This week, Miss G and I are participating in a candy play series with several other mamas and munchkins… On Monday we created beautiful glossy paint using Skittles, on Tuesday we created mouldable and edible candy clay, and yesterday we sorted, counted, and graphed SweeTARTS.
Gracen and I have been having so much fun coming up with interesting ways to play, learn, and create with candy this week. Since we almost never have it around, she thinks being able to play with candy is really cool, and with Halloween coming up, I’m thrilled to have some tried and true ways to put her candy stash to good use without it going into her belly or the garbage can. Today’s activity was crazy simple {in a good way}, and we had a ton of fun with it. Not to mention that it was perfect for my little lady who adores dress-up, jewels, and crafts.
To start with, we pulled out our candy laces and gummy rings. Now depending on what she brings home in her trick-or-treating bag, we may just use ribbon or string the next time we do this project, but the candy laces were great fun. As for the other candies, anything with a hole in the centre will do – Lifesavers and {cut up} liquorice would be nice additions!
Rather than trying to tie a giant knot at the end of the candy laces, I used the same method I use when we make pasta jewellery and straw jewellery and made a single knot around a gummy ring in order to create a stopper.
And with that, Grae was off. Because the candy laces had a nice stiffness to them and the holes in the gummy rings were nice and big, it made for a very quick and easy lacing project that would be great even for beginners.
Miss G suggested that we make necklaces for one another, so that’s just what we did. I took the simple route and made her this little beauty…
While she loaded mine up with as many candy pieces as possible.
Beautiful, right?
Next up, we tried a slightly more tricky method that involved gummy bears and large sewing needles threaded with dental floss.
Miss G first tried on her own, but because the gummy candies are so sticky inside, it did take quite a bit of effort to push the needle through so we opted to work as a team instead. I’d hold the needle firm and still, and she’d push the gummy bears onto it and slide them down the dental floss.
Our first creation was this cute little gummy bear bracelet, which she just loved.
When she went back to making more candy lace / gummy ring pieces, I made her a necklace to match which just tickled her pink.
The fun part is that this needle and floss method would work with almost any soft candy {including things like Skittles, I think}, and would be perfect for older kids too!
Now for a bunch of other fun candy-themed art activities… Click on the links to see creative ideas from some of my favourite kid bloggers from around the web.
erupting art | starburst candy sculptures | candy pumpkin
candy headbands | starburst candy mosaic
On tap for tomorrow – CANDY SCIENCE!
For more fun not found on the blog, join us on Facebook or follow us on Instagram.
Your daughter is just so adorable. I love the methods you used. Great idea using licorice for the necklace! Love it. :)
Lots of fun ideas! Does Gracen ever try EATING the candy while creating her projects? :-)