Edible Christmas Trees (with a free download!)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around the Cummings household! I love Christmas decorations and making my house look like a little winter wonderland. I also love Christmas themed activities in and outside of the speech room. Last week during Thanksgiving Break, I had the chance to  do a group therapy session. As much as I love doing one on one therapy, I often miss the group sessions I had in the school system. So last week I got to get back into it and even let Kenzie join in on the fun!

 Since everyone loves a good edible craft, I decided to go with these adorable Christmas trees made out of ice cream cones that I had been eyeing on Pinterest for a while.
To make them, here is what you need:
- Sugar cones
- Vanilla frosting
- Green food coloring
- Candy to decorate with (I used M&M's and sprinkles)
- Plate or cookie sheet to work on
- Knife or spoon to spread the frosting
on the cone

 Here is what you do:
1. Add a 4-5 drops of food coloring to the frosting to make it green. Mix well (I did this part myself since it can get messy)
2. Take a knife or spoon and spread the frosting on the cone. Cover the entire thing.
3. Take some candy and decorate the tree! I used M&M's because I thought they looked like ornaments and sprinkles because they looked like lights :)
Ta-Da! That's it!

Because some students need extra visuals to follow directions, I made visual direction strips using Smarty Symbols. I put them up in my TpT store so anyone making these can have access to them. You can download them (for free) in my store, here!

The kids all had a lot of fun making their own tree. A few made 3 or 4! This activity brought out so much social language, not to mention the intended skills of requesting, following directions, verbs, and descriptive words! 

These little trees make great little gifts, too. I used 9oz clear plastic cups (left over from our Monster Pudding activity!), baggies, and string to gift them up! Even if your students don't want to give them as gifts, this is a great way to send them home without a mess!