crackers + selfies + a rainy day….

This month in art class, Lucy’s been working on a self-portrait (which is fitting with her recent Frida project).
I’m dying to see it.
I love it when my kids make art!So when Goldfish® Crackers asked me to get creative and use their crackers in a fun way with my kids…..the answer was clear: Goldfish Cracker Self Portraits!
All those bright colors.
All those cute crackers!
Selfies?!
YES.
lucy2

So on a rainy afternoon I asked the kids if they wanted to make self-portraits with me.  I thought we’d start by taking a photo of ourselves, to base our Goldfish cracker portraits on.

Well my kids happened to be in a slap-stick happy, ultra goofy mood that day….so through a few giggles Owen asked, “what’s a portrait?”
“Well, it can be a painting or a photo or something that’s made to look like you, by you.”
“A photo portrait?!!”
“Well, yea.”
[laughs hysterically]

Apparently the words photo portrait are hilarious when you’ve been cooped up all day.
I could hardly get a photo in without him moving.

So we tried taking a group photo instead.
Till Owen yelled, “photo portrait!

And Lucy lost it.

So we ditched the photos and dove right into the project….and all those crackers.

….sampling along the way of course.

And we spent the next hour chatting, laughing, and making little snack-like versions of ourselves.

You know, I can never decide which Goldfish crackers are my favorite.
If I let the kids pick them out at the grocery store, they go for the Colors—cause who doesn’t love a rainbow?  If I’m picking out, I always go for the Extra Cheese + Pretzel mix.  Have you tried those?? Seriously.  The best!  The extra cheese bits get all over the pretzels, and mmmm.  It’s so good.
But during this project I also discovered this combo….
Chocolate + Pretzel.
Ahh!
Do it.

You’ll love it.

Just like you love watching your kids be creative together.
…and listening to their feedback on your own projects.
“Mom, you should add a neck to your portrait. That’s how portraits are done….”

Thank you Lucy.
Excellent idea.

And eventually our portraits were done.

Let us introduce ourselves….

 

 

And there you go.
(Part of) our family….in Goldfish crackers.

Now grab a box, or a bag, or a handful of Goldfish crackers and join the Goldfish Tales Adventure.  Share your own photo and story HERE for a chance to win a case of product each month, plus an awesome trip to the U.S. location of the winner’s choice.

What other cool projects can be made with Goldfish crackers? Tell me your ideas in the comments and you will be entered for a chance to win a $100 VISA Gift Card!

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  1. 1) Julie

    I would use the Goldfish as a 100 day of school idea. Make a pond and add 100 fish!
    (I will keep this in mind for next year)

    p.s. the “selfies” of you and the kids are really cute !!

  2. 2) Brenda

    Fun! Thanks for a chance to win

  3. your children are adorable.

    I think you could tie thread around the goldfish tails and make a goldfish garland (Christmas Tree type garland, not limited to Christmas time use).

  4. 4) sarah

    I would make a goldfish mobile! and if it was Christmas, a garland for the tree could be fun 🙂

  5. I like to layer the different colors of goldfish in a mason jar to set on the kitchen counter. It’s a 2-for1: decoration and delicious snack at our fingertips!

  6. 7) mela

    Goldfish necklace! mmmm

  7. 8) Erica

    Video story of fish in the sea… maybe re-creation of Nemo… told by stop and go picture movie goldfish!!

  8. 9) Erin

    Goldfish thrown outside as a trail for a nature hike.

  9. i once saw goldfish on a cupcake for an undersea party theme. Sweet and salty!

  10. 11) Ashley

    I think a game day would be fun. Like checkers or tic tac toe? 🙂

  11. 12) Megan

    Goldfishies don’t last long enough in our house to make a project with! It’s one of my go-to snacks while grocery shopping for the kids. The portraits looked like it was a fun, silly afternoon.

  12. 13) Lynette

    Bingo markers, but a rainbow and pot of gold would be super cute too!

  13. 14) kuliejellogg

    I think we’d make something with a fish swimming upstream or maybe one fish going in the opposite direction of all the other fish and talk about how being different is (more than) okay.

  14. 15) Brianna

    A (goldfish) picture of your happy place!

  15. 16) serah butnik

    I would crush them in a food processor and use as sand painting with glue on paper. thanx

  16. 17) Kristin B.

    I think it would be fun to recreate impressionist paintings with Goldfish, like Van Gogh’s Starry Night.

  17. 18) Christin

    How cute! Another idea: goldfish necklaces! Thread them by poking a needle through the fish and stringing them on. They wouldn’t last long, but they would sure be fun.

  18. 19) Barbara P.

    A goldfish necklace like the candy necklaces. Yummy! Wonder if that would work.

  19. 20) Mami2jcn

    We would make an aquarium picture with goldfish.

  20. 21) Mami2jcn

    tweet–https://twitter.com/mami2jcn/status/583444637488123904

  21. 22) bdaiss

    Bingo markers, stand-ins for checkers, and cat toys (those suckers can fly across a hardwood floor when batted by a cat paw)! (Although I admit, lately we’ve been Bunnies fans.)

  22. 24) heather

    How about a craft project where the Goldfish look like they are in a fish tank but with no water.

  23. 25) Melissa

    I think it would be fun to play goldfish-tac-toe! Two different colors of fishes for the Xs and Os.

  24. 26) Joy

    This is adorable! What a fun idea.

  25. 27) Julie Wood

    I would make Goldfish wall art, and get my daughter to use the goldfish to create a Home Sweet Home picture in words out of Goldfish!

  26. We use the rainbow ones for spur of the moment math lessons. Addition, subtraction, fractions- the different colors make it easy for kids to grasp the concepts.

  27. 30) Lisa Brown

    you can play games / board games and use the fishes as “currency”

  28. 32) Lindsay

    My son isn’t too crafty yet. He would much rather eat the fishes.

  29. 33) Natalie

    I would love to decorate a gingerbread house using different colored goldfish crackers!

  30. 34) Shannon Smith

    Fun decorations for outside trees, the birds would love them, and the squirrels 🙂

  31. 35) Liz j

    I like your portraits so I’m sure another similar mosaic type art project would look great too.

  32. 36) Judy

    Is there a pattern for the adorable red dress??

  33. My kids request a fish cake for their birthday cake often. I frost a cake with blue frosting then make it look like a fish bowl with chocolate rock ocean bottom, fruit roll up seaweed and s’more Goldfish crackers for the fish. They love it!

  34. 38) Krissy

    Use them as an update to a classic pine cone and peanut butter bird feeder by nestling different color goldfish in the pine cone’s spaces. Could do them themed for holidays, using green goldfish for St.Patrick’s day would have looked cool!

  35. Dana, your hair is so long and pretty!

    My little brothers would probably want to play “catching Goldfish in your mouth” games, so they could still eat them!

  36. 41) Juanita in OH

    Simply ADORABLE! I wish I knew you when my children were young, you probably weren’t born yet…they are all in their 40’s now. TFS.

  37. My onlt idea is to use them to make colorful layers between vases for a center piece.

  38. 43) Holly

    Great rainy day project idea; I’m adding this one to my stash!

  39. 45) Colleen M

    Assemble them into a mosaic image of some kind, take a photo, then create a puzzle. It would be a tough puzzle! 🙂

  40. Fish tank cupcakes would be fun and yummy!

  41. 47) Kelly A

    decorate a cake with blue frosting for water, crushed graham crackers for sand and goldfish.

  42. 48) Madeline

    I like the idea of making an edible, 2D fish bowl using candy like licorice, with the Pepperidge Farm goldfish crackers inside.

  43. 49) Sarah Parker

    How cute are y’all?!

    I love the ideas posted! I think it would be fun to make a kid friendly “cheese log” lined with lots of goldfish crackers. A fun treat for the kids’ table at the next holiday gathering? 🙂

    Thanks for the wonderful chance to win!

  44. Love, love the goldfish selfies! So brilliant & creative! We love chowing down on goldfish crackers! My fav is the whole grain cheddar and smores… oooh, yum! As an art project, I would let my kids design an underwater adventure using chalk on dark construction paper,and then letting them glue on goldfish crackers for a 3-D underwater effect!

  45. 51) Wendy

    I’m thinking the goldfish crackers would work great for decorating a gingerbread house!

  46. 53) Heidi B

    We like to decorate them with a nut butter on a bird house for outside. The birds come and peck at them. It’s fun to watch.

  47. 55) Niki Johnson

    My kids always brought them in for the Stone Soup lesson, and also like to make underwater pictures, using them as fish. Very cute.

  48. 57) Troy Johnson

    You could use them in a glass vase to ‘plant’ flowers.

  49. 59) Heidi

    Make an ocean themed birthday cake, with fish on top! :o)

  50. 60) Kris O

    Using Goldfish in food projects is always fun! How about crushing them and using as a crust in a construction project hot dish. Goldfish is the walkways, ground beef is the dirt…be creative and have fun!

  51. 62) Sarah J.

    Love the self portraits– aquarium scenes would be cute too!

  52. 63) Kirbee N.

    Love all these ideas! Cute and hilarious. I think the chocolate goldfish beg to be used for a birthday cake. I’m not a big fan of cheesy crackers with cake, so I’m thrilled there is a sweet (but not too sweet) option. I’m so not a fancy decorator, so I love simple, clean cake designs that aren’t very sweet or elaborate.

    I know it’s all Frozen right now, but someday somebody’s going to make another underwater movie, right?

  53. 64) DJ

    For a fun birthday party game, have kids tip their cone party hats upside down and hold them. With a timer going, have another child toss goldfish crackers…one at a time… into the hat, from a specified distance away. Children take turns, then get to eat all of the crackers in their own hats!

  54. 66) Nicole D

    It would fun to create different sea creatures using the Goldfish crackers.

  55. 68) Elle

    Such a cute idea! Goldfish would make a great addition to underwater drawings for a 3D effect/

  56. My daughter would have fun making an edible “aquarium”. 🙂

    chambanachik(at)gmail(dot)com

  57. 71) Rebecca

    My boys would figure out how to make a dinosaur, I’m sure.

  58. 72) Jessie C.

    We enjoyed Fish in the Sea Counting Game with Goldfish crackers.
    tcarolinep at gmail dot com

  59. 73) Jessie C.

    -https://twitter.com/tcarolinep/status/584915300090425345

  60. 74) lissette

    we use goldfish for our addition and subtraction lessons for pre kindergarten. Its a hit! Subtraction and addition have never been so tasty!

  61. 75) Nicole

    Filling a shadow box with the goldfish by colors would make interesting wall art.

  62. 76) GretchenP

    they’d be pretty colors for a sunrise or sunset picture.. crush and glue! 🙂 thanks for the giveaway!! 🙂

  63. 77) darcy

    Do you remember the birdseed dress on Project Runway? I think it would be neat to try an unconventional challenge with goldfish crackers.

  64. 78) Jess

    Love this post! On a placemat I would let the kids make an ocean scene. Maybe put blue food coloring in vanilla yogurt as water and some lettuce as seaweed 🙂 might not be edible after but it would be fun!

  65. 79) tina m

    we use them to learn how to count numbers!

  66. 81) D Schmidt

    My favorite is sharing some Goldfish with my youngest son while we wait to collect my older son from school

  67. 83) Heather C

    Dana, we would make crowns ten stick the fish is alternating colors and direction until crown is finished.

  68. 84) Kathleen T

    we play “don’t eat Pete” with Goldfish. You could also play tic tac toe (:

  69. Hi Dana, are you far off another post? I love reading your posts – I feel like it’s been ages since your last one (even though it’s only been 12 days!)
    P x

  70. 86) Amanda

    Make a cake, cut out a center pond and fill with blue jello. Then decorate the pond with fish and make a tent to the side with pretzel rods.

  71. 87) Jenni Shaver

    I would use them for math – sorting and counting. But I would mostly use them for eating! =)

  72. I keep meaning to make a goldfish stop motion video, just for fun. xo

  73. 89) Kristen

    I love your portraits…so cute!

    I had forgotten how many colors goldfish come in! I think it would be fun to layer them in a tall glass or vase like one of those sand sculptures.

  74. 91) Nicole Larsen

    We use fishy crackers to play Bingo with 🙂

  75. 92) rachel

    What a fun idea. I’d use them to help my daughter to learn how to count.

  76. 93) Laurel

    Montessori goldfish! Sort into numerical piles – count by 5’s or 10’s. Add up to 100. Many tasty options!

  77. 94) Kimmy Ripley

    Goldfish can be used for learning math!

  78. 95) Melissa

    We buy goldfish weekly!

  79. 96) Margot C

    I remember so well teaching my daughter counting with Goldfish crackers. We didn’t have the colors then!

  80. 98) maria cantu

    Using them to help the kids count.

  81. 101) sherri crawford

    for decorating a cake

  82. 102) Chatti

    Goldfish disappear so fast, in my house, there’s no time to make them into anything other than a snack! They’d be cute made into an underwater castle/gingerbread house.

  83. They fill lots of snack bowls in my house! My eldest likes the flavor blasted! Hope to win!

  84. 104) Rebecca Graham

    I could make goldfish garland with them.

  85. 105) Susan Smith

    Filling a mason jar with Goldfish crackers layered with other colorful snacks.

  86. 107) Aurelie Red

    I would make a goldfish mobile…so cute !

  87. 108) erica best

    i do not have one but I love the stories and pictures on the site .

  88. 110) Kerry

    A fishing bingo game would be cute with the fish as the markers.

  89. 112) Norma

    Goldfish bingo!

  90. 113) LAMusing

    I was taught not to play with my food LOL, so I’m stuck. Can I just snack on them? 🙂

  91. 114) Bert Ruiz

    I would make goldfish necklaces/ bracelets with my girls

  92. We use them as an activity to go with the Dr. Seuss book “One Fish Two Fish”. I have a free printable goldfish snack mat on my blog: http://www.obseussed.com/2010/08/1-fish-2-fish-interactive-printable.html (been pinned 21,000+ times). We’ve also used them for our school Dr. Seuss carnival to guess how many “Fish in a Dish” (filled a huge bowl with 2,000+ fish and have the kids guess). I saw your post featured on How Does She IG. Is your printable fish bowl somewhere on your site? I don’t see it with this post – although those self portraits are adorable! I need to try the pretzle fish. Missed meeting you at SNAP.

  93. 116) ELIZABETH P

    I love making a fishtank scene out of construction paper with the goldfish glued on it. truckredford(at)gmail(dot)com

  94. 118) Rebecca Thomas

    I loved when my baby starting picking them up with her chubby fingers!

  95. 119) Lauren E.

    I used preztel goldfish on top of an underwater themed cake

  96. 120) Gina M

    We love making memories by having a family game night together every week with goldfish sometimes offered as a snack!

    Thanks for the chance to win!
    wildorchid985 AT gmail DOT com

  97. 121) Gina M

    tweet–https://twitter.com/WildOrchid985/status/594962681788047361

  98. 122) latanya

    counting numbers or trying to throw in a bucket or pot

  99. What a fun idea! My kids and I usually play counting and identify colors with Goldfish crackers when they were younger. we always had so much fun.

    amy [at] utry [dot] it

  100. This is the coolest sponsored post ever! Ohhh they make my mouth water… I would LOVE to make a portrait!

  101. 127) ANGEL JACKLYN

    MAYBE AN IDEA COULD BE PULLING OUT CUPS, FILLING THEM WITH WATER, AND TRYING TO TOSS THE GOLDFISH IN THEM

  102. 128) samantha daleo

    My kids plays all kinds of counting games with them (the subtracting is their favorite, that’s when they get to eat them!)

  103. 130) Lauren M

    Dioramas!

  104. Set the kids up to blow Goldfish crackers back and forth across a table or other surface. They can do it with or without a straw.

    Split up the pot of Goldfish crackers between the kids and blow them across the table to see who can get them all to the other side first. Make it interesting with a line of tape across the middle.

    Only one kid? Make it a competition to see what’s the furthest he can blow in one puff.

  105. 133) nickie

    Great ideas, thanks for the chance.

  106. 134) Tara O.

    I think using different colored goldfish to teach my daughter addition and subtraction would be a fun project!

  107. 135) Cynthia C

    The colored goldfish are nice to make color patterns and teach counting skills. It’s fun when you can eat the props!

  108. 137) Margaret Smith

    We like playing tic tac toe with Goldfish Crackers.

  109. 139) Debbi Wellenstein

    I’m thinking indoor Goldfish Hop-Scotch.

  110. 140) paige chandler

    Goldfish can be made into a story for the kids

  111. 141) Angela W

    Goldfish mosaic art!

  112. 143) Denise S

    Goldfish could be put on a string to hang for a party.

  113. 145) Stephanie V

    Goldfish tie dye – fun and funky!
    tvollowitz at aol dot com

  114. 146) Denise L

    My son likes to make rainbows out of the colored “Easter” goldfish.

  115. 148) Rosanne Morrison

    Lead a trail in the sand to the beach with them.

  116. We make fish tank pictures with pop rocks and goldfish crackers.

  117. 152) Ashley C

    We play bingo with our goldfish

  118. 153) Barbara M

    I like the idea of using Goldfish crackers to make pictures on paper plates and hanging them.
    thank you

  119. 155) Anastasia Falling

    These selfies are super cute! I am totally uncreative, so the only thing I can think of is making treat bags for the kids and their friends! lol Maybe make a game out of it and the treat bags are the prize 🙂

  120. 157) sarah hirsch

    you could make a rainbow out of goldfish colors

  121. 158) Lauren Olivia Wood

    A cool food mural can be made with goldfish crackers!

  122. 159) Stacey B

    I love this idea, but we also use them for counting and put them into piles by numbers.. Also good for math!

  123. 161) Emily R.

    Goldfish crackers are great for math projects! They make counting & subtracting fun!

  124. Making jewelry like necklaces.

    kport207 at gmail dot com

  125. 163) Bruce

    counting things

  126. 164) Jeffrey

    Love you portraits, we’ve used Goldfish with Legos to create little ponds for fishing.

  127. 166) mickeyfan

    Around here they wouldn’t last long enough for projects!

  128. 167) Richard Hicks

    One could string them like popcorn and make bracelets and necklaces

  129. 169) Leela

    Cracker necklaces.

  130. 170) Stephanie Galbraith

    We could make a design on an outside of a cup.

  131. 171) joni

    You can put them on a thin string and hang them in the trees for birds.

  132. 173) rachel cartucci

    My son loves making shapes with goldfish crackers. He also likes to crush them up on his pasta sometimes.

  133. 175) erica best

    my nephew like to count them with my niece teaching her colors and numbers

  134. So cute! hmmm You could hide CLEANED little toys in a big bowl of Goldfish and have the kids go “fishing” for treasure! 😀

  135. 179) Tommie @ Ilene Books

    I could see some necklaces with the fishes.

  136. 180) Erica B.

    You can make a goldfish habitat.

  137. I love Goldfish! Always have as a kid an as an adult too! I’m sure my kids will someday too! Thanks for the giveaway!

  138. We do enjoy eating Goldfish, but I don’t care to play with the food. It just doesn’t seem sanitary. So we only eat them, sometimes in yogurt which is cool.

  139. 183) Ed

    We add this to macaroni and cheese!

  140. 184) Ellie Wright

    My boys play with them with their action figures. They pretend that they’re fishing with them.

  141. 185) Brenda Elsner

    We use goldfish crackers as bingo markers.

  142. 186) tina reynolds

    We used them to build/make a rainbow

  143. 188) Claudia Davis

    You can make edible goldfish necklaces.

  144. 190) Kathy Pease

    I imagine you could use them as bingo markers to play bingo with the kids

  145. 192) s riches

    I remember using goldfish when we played counting games.

  146. 193) Carolyn D

    A fun and delicious idea would be to make blue raspberry jello, add the goldfish crackers, and serve in small clear plastic cups to make it look like the goldfish are swimming around in a bowl.

  147. 194) Amanda Sakovitz

    I would make wearable jewelery

  148. 196) WHITNEY

    Goldfish could be used for a counting game, or a collage of some sort

  149. 200) Cathy Truman

    My girls would love to make rings,necklaces and bracelets. They
    could use them to make cute note cards.

  150. 201) joe gersch

    you can string them on a string and make banners

  151. 202) Thomas Murphy

    I would make a Goldfish necklace!

  152. 204) Jessica To

    We would use them to play Bingo with.

  153. 205) CharityS

    We would create Goldfish flowers.

  154. 206) Sarah L

    No kids. I don’t like Goldfish crackers. I do like Visa GCs.
    I think color sorting would be fun with them
    Thanks for the contest.

  155. 207) Tabathia B

    The only thing I can think of use as a sub for popcorn on the tree

    tbarrettno1 at gmail dot com

  156. 211) Debbie B

    i don’t really like playing with food even though they are goldfish!

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