You do not have to use a hot glue gun if you don't want to. Instead, you can glue the popsicle sticks together using white school glue and allow them to dry before moving on to the next step. If you do this, I recommend letting the kids glue their popsicle sticks together then doing another apple themed activity from this apple party like a caramel apple walk. Or you could always hand out these fall playdough mats and let kids do those while the glue dries!