Pop-Tart Nativity Scene (Easy Christmas Craft for Kids)

Why You'll Love This Pop-Tart Nativity

• It's easy. Pop-Tarts are already baked, so there's no gingerbread dough to make or bake. The stable comes together with just five Pop-Tarts and a simple powdered sugar icing.
• It's a fun Christmas activity for kids. Adults can cut and assemble the stable while kids make the candy characters and help decorate the finished nativity.
• It's edible. The stable, characters, animals, and decorations are all made from things you can eat, making this a fun alternative to a traditional gingerbread house.
• It's inexpensive. You only need a handful of Pop-Tarts, candy, pretzels, powdered sugar, and a few other simple ingredients.
• It's meaningful. Making a nativity scene is a fun way to keep Christ at the center of a favorite Christmas tradition.
• It's great for groups. This would be a fun Christmas activity for families, classrooms, church groups, Christmas parties, and holiday gatherings.

What Others Are Saying

Super cute. I used it for a Christmas party with 9 little kids---Kids loved doing it. So fun and more meaningful. Thanks for the great idea!---Karen

Ingredients

• Pop Tarts/Toaster Pastries: You'll need 5 pop tarts. I used brown sugar cinnamon but unfrosted pop tarts would work well too.
• Royal icing: Here is a royal icing recipe from Wilton that uses meringue powder to create a sturdy icing. My recipe is simply a mixture of powdered sugar and water. It dries hard and works well. A good rule of thumb is to use ½ cup of powdered sugar and 2-3 teaspoons of water. Mix the sugar and water until the mixture reaches the consistency of craft glue. You don't want it to be too runny.
• Rolos: These are used for the character's bodies.
• Pretzels: For the manager, angel wings, and shepherd's staff. You'll need twists, square pretzels and pretzel sticks.
• Tootstie rolls: Vanilla tootsie rolls for the heads, chocolate Toosie rolls for the hair and head coverings.
• Animal crackers: I used a variety of vanilla-flavored and chocolate-flavored animal crackers.
• Toasted coconut: Sprinkled around as hay/straw.

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.

How Many Pop-Tarts Do You Need?

You need 5 Pop-Tarts to make the stable.

Three Pop-Tarts are cut to make the front and side walls, while the other two are left whole and used as the roof. I recommend buying a few extra Pop-Tarts if you're making this with kids because some can crack while you're cutting them.

Use a serrated knife and gently saw through the Pop-Tarts rather than pressing down. This gives you much cleaner cuts and helps prevent them from breaking.

Tips and Tricks for Making a Pop-Tart Nativity

• Use store-brand pastries. Feel free to use a generic store brand vs. a name brand. Not only are they more affordable, but they are thicker, too.
• ONLY USE A SERRATED KNIFE. A paring knife will not work. Gently saw as you cut, and you'll end up with nice clean lines.
• Hold in place. Add a bead of icing to the pop tarts and use your hands to hold the 3 walls in place for a minute or two. After that, the icing will be tacky and hold on its own. Let it stand for 10 minutes before adding the roof. The roof is a little less sturdy than a standard pop tart roof because there are only 3 walls to support it instead of 4. Hold it in place for a minute or so before letting go, then let it stand until dry, making adjustments if it begins to move.
• Let set. Other than the angel, I did not decorate the stable; I simply added the characters around it. If you want to add candy and decorations to the walls and roof, make sure to let the stable stand AT LEAST 30 minutes before doing so to allow the icing to dry completely.
• Assemble in advance. For an even sturdier nativity, assemble it the day before you plan on decorating it to allow the pop tarts to dry out even more. If you do this, you shouldn't have any issues with your stable falling apart once the kids start to do their thing.
• Decorate with Tootsie Rolls. Tootsie Rolls have a similar texture to modeling chocolate and can be warmed and shaped with the warmth of your hand. To soften them even more, you can microwave them for 5-7 seconds. I used both methods to create the darling figures for my nativity. Vanilla Tootsie Rolls for the heads and chocolate Tootsie Rolls for the headpieces, hair, and body of Baby Jesus.
• Make This Pop-Tart Nativity Your Own. Don't worry about having every candy listed in the recipe. This is one of those Christmas projects where substitutions are completely fine. Use marshmallows for heads, different candies for clothing, or whatever pretzels and treats you already have in the pantry. Let the kids come up with their own characters and details. The finished nativity doesn't have to look exactly like mine to be adorable!

How the Pop-Tart Nativity Comes Together

The stable is made from just 5 Pop-Tarts: 3 are cut to create the three walls and 2 are left whole for the roof. Powdered sugar icing acts as the edible glue that holds everything together.

Once the stable is assembled, you can make the nativity characters from Rolos, Tootsie Rolls, pretzels, and animal crackers. I used vanilla Tootsie Rolls for the heads and chocolate Tootsie Rolls for hair, clothing, and Baby Jesus. Pretzels make simple staffs, angel wings, and the manger, while toasted coconut looks like straw around the stable.

You can follow my exact character instructions below, or use the idea as a starting point and make your own candy nativity figures.

How to Make a Pop-Tart Nativity Scene

Step 1: Place 5 pop tarts on a cutting board.

Step 2: You will be making cuts on 3 out of 5 of the pop tarts. The 2 that aren't cut are the roof pieces. You can set those 2 pop tarts to the side if you'd like.

Step 3: Take 1 pop tart and place it on its side, right next to another pop tart.

Step 4: Cut on a diagonal from the corner of the pop tart that is on its side, to the center of the middle pop tart. Repeat on the other side.

Step 5: You should now have a pop part that looks like a house.

Step 6: Remember that pop tart that you turned on its side? Go ahead and stand it up again. Place it next to one of the house-shaped pop tarts, lining up the corners, and cut horizontally across. Repeat.

Step 7: You should now have two roof pieces (uncut), 1 house-shaped piece, and 2 wall pieces.

Combine powdered sugar and water to make a royal icing glue. Add water ½ teaspoon at a time until desired consistency is achieved (2 ½ teaspoons works well for me). Spoon icing into a Ziploc bag and cut the tip off.

Step 8: Glue the 3 walls together with icing and hold in place for a couple of minutes. Let it stand for 10 minutes before adding the roof.

Step 9: Add the roof pieces and hold in place for a couple of minutes.

Step 10: Other than the angel, I did not decorate the stable; I simply added the characters around it. If you want to add candy and decorations to the walls and roof, make sure to let the stable stand AT LEAST 30 minutes before doing so to allow the icing to dry completely.

How to Make the Candy Nativity Characters

The candy characters are what make this Pop-Tart nativity scene so special. Rolos and Tootsie Rolls are easy to shape with your hands, making them perfect for creating simple figures for Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, the shepherds, and the angel.

Mary: Use icing to stack and secure two Rolo candies for the body. Unwrap a vanilla tootsie roll and warm it in your hands. Roll into a ball. Use icing to secure it to the top of the Rolo stack for a head. Unwrap a chocolate tootsie roll and warm it in the microwave for 5-7 seconds. Flatten into a rectangle, then place over the head to create hair.

Joseph: Use icing to stack and secure two Rolo candies for the body. Unwrap a vanilla tootsie roll and warm it in your hands. Roll into a ball. Use icing to secure it to the top of the Rolo stack for a head. Unwrap a chocolate tootsie roll and warm it in the microwave for 5-7 seconds. Flatten into a rectangle. Cut a thin strip off the bottom and set it aside. Place the rectangle over the head to create the headpiece. Add the strip across the front for the headband.

Baby Jesus: Unwrap a vanilla tootsie roll and warm in your hands. Roll into a ball. I only used ⅔ of the tootsie roll because I wanted a smaller head than Mary and Joseph. Unwrap a chocolate tootsie roll and warm it in your hands. Shape the chocolate tootsie roll into a body (resembling a baby body wrapped in a blanket). Press the body against the head to attach. You can use icing, but I didn't find it necessary.

Place on top of a square pretzel (manger).

Shepherds: Follow the instructions for Joseph, but add a pretzel stick for a staff, using icing to attach it.

Angel: Follow the directions for Mary, but use a vanilla tootsie roll for the hair as well. Attach pretzel wings to the back using icing. Allow the icing to set before attaching the angel to the nativity.

Animals: Attach the animal crackers to the side of the nativity using icing.

Final details: Sprinkle toasted coconut around the platter/plate to look like straw. Add any other details that you'd like.

Can Kids Make This Pop-Tart Nativity?

Absolutely! This is a great Christmas activity for kids, but an adult should handle cutting the Pop-Tarts and assembling the stable.

Once the stable is built, kids can help shape the Tootsie Roll characters, make the shepherds and angel, arrange the animals, and sprinkle the toasted coconut around the scene. It's also easy to adapt the characters based on whatever candy you have available.

One reader even made the nativity as a Christmas party activity for nine children and came up with her own substitutions when she couldn't find all of the exact candies. That's one of my favorite things about this project—you don't have to make the characters exactly like mine.

Pop Tart Nativity FAQs

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