Having fun with the Chocolate Picture Maker

In the run up to Easter, we've been having fun making our own chocolate bars with Chocolate Picture Maker kits (affiliate link). Aimed at children aged from 4 and up, the kit allows you to make and personalise your own chocolate bars using 100% Belgian chocolate.

Each kit contains everything that you need to make one chocolate bar - a tray, a selection of templates, full instructions and chocolate in three colours - dark, white and milk. The chocolate melts at a low enough temperature that all you need to do is submerge the sachets in hot water for a few minutes and it will have melted enough to work with. Much easier than trying to melt it in the microwave, which is what I've done in the past!

I decided to attempt an Easter egg template. Harry wanted to come up with his own design, and Mia preferred to make hers up as she went along. As promised, the chocolate melted easily when we placed it into our bowl of hot water.

As per the instructions, we started with the dark chocolate to create our outlines. You place your template underneath the transparent plastic tray, then use the chocolate to colour in your design, cutting a corner off the sachet to pipe out the chocolate.

There is a bit of a knack to it, but Harry managed to follow his template really well and Mia had fun splodging hers out. I think if you don't set any expectations about perfect designs then even younger children that lack the dexterity to trace a pattern would still have fun playing with the chocolate (and of course licking their fingers afterwards!). Harry was constantly worrying throughout that he was messing up his design, but when it came to pop it out it was pretty much perfect underneath.

After you have traced the design in the dark chocolate you can add extra detail with the white chocolate, then use the milk chocolate (which is in a larger packet) to coat the design and fill in the back of the chocolate bar. We found that there was only just enough milk chocolate to fill the tray, so you do need to work carefully. I used a cocktail stick to spread the chocolate out and make sure that it went all the way to the edges.

Although the individual kit only contains the chocolate to make one bar, you could easily re-use the trays and designs if you buy some more chocolate.

Then you leave the bars in the fridge to cool. Half an hour is long enough for the bars to set, but they still melt quite easily after that time. I found it less messy to eat them after they'd been in the fridge overnight when they had set firmly, and you need to keep the leftovers (if there are any!) in the fridge until you eat them.

The chocolate was delicious, and it disappeared very quickly! Both children really enjoyed both the process of making their own chocolate bars, and the consumption afterwards. These kits would be brilliant for playdates with a group of children as it wasn't particularly messy and it's a really fun, creative activity. It would also be great for small parties, as the children could then take their bars home with them as party favours.

We received some Chocolate Picture Maker kits in exchange for a review. Amazon link is affiliate.