Monsters, Monster, and more Monsters!

My first theme of the year will be monsters. I have been busy making centers, finding good books, and writing lesson plans. For years I have done edible math on Fridays. This year I want to connect Food Fridays to my theme. So, I have been very bust planning out my year of Food Fridays. Today I want to share my first Food Friday for Made it Monday.

My boys and I made these Monster Cupcakes.

This is the finished product. They are super cute and you get a lot of bang for your buck.

Step 1: Gather your materials. 

Cake mix (I used Blue Velvet)

Ingredients for cake

Dum Dum Suckers

Peach or Green Apple Rings

Frosting ( I am a big fan of homemade cakes and frostings! However, for making character and fancy cupcakes, cake mixes and canned frosting works best

Food coloring. I use Wilton gel. 

Make cupcakes according to directions

Scoop into lined cupcake pan ( I tried to use 1/2 of an ice cream scoop)

               

 Helpful Hint: You can make ahead and freeze. I prefer them to be frozen when we decorate. Little hands can't squish them as easily.

Step 2: Prepare Decorations

Poke Dum Dum through bottom of Peach Ring. We made two for each monster, but one would work also.

Color frosting - I use FREEZER quart storage bags. Place bag in a cup, put in frosting and color 

Mix color in bag by squishing (make sure you get all the air out before you zip close).

Step 3: Decorate

Glue marshmallow to the top of the cupcake. (use frosting as glue)

Snip off a small (very small) corner of freezer bag.

Frost by swirling frosting over the top of the cupcake. If you hold the bag above the cupcake

it makes strings, and they lay over the marshmallow. 

Once frosted, poke the "eyes" through the frosted marshmallow

I have made these cupcakes with children ages 5 and up. The kids have a blast and they turn out really cute. For my younger kiddos, I put the frosting in the bag but let them do the coloring. If they struggle with the "eyes" I will do it for them. On a side note, I do ask for parental help. I never have a problem getting parents to come in and help. I will be doing a post on how to involve parents when teaching at an Inner city, high ELL, high poverty school soon. 

For more fun ideas, hop over to 4th Grade Frolics, to link with lots more Made it Monday posts.