Pig-Shaped Snacks for Kids

Animal-shaped snacks work especially well for younger children. Whether it's for a farm-themed party, a "Babe" movie night, a "Charlotte's Web" book group or as a craft activity, adorable pig-shaped treats will put a smile on everyone's face.

Simple piglet cupcakes need only all-over icing and some candies for the decorations. Frost a cupcake with pink frosting. Stick two pink licorice squares at the top of the cupcake to make ears. Place a large marshmallow in the middle of the cupcake to create a snout. Top it off with two red candies for the nostrils. Green, blue or brown candies make brilliantly colored eyes. Finish the cupcake with a piece of red licorice rope for the tail.

With a little candy, transform an apple into a pig-shaped snack. Make a snout by sticking a red gumdrop onto the bottom of the apple with some frosting. "Glue" four gumdrop feet on one side -- now the bottom -- of the apple pig. To create a tail, twist off the apple's stem, then stick a short piece of shoestring licorice into the hole and seal it with frosting. Cut two triangular-shaped ears out of fruit leather, then attach them with frosting. Complete the pig by attaching two raisin eyes with frosting.

Classic pigs in a blanket -- hot dogs wrapped in crescent rolls -- take only minutes to make and bake. Grab a package of hot dogs and a can of crescent roll dough. Pull apart the crescent roll dough into the individual triangle-shaped portions. Roll each hot dog in the triangle, starting at the pointed end, put them on a cookie sheet, then bake in an oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit oven for about 10 to 15 minutes.

You don't need fancy cookie cutters to make pig cookies. Whether you rely on a tube of dough or make your own from scratch, make round sugar cookies. Frost the cookies with vanilla icing that has been dyed bright pink. Cut a marshmallow in half and stick it to the center of the cookie to make the pig snout. Two chocolate chips stuck into the marshmallow look like nostrils. Use two more chocolate chips for the eyes. For the ears, cut strawberry wafer cookies into triangles, then place them on the cookie.