Yippee! The Groundhog did NOT see his shadow today! Did you know that the origin of Groundhog Day goes back to Germany? In that country, the badger was the one thought to predict whether there would be more winter or if spring was right around the corner. They celebrated it on February 2nd, 40 days after Christmas. When the immigrants came to America, the groundhog became the predictor. If the groundhog sees his shadow, it scares him and he scoots back into his borrow to sleep for 6 more weeks of winter. If he doesn’t see his shadow, he leaves his borrow to frolic around celebrating the coming of spring. In celebration of no shadow seeing today, here is a fast, cute, edible groundhog to make with your kids, grandkids, or students. 
Ingredients needed:
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, either the regular or king size
Hersheys Chocolate Drops
M&M’s : regular plain variety and Mega Peanut M&Ms and Mega Plain M&Ms. You only need the brown ones so somebody will have to eat the other colored ones. It’s a tough job, but somebody has to do it!
Black M&M’s: you can get these at some grocery or specialty stores where you can buy as many as you want of a certain color.
Mini Marshmallows
Wilson “Eyes”: found in the cake decorating department
Oreo cookies or chocolate wafers
Can of chocolate frosting
Chocolate pudding
Chocolate cup cakes if desired
To start out, you will need to make your chocolate pudding, put it in clear plastic cups (I use Solo 9-ounce shatter-resistant clear cups), and refrigerate. Once that is done, you are going to make your groundhog!
Take your candy out of the wrapper. Each peanut butter cup is going to become the “head” of a groundhog. Smash a mini marshmallow between your fingers to make it thinner. Then cut it into 4 rectangles for teeth. Groundhogs teeth never stop growing. They grind their teeth or gnaw on bark and plants to keep their teeth the right length. Our groundhogs teeth will never grow. 🙂 You also need to cut the black M&Ms in half for a nose.
Cut a tiny corner off a plastic sandwich bag and put a tablespoon of frosting in the bag with a medium round decorating tip on the end. The frosting is going to be your “glue.”
Now you and your special child are going to “build” the groundhog. I began with the 1/2 M&M black nose first. Attach it with a small dab of frosting glue in the middle of the peanut butter cup. With each item you add, you will use the frosting glue. Add 2 brown Mega Plain M&Ms for the cheeks. If you want really chubby cheeks, then use the Mega Peanut M&M’s. Add 2 teeth made from the smashed, cut marshmallows.
The eyes seem to really add the “personality” of the groundhog. Depending on the placement, your groundhog seems to develop his own persona! You will also notice the two different color of cheeks on these groundhogs. The lighter cheeks are Hershey’s Chocolate Drops. The darker are the Mega Plain M&M’s. The only way that I know how to get very many of those dark brown Mega M&M’s is to buy lots of sacks and pick out the brown ones. Someone will have to eat the other colors. Remember, I said it would be a tough job!
Take your cups of pudding out of the refrigerator. Crush Oreos or chocolate wafers in a food processor so that you have about a cup of cookie crumbs. I used Oreos as Hubby likes to eat those and would finish the rest of the package. He doesn’t care for chocolate wafers so I knew those would just sit around in the cupboard but they work just as well for the “dirt.” Put about 2 big tablespoons on top of the pudding. This is the “dirt.”
Set the groundhogs head so it is standing up and leaning back on the edge of the cup. “Glue” the ears on top and place two brown Mega M&M’s or Hershey Chocolate Drops on top of the “dirt” for his paws. He is just starting to crawl out of his burrow!
If the child in your life can’t have dairy, then you can substitute in a chocolate cupcake. Then the cupcake is frosted, then dip the top in the “dirt” before attaching the head. You will need to put a glob of frosting in back of the head to keep it standing upright. This groundhog has the chubby cheeks from the Mega Peanut M&M’s.
After thirty years of teaching, I learned that pudding was way less messy than cupcakes. For some reason, kindergartners always seemed to smash the cupcake into their mouth smearing their face with frosting and leaving a trail of crumbs on the floor. Make which ever version works best for you and your child.
With every activity you do, you need to read a story to go with it. There are tons of wonderful fiction and nonfiction books about groundhogs.
These are some interesting facts about groundhogs that you can print off.
I decided to make a sign for my groundhogs as I had some “teacher friends” I wanted to wish Happy Groundhog’s Day. I printed out the sign, cut it out, and then taped the back to a wooden skewer that I had cut down in size.
Need the signs? Here is a sheet that you can print off:
Happy Groundhog Day! Have a wonderful time reading a groundhog story and creating your own edible groundhog.
After you’re done eating, you can sing this song together. I used to do this with my kindergartners. I have no idea when I first heard it or who wrote it. The tune is “Away in the Manger.”
“Away in a meadow all covered with snow,
The little old groundhog looks for his shadow.
The clouds in the sky determine our fate
If winter will leave us all early or late!”
