Top 17 'Pantry-Pull' Edible Craft Supplies to make Deliciously Fun Art with Preschoolers This Weekend - Goh Ling Yong
The weekend is approaching, and you hear the familiar chorus: "I'm bored!" For parents of preschoolers, finding activities that are engaging, safe, and don't require a special trip to the craft store can feel like a monumental task. What if the most exciting art supplies weren't in a box in the closet, but already sitting on your kitchen shelves?
Welcome to the wonderful world of edible crafts! This isn't about baking a perfect cake; it's about embracing the glorious, messy, and creative process of making art with things you can actually eat. The magic of "pantry-pull" art is its accessibility and safety. When your little one inevitably tries to taste their "paint" or "glue," you can smile and relax, because it's all part of the fun. These activities are sensory goldmines, helping children explore textures, tastes, and smells while developing crucial fine motor skills.
So, forget the frantic search for non-toxic glue and washable markers. This weekend, we’re raiding the kitchen. Let’s unlock the creative potential hidden in your cupboards and transform everyday ingredients into deliciously fun art. Here are 17 of my absolute favorite pantry-pull supplies to get you started.
1. Uncooked Pasta
Pasta is the undisputed champion of pantry crafts, and for good reason! It comes in an incredible variety of shapes and sizes—from tiny orzo to big rigatoni tubes—providing endless possibilities for creative construction. The hard texture is fantastic for sensory exploration and developing fine motor skills as little fingers learn to grasp, sort, and place each piece.
The beauty of pasta lies in its versatility. It can be a building block, a bead, or a mosaic tile. While it's not meant to be eaten raw in large quantities, a curious nibble is perfectly harmless, making it an ideal, low-stress material for the "everything goes in the mouth" stage.
- Deliciously Fun Ideas:
- Pasta Mosaics: Use frosting or peanut butter as "glue" on a cracker or piece of bread. Let your preschooler press different pasta shapes into it to create a masterpiece.
- Colorful Necklaces: Dye pasta like penne or ziti by shaking it in a sealed bag with a few drops of food coloring and a splash of vinegar. Once dry, your child can thread them onto a piece of yarn or a licorice lace for wearable art.
2. Breakfast Cereal
Cereal isn't just for breakfast; it's a universe of colorful, crunchy, and creative potential. Think of all the shapes and colors available! O's are perfect for threading and stacking, Chex or other squares make excellent mosaic tiles, and colorful cereals like Froot Loops or Trix are instant rainbow-makers.
Working with cereal is a fantastic pincer-grasp workout for tiny hands. The satisfying crunch and sweet smell make it a multi-sensory experience that keeps kids engaged. It's a low-cost, high-reward supply that you almost certainly have on hand right now.
- Deliciously Fun Ideas:
- Cereal Rainbows: On a piece of paper, draw the arches of a rainbow with frosting or a thin layer of yogurt. Have your child sort colorful O-shaped cereal by color and stick them onto the corresponding arches.
- Edible Sand Art: Crush a few different types of cereal in separate bags to create "sands" of varying colors and textures. "Paint" a piece of bread with a thin layer of honey or cream cheese and let your little one sprinkle the cereal sand on top to create a textured picture.
3. Marshmallows
Soft, squishy, and sweet, marshmallows are the ultimate edible building blocks. Available in various sizes from mini to jumbo, they are perfect for constructing everything from simple towers to complex sculptures. Their sticky nature makes them easy for little hands to press together.
Beyond building, marshmallows serve as a wonderful base for other decorations. They can be painted with food coloring, dotted with chocolate chips, or rolled in sprinkles. This simple ingredient encourages three-dimensional thinking and structural problem-solving in a fun, delicious way.
- Deliciously Fun Ideas:
- Constellation Creations: Use mini marshmallows as "stars" and pretzel sticks as the "lines" connecting them. You can create your own starry night sky on a dark plate or even try to replicate simple constellations.
- Marshmallow Sculptures: Give your child a pile of marshmallows (mini and large) and toothpicks or pretzel sticks. Challenge them to build a snowman, an animal, or a wacky monster.
4. Pretzel Sticks & Twists
Pretzels are the salty, crunchy framework for countless edible art projects. The sticks are perfect for building log cabins, fences, and geometric shapes, while the classic twists can become butterfly wings, silly ears, or steering wheels on a cracker car.
Their sturdiness makes them a reliable construction material, teaching preschoolers about balance and structure without the risk of a project collapsing too easily. The combination of salty and sweet (when paired with other ingredients) is also a guaranteed taste-bud pleaser.
- Deliciously Fun Ideas:
- Pretzel Log Cabin: Use peanut butter, sunbutter, or thick frosting as "mortar" to stick pretzel sticks together on a plate, building the walls of a small cabin. A square cracker makes a perfect foundation.
- Spider Snacks: Take a round cracker, spread it with cream cheese, and place a raisin or olive in the middle for the "body." Break pretzel sticks into smaller pieces and press them into the cream cheese to create eight spider legs.
5. Icing & Frosting
If you need edible glue, look no further! A small tub of store-bought frosting or a quick-mix batch of powdered sugar icing is your best friend in the world of edible crafts. It’s sticky, delicious, and holds lightweight items like sprinkles and cereal perfectly.
You can also divide the frosting into small bowls and add a drop of different food coloring to each, creating a vibrant palette of edible "paint." Spreading frosting is a great way for kids to practice utensil skills and control, much like using a real paintbrush.
- Deliciously Fun Ideas:
- Stained Glass Cookies: Use a simple sugar cookie as your canvas. Create an outline of a shape with thick, dark-colored frosting. Then, mix a little milk into other frosting colors to make them thinner and "paint" inside the lines.
- Cookie Decorating Station: This is a classic for a reason! Lay out plain cookies, bowls of colored frosting, and various toppings (sprinkles, mini chocolate chips, crushed cereal). Let your child’s imagination run wild.
6. Food Coloring
A small box of food coloring is like a magic wand for your pantry supplies. It can transform bland-looking ingredients into a vibrant artist's palette. You can use it to dye pasta, color frosting, create "paint" with yogurt or condensed milk, and even make colored water for sensory bins.
A little goes a long way, and it’s a wonderful tool for teaching color mixing. Show your preschooler how red and yellow make orange, or blue and yellow make green. It turns a simple craft session into a mini science lesson.
- Deliciously Fun Ideas:
- Yogurt Painting: Mix a few drops of food coloring into small dollops of plain Greek yogurt. This creates a thick, vibrant, and completely edible paint that's perfect for finger painting on a plate or wax paper.
- Color-Changing Noodles: Cook some spaghetti and drain it. While it's still warm, divide it into plastic bags, add a few drops of different food coloring to each, and shake. You’ll have a rainbow of "worms" for a fun sensory play session.
7. Sprinkles & Jimmies
Sprinkles are pure, edible joy. They add instant color, texture, and excitement to any project. Whether you have nonpareils, jimmies, sanding sugar, or fun confetti shapes, they are a must-have for edible art.
Shaking and pinching sprinkles is a fantastic fine motor activity. It requires concentration and control, and the visual reward is immediate and satisfying. They are the perfect finishing touch to make any creation feel special and celebratory.
- Deliciously Fun Ideas:
- Sprinkle Art: "Draw" a simple shape or letter on a piece of paper with a glue stick. Place the paper in a shallow pan and let your child cover the entire page with sprinkles. Gently lift the paper and shake off the excess to reveal the sparkly design.
- Fairy Bread: A simple and delightful treat from Australia. Just take a slice of soft white bread, spread it with butter or margarine, and cover it generously with rainbow nonpareils or jimmies. Cut into triangles for a magical snack.
8. Crackers
Crackers (in all their shapes and forms) are the perfect edible canvas. Squares, rectangles, and circles provide a sturdy, flat base for creating scenes, faces, or abstract designs. Animal crackers and goldfish crackers can become characters in your edible story.
Their neutral, savory flavor pairs well with almost any "glue" or topping, from cream cheese and hummus to frosting and peanut butter. Building on a cracker gives your child a defined space to work within, which can be helpful for focusing their creative energy.
- Deliciously Fun Ideas:
- Cracker Robots: Use a square cracker for the body, a smaller one for the head, and use cream cheese to "glue" on raisin eyes, a pretzel mouth, and mini-cracker arms and legs.
- Edible Tic-Tac-Toe: Draw a grid on a large square cracker with frosting. Use two different small items, like M&Ms and raisins, as the X's and O's for a playable, snackable game.
9. Gummy Candies
Gummy bears, worms, and other shapes are like edible jewels. Their bright colors and chewy texture make them an exciting addition to any art project. They can be used whole to represent people or animals, or cut up into smaller pieces to create mosaic-like details.
Gummy candies are great for sorting by color and shape, adding a learning component to the fun. Their translucent quality can even be used to create a "stained glass" effect when pressed onto a lightly frosted cookie.
- Deliciously Fun Ideas:
- Gummy Worm "Dirt" Cups: Layer chocolate pudding and crushed chocolate cookies in a clear cup to create "dirt." Let your preschooler bury gummy worms throughout the layers for a fun-to-make and fun-to-eat dessert.
- Gummy Bear Scenes: On a plate "painted" with blue frosting (for the sky) and green frosting (for the grass), have your child create a scene with gummy bears having a picnic or playing.
10. Raisins & Dried Fruit
Nature's candy is also a fantastic art supply. Raisins, craisins, dried apricots, and apple rings offer a variety of colors, shapes, and textures to work with. They are perfect for making eyes, buttons, or spots on edible creations.
Dried fruit is a healthier alternative to candy but still provides that sweet flavor kids love. Cutting up larger pieces like apricots or mango slices with safety scissors is another excellent way to practice fine motor skills.
- Deliciously Fun Ideas:
- Ants on a Log: The timeless classic! Fill a celery stick with cream cheese or peanut butter and have your child place raisin "ants" in a line on top.
- Dried Fruit Faces: Use a rice cake or a slice of apple as the face. Let your little one use raisins for eyes, a slice of dried apricot for a mouth, and shredded coconut for hair.
11. Peanut Butter & Seed Butters
This is another all-star in the "edible glue" category. Peanut butter, almond butter, or sunbutter (for a nut-free option) is thick, sticky, and packed with flavor. It’s perfect for holding heavier items like apple slices, pretzels, and crackers together.
Spreading a thick layer of nut or seed butter onto a canvas like bread or a rice cake provides a wonderfully textured base for sticking on other ingredients. As a busy parent, my friend Goh Ling Yong often relies on a simple "sunbutter and seeds" art project for a quick, healthy, and creative snack time.
- Deliciously Fun Ideas:
- Apple Slice Sandwiches: Spread peanut butter on two apple slices. Before pressing them together, let your child add "fillings" like granola, chocolate chips, or oats.
- Rice Cake Mandala: Cover a round rice cake with a thin layer of almond butter. Create a beautiful, symmetrical mandala design using seeds, dried fruit, and coconut flakes.
12. Bread & Tortillas
Think of a slice of bread or a soft tortilla as a blank canvas, ready for your child's masterpiece. They are inexpensive, readily available, and large enough to accommodate bigger, more ambitious designs.
You can toast the bread lightly to make it sturdier, or use cookie cutters to create fun shapes before the decorating begins. Tortillas are fantastic for rolling up creations or using as a base for sweet "pizzas."
- Deliciously Fun Ideas:
- Toast Masterpiece: Give your child a piece of toast and various "paints" like cream cheese, jam, and yogurt. Let them create a picture and then eat their art for breakfast!
- Sweet Tortilla Pizza: Spread a thin layer of cream cheese or yogurt on a soft tortilla. Provide a variety of "toppings" like sliced strawberries, bananas, blueberries, and a sprinkle of cinnamon for a dessert pizza.
13. Popcorn
Light, airy, and fun to work with, popcorn is a wonderfully versatile craft supply. Each popped kernel is unique, making it great for creating fluffy clouds, sheep's wool, or snowy landscapes.
Popcorn is also easy to string together with a child-safe plastic needle and thread to make long, festive garlands. Just be mindful that popcorn can be a choking hazard for very young children, so this is best for preschoolers who are competent chewers and should always be supervised.
- Deliciously Fun Ideas:
- Popcorn Sheep: Draw a simple sheep outline on a piece of paper. "Paint" the body with a thin layer of frosting or glue and have your child stick pieces of popcorn on to create the fluffy wool.
- Popcorn Garland: A classic holiday craft that's fun any time of year. Simply use a large, dull plastic needle and some yarn to thread pieces of popcorn (and maybe some dried cranberries!) into a long chain.
14. Licorice Laces
These long, flexible candy strings are perfect for creating lines, borders, and details in edible art. Use them to make smiles on cookie faces, shoelaces on a bread "sneaker," or the strings on a gummy "balloon."
Licorice laces are also fantastic for practicing tying knots and bows in a low-pressure, fun way. Plus, they make the best (and most delicious) alternative to yarn for threading pasta or cereal for a completely edible necklace.
- Deliciously Fun Ideas:
- Edible Alphabet: On a plate or piece of wax paper, challenge your preschooler to form the letters of their name using the flexible licorice laces.
- Silly Spaghetti: Place a scoop of vanilla ice cream in a bowl and let your child drape red licorice laces over the top to look like spaghetti. A chocolate candy can be the "meatball"!
15. Chocolate Chips & Candy Melts
A small bag of chocolate chips (mini or regular, milk or dark) can go a long way. They are the perfect size for making eyes, noses, buttons, or polka dots. For a more advanced project, you can melt them down to create a delicious "paint" or "glue."
Candy melts, which come in a rainbow of colors, are even more versatile. When melted, they can be used to "draw" on wax paper (the drawings will harden and become edible decorations) or to dip other treats like pretzels and fruit.
- Deliciously Fun Ideas:
- Dipped Pretzel Wands: Melt some colorful candy melts in the microwave. Let your child dip pretzel rods into the melted candy and then decorate them with sprinkles before they set.
- Chocolate Chip Constellations: On a dark-colored plate (or a brownie!), use melted white chocolate or yogurt to make dots. Have your child place white chocolate chips on the dots to create their own starry constellations.
16. Jello Powder
Unprepared jello powder is a sensory superstar. Its sandy texture, vibrant color, and strong, fruity smell are captivating for young children. You can use it as a kind of "sand art" or mix it with a tiny bit of water to create a intensely colored, paint-like paste.
When mixed with water, the paint will be a bit grainy, adding a wonderful texture to their artwork. As it dries, it becomes shiny and almost jewel-like on the page (or cracker). Here in the Goh Ling Yong house, this is a rainy-day favorite.
- Deliciously Fun Ideas:
- Jello Finger Painting: Sprinkle a little jello powder directly onto a high-chair tray or a large plate. Add a few drops of water and let your child swirl the colors around with their fingers.
- Scented "Sand" Art: Give your child a piece of bread spread with cream cheese. Let them sprinkle different colors of jello powder on top to create a sweet, smelly, and beautiful design.
17. Oatmeal & Seeds
For adding texture and a rustic feel to your edible creations, nothing beats raw oats and various seeds (like chia, sunflower, or pumpkin seeds). They are perfect for creating the look of sand, soil, fur, or textured backgrounds.
These ingredients are not only great for art but also add a healthy, fibrous crunch. Sprinkling them requires a delicate touch, further refining those important fine motor skills. It’s a wonderful way to introduce different textures in a playful context.
- Deliciously Fun Ideas:
- Textured Animal Art: On a cracker spread with sunbutter, create an owl or a bear. Use sunflower seeds for feathers or fur, and use chia seeds to create a dark, textured background for the night sky.
- Oatmeal Beach Scene: Spread blue-tinted cream cheese on one half of a rice cake for the "ocean" and regular cream cheese on the other half. Let your child sprinkle raw oats or crushed crackers on the plain half to create a sandy beach.
Let the Delicious Fun Begin!
The best part about edible art is that there are no rules. It’s about the process, not the perfect product. It's about letting your preschooler squish, taste, build, and explore with all their senses. You're not just creating a snack; you're building memories, fostering creativity, and making learning an irresistibly fun experience.
So next time you're looking for a weekend activity, take a second look inside your pantry. You have a whole world of art supplies just waiting to be discovered.
Now it's your turn! Which of these pantry-pull supplies is your favorite? Do you have another go-to edible craft ingredient that I missed? Share your ideas and your delicious creations in the comments below! We’d love to see what you and your little artist cook up.
About the Author
Goh Ling Yong is a content creator and digital strategist sharing insights across various topics. Connect and follow for more content:
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