Winter can be tough keeping the little ones inside so it is always nice to have fun activities in my back pocket. When the weather is too cold to go outside, I take the fun inside by making hot chocolate for kids. This treat is the magic stuff kids love. 

I have a delicious hot cocoa recipe made with real chocolate and milk. They'll enjoy it with some fun marshmallow friends. By friends, I mean a snowman, polar bear and penguin made of marshmallows, chocolate, pretzel sticks and candy. I swear this will keep the kids busy and playing all night long. Guess what? Adults will love these in a hot cocoa bar too. Let's get started!

Hot Chocolate for Kids with Marshmallow Friends

Main Ingredients:

(Make 4 cups)

Marshmallows (mini, large and jumbo)

1 cup milk chocolate morsels

4 cups milk

M&Ms 

Pretzel sticks 

Candy Eyeballs

1 cup melted milk chocolate

Before you make the hot chocolate, you want to make the marshmallow friends. This ensures the hot cocoa is hot and will melt away the marshmallow goodness. But here is the recipe so you can set it aside.

I like to make the hot chocolate on the stove in a medium saucepan. There is something about old fashion hot chocolate that makes it so yummy for me. Warm 4 cups of milk and bring it to a low boil. Turn off the heat so you don't burn the milk. Add 1 and 1/2 cup of milk chocolate morsels. My favorite is Ghirardelli milk chocolate morsels.  Stir with a whisk until the chocolate is fully melted. Your hot chocolate is ready to serve. 

Snowman Marshmallow

1. You will need 3 large marshmallows, 5 pretzel sticks, an orange M&M and melted chocolate. 

2. Take a pretzel stick and attach all three marshmallows together. 

3. Attach the other pretzel sticks to the marshmallow body making arms and legs on the snowman.

4. Create the face and buttons of the snowman by dipping on melted chocolate to make the eyes and buttons on the body. Add chocolate inside the face and put an orange M&M to make the nose.

5. Put the snowman in the fridge for a few minutes to chill the chocolate to hold everything in place.

Wait until you see the kids go to town with this snowman marshmallow. Drinking hot chocolate is only half the fun. 

Polar Bear Marshmallow 

1. You will need 1 jumbo marshmallow, 3 mini marshmallows, a chocolate morsel, candy eyeballs and melted chocolate.

 2. Use a toothpick to poke a large hole in the middle of a mini marshmallow. Insert a chocolate morsel to make the snout of the polar bear. Use melted chocolate to stick the snout to the middle of the flat side of a jumbo marshmallow. Apply the candy eyeballs on the jumbo marshmallow with melted chocolate. Attach the mini marshmallows with melted chocolate to the top of the bear's face as ears. 

3. Pop this baby in the fridge to chill the chocolate to hold everything in place. 

4. The kids are going to love dunking this polar bear marshmallow in the hot cocoa. For a video tutorial, click here.

Penguin Marshmallow

 1.You will need a jumbo marshmallow, 2 candy eyeballs, an M&M and melted chocolate. 

2. Dip the jumbo marshmallow on three sides in melted chocolate. Lay it over wax paper and pop this baby in the fridge to chill.

3. Apply the candy eyeballs with melted chocolate. Use the toothpick to split the marshmallow to insert the M&M. 

4. This penguin will add a richer flavor to the hot cocoa for sure.

There you have it folks. Now do you know why there is magic in this hot cocoa? It's not the same without the marshmallow friends. Get ready to serve hot cocoa to the kids and let them loose with these fun marshmallow creations!

Show us your hot cocoa additions by tagging us on social media @craftboxgirls. 

Happy Holidays!