s Valentines, and with time to spare! (And with a great Industrial Revolution history tie-in, too!)
Because I could not find gummy hearts at the store, I settled for some great big heart marshmallows, which, by the way, can be EXTREMELY messy if you are trying to cut them apart. (Yes, I know: Of course they would be messy! But let’s remember that I am NOT a chef, nor am I a baker, nor am I a Kitchen SuperMom, nor do I even like marshmallows. The fact is: my simple ideas oftentimes turn into mess, ESPECIALLY if those ideas involve food.)
What you need
- Plates (several if you are planning on doing an assembly line)
- Marshmallow hearts, or gummy hearts, or anything edible that looks like a heart
- A knife (to cut the hearts)
- Pretzel sticks
- Sandwich baggies
- Stapler
- Cardstock
- Optional: Print out Cupid’s Arrows Template or Wild About You Template on the cardstock
The prep work
First, prepare the cardstock for your labels. It’s much easier for kids to write on the labels before they have staples and food to write around.
The idea is, you cut half of the hearts like so:
Set out four small plates and 1 large plate side-by-side as follows:
- 1st small plate: pretzel sticks
- 2nd small plate: arrow ends (the cut hearts)
- 3rd small plate: empty (for dropping off the half-arrows for the next assembly line worker)
- 4th small plate: full hearts
- Large plate: empty (for completed arrows)
The Assembly Line
We worked through four shifts to make and package Cupid’s Arrows:
- The White Marshmallow Arrow Shift
- The Pink Marshmallow Arrow Shift
- The Packaging Shift
- The Labeling Shift
This is mainly because I have only three children – and only two that I know will follow my instructions and not eat everything that falls into their part of the assembly line.
The White Marshmallow Arrow Shift
In true assembly-line fashion, this took about 2 minutes.
The Pink Marshmallow Arrow Shift
The Pink Marshmallow Arrow Shift. This shift also took only about 2 minutes:
The Packaging Process
The Labeling Process
But, wait a second! This only made about 12 valentines. And I need to make about 24… so what do I do now???
I get out something we always seem to have on hand, like ANIMAL CRACKERS. So, I went back to the drawing board and made different labels (which is the most time-consuming part of this project – I didn’t have an assembly line to make them!)
Animal Cracker Packaging Process
And Levi eventually wanted to participate (and agreed to not eat what he was working on), so I gave him all the little leftover bits of marshmallows so he could make Valentines for himself and his brothers.
They really enjoyed them. 🙂
Download the Cupid’s Arrows Template or Wild About You Template:
