The holidays are an excellent time for baking sweet treats to fit the winter theme. There’s nothing better than having a platter of cookies always on hand for the ever revolving door of holiday guests, and kids love to help create the magic in the kitchen on cold winter days. Here are some fun, easy, and safe holiday treats kids can help make with adult supervision for some great holiday family fun.

Sugar Cookie Cutouts

One of the best holiday cookie traditions is rolling out some homemade sugar cookie dough and cutting out fun holiday shapes with cookie cutters to decorate with different colors of frosting, sprinkles, chocolate candy pieces, and crushed candy canes. Kids can be as creative as they wish and this is equally as enjoyable for young ones as it is for the more artistically inclined older kids.

Holiday Puppy Chow

Everyone loves puppy chow, so why not bring this beloved treat into the holiday season? Instead of the chocolate and peanut butter, use white chocolate or almond bark and shake with powdered sugar and crushed candy canes. Or, if you don’t want to alter your favorite treat, simply place your favorite puppy show in a holiday bowl and call it “Reindeer chow.”

Gingerbread Houses

Use a gingerbread house patter to cut and bake the correct sizes of gingerbread needed to create the walls and roof of the gingerbread house. Assemble pieces and use frosting to stick them together. Let kids create their dream gingerbread houses by decorating them with gumdrops, chocolate candies, sprinkles, frosting, cookies, and anything they can think of. Hold a contest for best gingerbread house or make small gingerbread houses to create a gingerbread village (for smaller houses you can cut the work by using graham crackers in place of ginger bread).

Hot Chocolate Bar

This is the perfect treat for kids after coming in from playing in the snow or after an ice skating trip. Set up a hot chocolate bar for them to create their perfect cocoa concoction. Make one batch of traditional hot cocoa and one batch of white chocolate cocoa. Allow kids to add peppermint or caramel to their cocoa, top with whipped cream, and add sprinkles, crushed candy canes, or marshmallows.

Hershey Kiss Pretzels

This treat works for the square, grid-like pretzels. Arrange pretzels on a baking sheet and place one unwrapped Hershey kiss on top of each pretzel. Bake for 2-3 minutes in an oven preheated to 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove from oven and place a single (red or green) M&M in the center of each Hershey kiss. Chill in refrigerator until hardened (about 10 minutes).

Hot Chocolate Stir Sticks

Make a variety of stir sticks to dress up your hot cocoa. Simply use plastic spoons and coat the end of the spoon with chocolate, almond bark, or caramel. Before the coating of your choice hardens, be sure to add sprinkles, nuts, or crushed candy cane. Place finished spoons in a clear jar once they are hardened for a decorative display until it’s hot chocolate time.

Oreo Snowman Pops

Insert a popsicle stick into the frosting of an Oreo. Melt an almond bark or a thick white chocolate bar and generously coat the Oreo to act as the snowman’s face. Add a candy corn nose and mini chocolate chips for the coal eyes and mouth. Allow white coating to harden on wax paper.

Rice Krispy Treat Wreaths

Simply add green food coloring to your favorite Rice Krispy treat recipe and shape treats into wreath rings (use buttered hands to prevent sticking). Use red frosting dots, dried cranberries, or red M&Ms to create holly berries and a Twizzler string to create a bow. You can also make this same recipe with corn flakes instead.

Indoor Snowmen

When it gets too cold for the kids to make real snowmen outside, break out the marshmallows and create some winter fun inside. Use frosting to stack marshmallows on top of each other and add buttons, eyes, nose, and mouth with different colors of frosting, gum drops, or sprinkles. Use mini pretzels as the arms.

Christmas Tree Cookie Stacks

Create different sizes of your favorite holiday cookie (chocolate chip, sugar, peanut butter, etc.) and stack cookies largest to smallest. Decorate the stacks of cookies with green frosting or sprinkles. Add a star-shaped candy to the top.

Strawberry Santas

Kids get plenty of desserts in over the holidays, so sneak in some fruit with this fun-to-make treat. Slice off the leafy part of each strawberry and stand the fruit on the cut end (the tip will be the Santa hat). Slice the tip of the strawberry off to make the hat and place a dollop between the base and the “hat” (this will be the beard). Use a toothpick to make dots of whipped cream down the front of the strawberry for the buttons and at the very tip of the hat. Use brown or black sprinkles as the eyes.

Tortilla Snowflakes

Turn the kids’ craft-loving talents into a fun holiday treat. Use soft flour tortillas to create cutout snowflakes (similar to the paper snowflakes they love to make). Use fresh tortillas and lightly heat them until they are soft and foldable, meaning so that they won’t tear when you double them over. Fold the tortillas in half and then in half again so that they resemble a pie wedge and have the kids use clean kitchen scissors to cut out shapes as if they were paper snowflakes. Unfold the tortillas and brush with oil. Arrange on baking sheet and sprinkle with confectioners, granulated, or if you don’t care about the color, brown sugar and heat in the oven until lightly browned or slightly crisp. Sprinkle with edible glitter for a sparkly effect.

What are you favorite holiday treats to make with the kids? Share your traditions in the comments section below.