Easy Freshwater Ecosystem With Candy!

Today I will be showing you how to create a freshwater ecosystem with candy. You may need an adult to help you, but it won't be for every step. This is a very fun and simple creation!

Candy (green lollipops, kit Kat, marshmallows, tootsie rolls, green and 2 shades of blue fondant)

Green and blue Fondant (you can also use green modeling clay)

Flat Cardboard (75cm by 100cm)

Grass (fake or real)

Paint (blue and green)

Paint brushes

Pen/pencil

Toothpicks

Scissors

Glue

Ruler

Printer to print pictures of animals (optional)

First, grab your cardboard, scissors, ruler and a marker/pen. If you are younger I recommend having your parents/guardians help. (Use a ruler to make lines straight.)

Every measurement is labeled in the pictures (The base is the longer piece and the background is the shorter)

After marking we now will cut. Carefully use your scissors and cut through the marked lines! (You should have 2 pieces Background and Base)

Let's paint now! Paint the background with blue paint. Remember, you might need more than 1 coat! (I used 4 coats) Let cardboard dry before moving on (Look at image above for reference)

For this piece we will be just painting again! Before painting, we will need to mark the places of where we want our water. I decided to make my water on the side and another watermark on the other side (Pictures above) After marking you can start painting.

The base should be green and the water should be blue! For the water do not worry if you think you need more coats, we will use candy to cover that up! Wait for the paint to dry before moving onto the next step.

Using all of the pieces lets now connect them together! Glue the base to the background (Pictures above) Hold in place for about 1-2 minutes and let the glue dry! Now, we have our models layout.

Your model should be dry and this step is going to be really fun!

Let’s start off with making our clouds. We will need small marshmallows. Take marshmallows, mash them up a bit, and glue them onto the backgrounds top half. That’s a cloud, now repeat until you are satisfied with the outcome! (pictures as a reference)

Take blue cotton candy, and glue it onto the water that you will make your wetland. (don’t fill every gap) Add a lot of glue so that the cotton candy dissolves, and gives a nice blue texture! (pictures above)

On the other water add 2 different shades of blue fondant, scrape it all over. (Last picture above)

Crush up kit Kats, this is for dirt. The water that is not our wetland water, will have dirt on the sides (crushed up kit Kats) To the wetland water add a bit of dirt on top. (Use pictures to guide)

Our 3D trees will be made out of tootsie rolls, toothpicks, and green fondant. (you can also use green pom poms or modeling clay) I will be adding my trees to sides of both waters. Take 1 tootsie roll, put a toothpick inside, and then attach another tootsie roll. (this is our stem)

Now, you can make your actual tree. Take green fondant and shape into a tree shape, attach to the tootsie rolls. We now made a tree, add as many trees as you would like and glue onto the base

Take green flat lollipops and glue them to the water. (not wetlands) These will be lily pads.

I personally decided to use actual grass from my backyard, but you can use fake grass if you would like! Take your grass and glue it everywhere! I have pictures above to show you the layout you should aim for. Sprinkle your crushed kit Kats on the grass as well, to make everything look more realistic! The wetland water should also have a bit of grass.

This is the last step, we will add our animals! Add any animal that is in the freshwater ecosystem to this model. I printed out pictures of animals, and scattered them around (I glued some of them). If you would like you can add animals in other ways like gummy animals, making your own toys, etc.

Now we have officially completed our ecosystem!